The Digital Convergence Lab at Northern Illinois University is looking for talented, highly motivated
students to work on one of three projects this Fall. The projects are described below.
Experiential Learning Projects in the DCL are not paid, but they may be used for independent
study/practicum/internship credit in the your home department or in a general elective internship.
Students work with other team members from multiple disciplines, a faculty coach, design and
development experts, and a client. Programming experience is not required but may be helpful. Examples
of previous projects are available here: http://www.dcl.niu.edu/index.php/labs/experiential-learning-lab .
Fall 2014 Development: Oculus Rift/Mathematics Visualization
The goal of this project is to help student learn advance math concepts through both visualizing and
interacting with data sets in a virtual environment. The team will create an application that renders math
functions in 3D space using the Oculus Rift.
1 Math or Computer Science Major
-Experience with algorithm design and optimization
-Preferred experience with Unity3D, C#, and Python
-Responsibilities will include working with existing programmers to develop and
optimize a mathematical parser
1 Visual Communication or Design Major
-Experience with UX design, branding, and typography
-Responsibilities will include designing the application interface and creating a
brand/identity for the application
1 Educational Technology Major
-Responsibilities will include conducting multiple small scale studies to assess the
learning potential of the application, user testing, and literature review
Fall 2014 Design/Development: Library Data Mining
This student team will work with a coach and the client to install, configure, and implement a data mining
system at the University Library. Possible project outcomes include recommendations for most effective
configuration, procedures and methodologies for data mining in the humanities, actual data mining of a
large body of text, and suggestions for future data mining projects.
1-2 Programmers
-experience with data mining preferred
1-2 OMIS
experience with data mining preferred)
1-2 Humanities (English/History/Philosophy with emphasis on data mining/textual analysis)
1-2 Library Media Specialists/Educational Technologists
Fall 2014 Development: Online Argumentation Tool
This student team will begin with the work completed by the Spring 2014 Design Team to develop and
implement an online argumentation tutor and analysis tool.
1-2 Programmers
-experience with javascript
1-2 Educational Technology
-experience conducting user testing
-experience with design and development process
1-2 Visual Communication or Design Major
-Experience with UX design, branding, and typography
-Responsibilities will include designing the application interface and creating a
brand/identity for the application
Meeting Times: Fall Semester, Day and Times TBD
Interested students should contact Jason Underwood by email.
Jason Underwood, Ed.D.
The Digital Convergence Lab
Northern Illinois University
junderwood@niu.edu