* photo credit to Artificial Intelligence Arts fall 2019 class at IMA, NYU Shanghai
Teaching Philosophy
If I use one word to summarize my teaching philosophy, it's practice. I believe practice is the key to
both teach and learn creative art and technology. I teach what I practice. I summarize and include my
in-field successful or temporary failed attempts in the syllabus and keep students updated with the most
current trends and state-of-art technology advancements. I encourage and guide students towards
self-directed projects. I engage them to develop their concept and technical skills, and build
individual artwork as practices.
I develop and teach undergraduate and graduate creative technology driven art and design curriculum. I
currently teach Interactive Media Arts (IMA) in various institutions. In my recent roles, I taught
courses on how to apply emerging media to create arts at NYU Shanghai and Shanghai JIAO TONG University
(SJTU). Before that, I taught new media arts fundamentals and advanced studio courses at Shanghai Arts
and Design Academy (SADA) as an adjunct, and I was a resident research fellow of IMA at NYU Shanghai for
four years.
* full teaching Statement can be found here
(updated 11/2019).
Assistant Professor, Xi'an Jiao Tong - Liverpool University. 2020 - full-time, MDes & B.E. Industrial Design.
Instructor, New York University, Shanghai. 2019 - adjunct, B.S. Interactive Media Arts.
Resident Research Fellow, New York University, Shanghai. 2015 - 2019 full-time, B.S. Interactive Media Arts.
Lecturer, Shanghai Jiao Tong University. 2019 adjunct, M.A. Cultural & Creative Industry.
Lecturer, New York University, Shanghai. 2016 - 2019 summer position, High School Academy, School of Professional
Studies.
Lecturer, Shanghai Art and Design Academy. 2016 - 2018. adjunct, B.A. New Media& Communications, WPP School.
full academia experiences in academic resume (updated 02/2020).
All my courses focus on how to apply emerging technology, such as creative coding, creative AI and other
interactive technologies, to produce art and design. For example:
1. In “Artificial Intelligence Arts, F2019” and “Interactive Machine Learning, S2019” at NYU Shanghai, I
taught students how to apply creative AI software and coding framework to design and develop interactive
projects. Through 14 weeks’ learning, students learn both conceptual and technical knowledge through
practices and succeed in the class with individual projects. There is one student building an
“interactive newspaper” in which an AI algorithm generates caption of what camera sees in real-time and
updates the headline of her re-designed “New York Times” newspaper title! Or another student project
titled “A-Imitation” which is a magic mirror and transfer anyone in front of the camera to paintings
like “The Scream” or “Starry Night”. Or other projects like websites can generate tattoos, and anime
faces.
2. In “Digital Arts, S2019” at SJTU, I taught (master) students with minimal background both the basics
of creative coding and physical computing first and then ran the rest of class as design studios to help
them develop projects. Thirteen students are broken into six groups and all managed to present their
creative projects at the end of semester show. One group built an interactive installation for social
good with Arduino, which is a toilet paper dispenser connected to a computer and screen. Along with the
action of taking the paper, the virtual tree on the screen will fall leaves. If an unreasonable amount
of paper is taken at one time, the tree will shrivel and awake the environment-friendly mind. Another
student project tries to backup the LGBT group with screen-based interactive experiences. When
approaching the end of the interactive story, the participant will receive one rainbow marked profile
photo. Other projects also use different technology, such as Kinect, to build projection mapping for
various interactive experiences.
3. “See Through Kinect, S2018”, “Interactive Installation, S2017” and “Integrated Design Studio, F2016”
are similar courses I taught at SADA as advanced interaction design courses, aim to teach design
background students how to apply hardware like Kinect, Leap Motion and Arduino to build interactive
projects. Some students create interactive installation to advertise different product like participants
can follow the pose instruction and dance in front of the “window” and get the virtual snack package, or
participants can catch the virtual canny in screen through waving their hands in air, or participants
just simply enjoy interacting with the Funny M&M's Characters. Some other projects also address broader
social issues like calling for attention to people who need help, elder, young children and disabled.
One student project applies Arduino to a bench and connects to a screen. (only) when the participant
sits down, the virtual character - an old man - will hug the participant virtually. And there is another
group designed an ultrasonic powered white cane and use sound feedback to remind the user when needed.
4. I also have the ability and experience to teach interactive media fundamentals, such as "Interaction
Lab, 2015 - 2017" and "Make Design Interact, S2016, F2017" at NYU Shanghai and SADA. These courses
usually teach freshman students with low computer literacy and hone their interactive media
fundamentals. Besides that, during my first two year's fellowship at NYU Shanghai, I led the design and
teaching of the "Digital Fabrication" course at NYU Shanghai and set up the digital fabrication lab
which contains several 3D printers, CNC milling machines, and one laser-cutter.
more syllabi can be downloaded at here (updated at 07/2018).
