ALC Research Group

How can we improve the way you learn with technology?

Cognitive models. Intelligent tutoring systems. Just-in-time personalized learning. Learning by doing, especially via design projects. We’re interested in helping people learn faster and deeper.

How can we work with systems more naturally?

Dashboards that give me information when I need it without undue complexity. Digitally annotated meetings that alleviate note-taking. Natural interfaces. We want your system to feel like a natural extension of your mind and body.

How can we increase your sense of presence with a person… or with a problem-space?

People: How do we give remote meeting participants the same visceral impact in a room as the participants in the room? How can we use technology to improve a conversation that may be awkward because of cultural differences? When will you be ready to shake hands on a $1m deal with someone whom you’ve only meet virtually?

Problem-Spaces: Imagine having a gut-feel for the entire Boston road network, able to predict traffic bottlenecks each morning based on weather? Or for Walmart’s enormous supply chain? Or for the 20,000+ genes of the human genome? Some experts might have this intuition, but we’d like to improve it, as well as enable novices to gain that expert intuition more quickly.