Advanced Personal Presence Emulated Augmented Reality

Bring human presence back to remote learning.

APPEAR is a low-cost platform designed to make one-to-one online instruction feel more natural, accountable, and connected.

Watch the demonstrations Explore the research
Research collaboration with USC · Open Acceleration Systems Research · Boys & Girls Club
Students using the APPEAR tabletop learning platform with a remote instructor
Target unit cost$250from current $400 prototype
Human-centeredDesigned around connection
1:1instruction at the center
$250target platform cost
33 of 800NSF competition finalists
AR + VRprototype environments

The challenge

Technology should strengthen the teacher–student relationship.

The shift to remote instruction exposed a gap: information can travel efficiently online, but human connection is much harder to preserve.

APPEAR began with a simple premise. Effective teaching depends on presence—attention, eye contact, responsiveness, and the feeling that a teacher and student truly share a space.

Our interdisciplinary team has spent years designing and testing practical ways to translate those human cues through accessible hardware, software, and communication interfaces.

The platform

Practical hardware.
More natural interaction.

APPEAR re-purposes commodity components to create a focused environment for instruction rather than simply placing another video call on a screen.

01

Personal presence

A shared visual workspace and face-to-face connection make remote instruction feel immediate.

02

Accessible by design

Commodity components create a practical path toward a $250 turnkey platform.

03

Built to evolve

An upgradable base supports future augmented reality, virtual reality, and AI-assisted tools.

04

Connected ecosystem

Designed to support relationships among teachers, student teachers, learners, and guardians.

Working prototypes

Research made tangible

From a practical tabletop platform to immersive VR exploration, each prototype tests how technology can improve the feeling of shared presence.

Two views of students working with remote instructors on APPEAR tabletop stations
Current platform

Tabletop APPEAR system

Current prototype deployed for evaluation with the Boys & Girls Club in Culver City, California.

Current
$400
Target
$250
Three views of a learner evaluating the APPEAR virtual-reality hand-tracking environment
Future integration

Virtual-reality evaluation

Exploring gesture, spatial interaction, and immersive learning environments for future platform extensions.

Demonstrations

See APPEAR in action

Five demonstrations document the project vision, immersive prototypes, and shared desktop writing environment.

Where APPEAR goes next

A foundation for richer remote instruction

After initial deployment, the platform roadmap extends human presence while helping educators reach learners more effectively.

  1. 01
    Dynamic presence

    Perspective adjustment based on posture so the display behaves more like a window into a shared space.

  2. 02
    Flexible teaching ratios

    Hierarchical support for teachers, student teachers, and multiple learners.

  3. 03
    Teacher development

    Online mentorship tools to support training and certification pathways.

  4. 04
    Intelligent assistance

    Content recognition and analysis that can surface instructional approaches in real time.

The collaborators

Built across research, education, and community.

APPEAR brings together technical research, instructional experience, and direct community insight.

Young H. Cho, Ph.D.Research collaborator
Darin Gray, Ed.D.Education collaborator
Jesus Gonzalez, M.P.A.Community collaborator
Andrew Goodney, Ph.D.Research collaborator
Kaelyn ChoProject collaborator
Open Acceleration Systems Research University of Southern California Boys & Girls Club — Mar Vista Gardens

APPEAR demonstration