Karin Schmidlin

Emily Carr University of Art + Design

Vancouver, BC, Canada

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July 2024

Experience + Interaction Design course for teens

This July, I will spend two weeks teaching a UX & interaction design course for teens. The course is part of the Junior Art Institute that the university has been running for years. While UX is very much grounded in technology, this course will be a no-tech zone (a challenge for students & teacher) and instead focus on human interactions, play, and pen & paper.

Sometimes you need to leave the classroom and take over the patio of a coffee shop. Here we are working at Nemesis Coffee, one of the loveliest coffee shops in Vancouver.

From left to right: Yan Wan, Diana Tu, Jancis Wong, Sydney Batters, Kathryn Barton.

I started teaching at Emily Carr University of Art + Design in the fall of 2021. This was a long-held dream of mine. The UI course I'm teaching is part of the full-time certificate program in user experience design (UX), part of the university's continuing education department. Since fall 2022, I've been back in a physical classroom, which I'm really excited about. Nothing can replace that sense of community in a physical classroom.

User Interface Design

CUXD 105: User Interface Design

Good Bye #UWaterloo

After 9 wonderful years at the University of Waterloo, I will be moving back to Vancouver, BC to pursue my Ph.D. at the University of British Columbia. I'm interested in researching how artificial intelligence can support (rather than replace) teachers and improve the overall learning experience.

Digital Transformation Project

My company, Carbonlabs, was hired for a project with an Ontario educational institution to move their entire executive development program online, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We were lucky to be able to hire two recent graduates, former students of mine,  from the Global Business and Digital Arts program at the University of Waterloo's School of Interaction Design and Business.

#StayHome sticker contest

I wanted to start a sticker contest on the subject of Stay Home in the early days of the lockdown to help my students keep their spirits up. I let the crowd vote on the winner after receiving over 50 submissions, then had the stickers printed and mailed to everyone who wanted one. Rachel Xu, a second-year GBDA student, was the winner!

hands on.

learning.