Projects, Theses and Practical Semesters

Students can complete project work, practical phases, or practical projects in the Mixality Lab, as well as a bachelor’s or master’s thesis in the areas of human-computer interaction, mixed reality, digital assistance systems, and immersive learning technologies. These formats are designed to connect academic study with research-oriented and application-oriented work and to support students in developing, implementing, empirically evaluating, and presenting their own solutions.

Typical topics we are happy to supervise can be linked to current lab efforts, such as, for example, the research projects ASTRA on adaptive tutoring and mixed reality authoring, TwinMaP on digital twins and adaptive worker guidance, SIDEKICK on modular assistance systems and accessible authoring, or HyperBRIDGE on immersive digital twins and training environments. This allows students to work on practical and research-related real-world questions in close connection with ongoing research activities of the lab. For a comprehensive list, see our projects or software overview pages.

At Hochschule Emden/Leer, students in Computer Science, Computer Science in Cooperative Practice, Media Technology, Media Informatics (online), and Industrial Informatics can take part in these opportunities, depending on the respective module format. If you’re interested in any of these formats, reach out to one of the lab members.

Curricular Courses

In addition to project-based opportunities, Prof. Dr. Thies Pfeiffer teaches the following curricular courses at Hochschule Emden/Leer: 

Human-Computer Interaction

This course covers the foundations of perception, Gestalt principles, and the corresponding models of usability and user experience, as well as methods for the process-oriented design and evaluation of interfaces.

Students understand the foundations of perception, Gestalt principles, and the corresponding models of usability and user experience. They are able to design software interfaces in a process-oriented manner. To do so, they use established methods of human-centered design and are familiar with relevant guidelines and standards. They know the most common forms of interaction and the rules of interaction design. Within the context of usability engineering, they are able to apply selected usability methods exemplarily.

Theory

  • Foundations of cognition with regard to perception, decision-making, and action (e.g. mental models, Gestalt principles, action processes)

  • Foundations of design for graphical user interfaces (e.g. UI patterns, design principles, style guides, standards)

  • Application areas and types of human-machine interfaces (e.g. graphical user interfaces, speech dialogue systems, mixed reality systems)

  • Methods and process models for the conception of human-machine interfaces (e.g. human-centered design, Google Design Sprint)

  • Evaluation techniques (e.g. questionnaires, A/B tests, interaction studies)

Practical Part

  • Work on projects for the design of human-machine interfaces by applying the concepts and methods taught in the lecture. The core course content is taught in lecture format, and practical tasks are implemented as project-based work during the practical sessions.

  • Computer Science, B.A. – Human-Computer Interaction (MCIM-I24)

  • Computer Science in Cooperative Practice (online), B.A. – Human-Computer Interaction

  • Media Informatics (online), B.A. – Human-Computer Interaction (MCI)

  • Business Informatics (online), B.A. – Human-Computer Interaction

Mixed Reality

This course enables students to use mixed reality technologies, especially virtual reality and augmented reality, in order to develop interactive experiences.

Students are able to use mixed reality technologies (virtual reality and augmented reality) to develop interactive experiences. In doing so, they take into account the foundations of the different mixed reality technologies and design content according to the respective technical challenges. In the implementation, they orient themselves toward the basic principles of the respective genre depending on the direction of the interactive experience (e.g. instructional design and immersive storytelling for digital training).

More specifically, students are able to:

  • understand the foundations of augmented reality and virtual reality,

  • conceive and implement content for mixed reality technologies,

  • develop interactive experiences prototypically.

Theory

  • Foundations of augmented reality and virtual reality

  • Methods for the development of real-time mixed reality applications

  • Design principles for immersive media, using storytelling and instructional design as examples

  • Structure of VR/AR applications (scene graph, data graph, render loop)

Practical Part

  • Conception of an immersive experience for augmented reality or virtual reality

  • Production of real-time media (360° film, 3D models, animations, etc.)

  • Development of a prototype of a mixed reality application

The core course content is taught in lecture format and implemented within the practical sessions.

  • Computer Science, B.A. – Mixed Reality (VIEF-I24)

  • Computer Science in Cooperative Practice, B.A.

  • Media Technology, B.A. – Mixed Reality (VIEF-M24)

Augmented and Virtual Reality

This course deals with current mixed reality technologies and their suitability for different application contexts, as well as the conception and implementation of spatial user interfaces and interactive 3D applications.

Students are able to:

  • classify current mixed reality technologies (augmented reality and virtual reality) and evaluate their suitability for different applications,

  • assess usage contexts with regard to the challenges for sensing and interaction technologies and identify appropriate technologies,

  • conceive spatial user interfaces and implement them using a scene-graph-based development environment,

  • conceive interactive 3D applications and implement them using the Unity3D game engine.

Theory – Fundamentals

  • Definition of augmented reality and virtual reality

  • Application examples

  • Output devices

  • Interaction devices

  • Structure/components of an AR/VR system

  • Computer graphics and scene graphs

  • Computer vision and tracking

  • Frameworks for AR/VR applications

  • Training with VR/AR

  • Assistance with VR/AR

Changing Advanced Topics Depending on the State of Research

  • Examples include spatial computing, spatial anchoring, cloud AR, eye tracking in VR, motion capturing, and photogrammetry

The core course content is taught in lecture format and implemented within the framework of a practical project.

  • Media Informatics (online), M.A. – Augmented and Virtual Reality (AVR)

Foundations of Virtual Worlds

This course enables students to conceive and technically implement their own applications of virtual worlds and to understand the differences and application potential of VR, AR, and MR.

Students are able to conceive and technically implement their own applications of virtual worlds. They know the differences between VR, AR, and MR and understand their respective application potential. They are able to design virtual environments with current 3D graphics software and optimize them for use in immersive worlds. They understand the specific requirements of real-time applications. Students are able to integrate the elements of virtual worlds by means of a current game engine. They can program interactive functions. They can compile a functional application for different platforms.

Theory

  • Foundations of augmented reality and virtual reality

  • Methods for the development of real-time mixed reality applications

  • Structure of VR/AR applications (scene graph, data graph, render loop)

Practical Part

  • Conception of an immersive experience for augmented reality or virtual reality

  • Development of a prototype of a mixed reality application

The core course content is taught in lecture format and implemented within the framework of a practical project.

  • Media Informatics (online), B.A. – Foundations of Virtual Worlds (GVW)

Human Factors and Augmented Reality

This course enables students to evaluate and design modern user interfaces for industrial systems while taking into account the foundations of modern user interfaces and augmented reality technologies in the context of operating and working with industrial installations.

Students are able to evaluate and design modern user interfaces for industrial systems. To do so, they take into account the foundations of modern user interfaces and augmented reality technologies in the context of operating and working with industrial installations. This enables them to consider the perspective of users in the development of technical solutions and to ensure ease of use.

More specifically, students are able to:

  • understand the foundations of human factors, usability, and augmented reality,

  • apply modern user interfaces,

  • analyze the usability of user interfaces,

  • create augmented reality applications based on frameworks.

Theory

  • Foundations of human factors

  • Foundations of modern human-machine interfaces for worker training and worker guidance

  • Application areas of human-machine interfaces

  • Criteria for the user-oriented design of human-machine interfaces

  • Methods for the evaluation of human-machine interfaces

  • Process models for the conception and implementation of human-machine interfaces

Practical Part

  • Testing different modern user interfaces from industry

  • Conducting usability evaluations of user interfaces

  • Developing prototypes of augmented reality applications

The core course content is taught in lecture format, special topics are developed together with the students in seminar-style sessions, and practical tasks are implemented in the lab.

  • Industrial Informatics, M.A. – Peer Project (HFAR-J24)