[CSCE 299]  Wide-area Augmented Reality + Interactive Narrative  (Spring 2025) 

"This is a new medium. It’s an unwritten canvas. People can figure out what a story looks like and an audience can see if they like it. It’s a really unique time.

."                 - Chris Milk, Founder of VRSE

CSCE 492 / 892: Spatial Interaction and Simulation

Credits: 3 Credit Hours

Schedule: Tuesdays & Thursdays | 11:00 AM – 12:15 PM

Location: Nebraska Hall, Room W193

Instructional Team

• Instructor: Dr. You-Jin Kim — ykim65@unl.edu

  • Assistant Professor, School of Computing  |  Director, Dynamic Reality Lab

• Teaching Assistants (TAs):

  • Jared V. Samonte (PhD TA) — jsamonte2@unl.edu

  • Lijun Mao (PhD TA) — lmao@unl.edu

Office Hours

• Walk-in Hours: Tuesdays & Thursdays, 12:15 PM – 1:15 PM (immediately following class)

  • Location: Nebraska Hall, Lab W192

• By Appointment: Available upon request.
  Note: Please submit appointment requests via email at least 48 hours in advance.

You will learn to establish precise "content zones" that control the user’s physical positioning and Field of View (FOV), allowing creators to dictate exactly when and where a virtual avatar, digital asset, or instructional step enters the frame.   The curriculum heavily focuses on the intersection of physical geography, interactive narrative, and user experience design. 

Course Communication & Syllabus Policies

Primary Communication Hub

All primary course communication will be conducted via Discord. Students are required to check our course Discord server daily (at least once every 24 hours) for updates, discussions, and reminders.

Dynamic Syllabus & Student Responsibility

The instructional team reserves discretionary authority to modify this online syllabus at any time during the semester to adapt to the pace of the class. Because this document is dynamic and subject to updates, students are strongly advised not to print or save offline copies, as they can quickly become obsolete and outdated.

Except for emergency adjustments, any changes to policies, deadlines, or assignments will be announced at least 10 days prior to taking effect. You are responsible for regularly reviewing the live online syllabus directly to ensure you are following the most up-to-date schedule, policies, and requirements.

Emergency & Class Cancellation Procedures

In the event of an unforeseen circumstance or class cancellation:

1. A notice banner will immediately be placed on the main page of the course website.

2. A simultaneous alert will be broadcast in the Discord #announcements channel.

In the event of campus-wide disruptions or the activation of university instructional continuity plans, students are responsible for actively monitoring both the course website and Discord daily to stay aligned with course expectations.

Academic Honesty & AI Usage Policy

Academic integrity is a fundamental value of the University community, and students are expected to complete their work with honesty.

• AI Usage & Attribution: The unauthorized use of artificial intelligence to complete coursework is a violation of the Student Code of Conduct. If you utilize AI tools (such as GitHub Copilot, ChatGPT, Claude, etc.) to assist you step-by-step in your development process, you must explicitly document it.

• Required AI Log: For any assignment or code submission utilizing AI, you must include a line-by-line or section-by-section AI usage log indicating:

  • Which tool/IDE extension was used (e.g., VS Code + GitHub Copilot v1.2 or ChatGPT 4o).

  • The exact prompts or assistance requested.

  • Where exactly in the codebase or assignment the AI output was integrated.

Academic integrity is a fundamental value of the university community, and students are expected to complete their work with honesty. The unauthorized use of artificial intelligence to complete coursework is a violation of the Student Code of Conduct. If you utilize generative AI tools or IDE extensions (such as GitHub Copilot, ChatGPT, Claude, etc.) to assist you step-by-step in your development process, you must explicitly document it.

For any assignment or code submission utilizing AI, you must maintain a strict documentation standard:

In your codebase (applicable to almost every assignment), any section that includes AI-generated logic must be explicitly annotated with code comments. You must use inline comments (//) to state the exact prompt used, which tool was utilized, and which specific lines or blocks of code were copied. If this inline attribution is missing, it will be considered unauthorized AI usage and treated as stolen work.

Furthermore, if your code or project is heavily or entirely built using AI assistance (such as Claude), relying solely on inline code comments is insufficient. In these scenarios, you must provide a comprehensive, step-by-step documentation file in Word or PDF format. This document must include a chronological sequence of screenshots mapping out your entire development process. Each screenshot must clearly display the prompt you entered, the tool's specific output, and a brief note explaining how that step was integrated into your system. Failure to provide this step-by-step visual log for AI-dominant projects will be treated as a violation of the academic honesty policy.

• Sanctions: All students enrolled in any computer science course are bound by the School of Computing academic integrity policy: cse.unl.edu/ugrad/resources/academic_integrity.php. Do not plagiarize writing or code, and properly cite all sources. Any cheating, unauthorized AI use, or plagiarism will be reported to the Department Chair and your Dean, and will result in academic sanctions, including an automatic grade of “F” for the assignment or the entire course, alongside referral to the Office of Student Conduct & Community Standards.

Industry Standards & Professional Communication

This is an advanced, upperclassman course designed to replicate a elite professional environment. We envision and train for quality standards that fit the expectations of top-tier industry leaders and research institutions, including Google XR, Magic Leap, Niantic, Bell Labs, Microsoft Research, Apple Vision Research, Amazon Research Robotics 126, NASA, Tesla, Waymo, and SpaceX.

To prepare for this level of professionalism, the following communication rules apply:

• Student Communication Responsibility: It is the student’s strict responsibility to check the course Email, Discord, and Schedule Page at least once per day.

• Professional Email Etiquette: All emails must follow a correct, professional format (appropriate subject line, formal greeting, clear concise body text, and professional sign-off). Please keep in mind that the instructor/TA response time is up to 48 hours. Plan your inquiries accordingly.

• A Note on Kindness & Mutual Respect: We maintain a culture of mutual respect. If you exhibit a disrespectful attitude towards your peers or the instructor—including being intentionally disruptive, sleeping in class, or being clearly inattentive—I will kindly pull you aside or address it on the spot once. Consistent professionalism is required to remain in good standing.

Workload

Per the UNL 1:2 Credit Hour Rule, a 3-credit course requires a baseline minimum of 6 hours of independent work per week.

⚠️ Portfolio Expectation: Because this is an advanced, project-based course—not a fundamentals class—you should realistically budget 9 hours per week of independent development. This is your opportunity to move beyond basic concepts and build an self-driven rapid prototype that you will be proud to showcase to future employers. 

Unlike lecture-heavy classes, your outside hours will be highly active and technical:

• Unity Development & Debugging: Spatial computing is notorious for "silent errors"—code that compiles perfectly but breaks on-device. Fixing physics anomalies or gesture bugs takes focused, uninterrupted blocks of time.

• Building Projects: We target standards expected by labs like Google XR, Magic Leap, and Apple Vision Research. High-fidelity prototypes require consistent weekly iteration.

• Hardware & Lab Iteration: Testing requires physical lab setup—calibrating head-mounted displays (HMDs), clearing play spaces, and evaluating simulations in real-time.

💡 The Bottom Line: Treat these outside hours like a locked-in, weekly lab shift. Schedule them into your routine just like an in-person class meeting.

Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD)

UNL is committed to providing flexible and individualized accommodations to students with documented disabilities.

• Registration: To receive services, students must register with the Office of Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD).

• Location/Contact: 117 Louise Pound Hall; Phone: 402-472-3787; Email: ssd@unl.edu.

• Student Responsibility: Students are encouraged to contact the instructor for a confidential discussion of their individual needs for academic accommodation after providing documentation from SSD.

Mental Health & Well-being

UNL offers several resources to support students struggling with stress, depression, anxiety, or adversity.

• Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS): A multidisciplinary team that helps students explore their feelings and learn helpful ways to improve emotional well-being. Call CAPS at 402-472-7450 at any time (24/7), including after hours.

• Big Red Resilience & Well-Being (BRRWB): Provides one-on-one well-being coaching to enhance resilience, self-compassion, and positive experiences. Reach them at 402-472-8770.

• Emergency: In the event of an immediate emergency, call the UNL Police at 402-472-2222.

Title IX

UNL prohibits discrimination and harassment based on sex, including sexual misconduct, stalking, and dating violence.

• Reporting: All University employees (unless designated as confidential) are required to report incidents of sexual misconduct to the Title IX Coordinator.

• Resources: For more information on your rights and available resources, visit the Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance website.

Student Support Resources

• School of Computing Student Resource Center: Located in Avery 13A (cse.unl.edu/src), where you can go for assistance with any of your computing courses.

• University Writing Center: Located in the local campus hubs, providing trained peer consultants to help you plan, draft, and revise your writing. Visit www.unl.edu/writing/ for hours and appointments.

• Central Repository: You can view a comprehensive list of university-wide requirements at go.unl.edu/course policies.

Copyright Information and Project Release

All course materials, including slide presentations, digital assets, and digital twins, are protected by copyright law and University of Nebraska-Lincoln policy. As the instructor, I am the exclusive owner of the copyright for these original materials, which represent years of my research and development. Students currently enrolled in this course may take notes, make copies of course materials, and utilize the provided assets solely for their own personal learning, and they may share these materials with fellow classmates. However, you may not share these materials online, make them open-source, or reproduce, distribute, display, or upload lecture notes, recordings, or course assets in any other way without my express prior written consent. Allowing others to do so is also strictly prohibited and may subject you to student conduct proceedings under the UNL Student Code of Conduct. To acknowledge these terms, every student must submit the Course Statement of Understanding before the end of the first week of the semester.

To experience AR development over these 16 weeks, I am sharing my proprietary scripts, repositories, 3D models, and other digital assets. For each assignment, you will develop on top of foundational repository, which must be set to private and include correct citations for any external code or assets. All project submissions will proceed exclusively through GitHub, and failure to meet these configuration or citation requirements will result in a point deduction.

Because these course materials were created as functional research tools, using or distributing any research or assets outside of this class requires prior approval from the instructor, You-Jin Kim. This prior approval is mandatory for activities including, but not limited to, academic or commercial competitions, graduate school applications, and portfolio displays. Furthermore, if you plan to publish a scientific article or journal paper based on work from this course, you must obtain a formal project release. The research team behind these materials must be recognized for their contribution and properly acknowledged in the publication. As explicitly stated in the Course Statement of Understanding, failure to receive proper permission before sharing or publishing these materials externally violates ethical standards in the research community, breaches university policy, and is subject to further action.

© You-Jin Kim
        Nebraska–Lincoln 🌽