University of Auckland

This course examines human behavior and humans' expectations of computers, computer interfaces and the interaction between humans and computers, the significance of the user interface, interface design and user centered design process in software development, and interface usability evaluation methodologies and practice.

This course examines the socio-cultural and political impact of New Zealand films foregrounding Māori, both in front of and especially, behind the camera. It looks primarily at how Māori filmmakers have used cinema as a means to reassert cultural identity and tino rangatiratanga, from its activist beginnings during the Māori Cultural Renaissance in the 1980s, to the present.

This course is a practical and theoretical introduction to performing cultures of the Pacific with emphasis on Polynesian cultures. Basic music and dance skills are taught in practical instruction. Consideration of commonalities and differences among Pacific cultures. Academic discussion of styles, instruments, performer categories and the place of the performing arts in Pacific cultures.

This course examines Indigenous peoples as agents of geopolitical change. It introduces colonial/decolonial geographies to demonstrate the geopolitical implications of Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing. Key themes include: territory and geopolitics; Indigenous identities, subject-formation and intersectionality; Indigenous knowledges, rights and political agency; and, Indigenous relationships with non-Indigenous peoples.

This course examines the interrelationship between gender, sexuality and families in New Zealand and other Western societies. Through an examination of important moments in the life course of families – for example, partnering and parenting – it explores changes and continuities in the gendered norms, identities, practices and patterns that characterize contemporary family life.

This course examines the field of machine learning, focusing on the core concepts of supervised and unsupervised learning. In supervised learning, we will discuss algorithms that are trained on input data labelled with the desired output.  Examples of these topics include decision trees, regression, support vector machines, and neural networks. In unsupervised learning, we aim to discover latent structure from input data where no output labels are available. Examples of these topics include clustering and association rule mining.  Students will learn fundamental theory and algorithms that underpin these machine learning techniques, as well as develop an understanding of the relationships between these algorithms and their practical implementation. We will discuss practicalities in the application of machine learning to a range of problems.

This course examines critical contemporary issues for youth in the Pacific region with a particular emphasis on Aotearoa. Throughout this course, issues around health and well-being, identities (ethnic, spiritual, gender), education, climate change, artistic expressions, resilience, youth engagement and risk-taking behaviors will be examined, and the impacts these have upon Pacific young peoples, their families and their communities will be explored.

This course gives students an introduction to the structure of Tongan as well as allowing them to develop basic language skills in listening, speaking, reading and writing.