I took a variety of courses at the University of Texas, but it wasn’t until I took my first ACTLab course that I truly felt at home. In my time there, I ended up taking nine different ACTLab classes, making me one of the most experienced “actlabbies” of the program. The courses encouraged students to do great things, with whatever means we could possibly get our hands on. The ACTLab encouraged us to take risks, be open to criticism, and to share our critiques constructively with our fellow students. This was a fantastic departure from similar courses I had taken where our instructors were harsh critics, offering little encouragement for our efforts, and doing little to guide our development as creative individuals. I felt that what was more important in the ACTLab was our creations and our ideas, rather than our posturing and how straight-faced we could be whilst pointing at a failed project and stating, “Art.”

The UT ACTLab was a radical new kind of experimental program based on interactive, collaborative, student-centered learning, created by a unique international and transdisciplinary group of artists, scholars, teachers, techies, and hackers. Founded in 1993 by Allucquere Rosanne (Sandy) Stone, our special qualities derived from courses and activities based on the ACTLab’s unique pedagogy; our custom multimodal studio specifically designed for ACTLab work; the enthusiasm and dedication of our community; the guiding vision of our directors, visiting artists and lecturers; and our students’ broad spectrum of interests.

ACTLab courses are concept-driven, rather than skills-driven, but making — activity which requires physical engagement — is the heart of our pedagogy. The basis for our class structure is that deep learning engages all the senses. We believe that theory flows from the act of making. We consider hermeneutics to be the basis of ACTLab philosophy: active, playful engagement, informed by individual effort and open to surprise.  The point of each ACTLab course is to help you define, develop, and produce a project that reflects on the social, cultural, aesthetic, political, and personal issues raised in that particular class. For undergraduates and for masters students doing projects and reports, our aim is to teach you critical thinking about media and technology and to help you develop a portfolio of representative projects to take with you when you graduate.

MAKE STUFF refers to the philosophical concept of poiesis: that is, human culture arises from the essential act of making. TAKE RISKS doesn’t mean thrashing, but rather learning to welcome the unexpected and to create circumstances in which you can be surprised by your own work. In the real world, being comfortable with risk means you are ready to unhesitatingly sieze opportunities when they speed by. And BE AWESOME means being ready to put all of your potential out there where others, including possible employers, can appreciate it.

We’re aware and proud of our past twenty years of contributions to modern thinking, advanced communication theory and practice, and academic excellence. We’re proud to say that we didn’t jump on the New Media bandwagon — we created it.

(Excerpted from the official ACTLab website)