Course Syllabus – Last Updated: September 22, 2019

Inclusive Design in HCIINST 704

Fall 2019

Learning Outcomes

This 3-credit course is an introduction to designing, prototyping, and evaluating inclusive user interfaces that meet the needs of a diverse range users—such as users with visual, cognitive or motor impairments, users who are Deaf/deaf or hard of hearing, and older adults. Building on basic concepts in human-centered design, you will learn about design exclusion and barriers to use, and methods by which these can be overcome.Topics will cover current technologies and practical considerations (e.g., web accessibility requirements), as well as research developments and design of the next generation of accessible technologies. You will interact with the material through readings, discussion, and individual and group assignments.

After successfully completing this course you will be able to:

apply user research and design methods to create new technology prototypes that improve accessibility.

describe how factors such as age, impairment and context broadly impact user interface design requirements.

characterize and compare common design paradigms and philosophies related to inclusive user interface design.

implement accessibility guidelines at a basic level of competence.

identify a range of assistive technologies and understand what accessibility problems they address.

Required ResourcesCourse website: elms.umd.edu

A sketchbookalternatively, a blank notebook (no lines)About 8.5" x 11" (not exact but close is good)At least 50 pages

We will be using these sketchbooks regularly throughout

Dr. Hernisa Kacorrihernisa@umd.edu

Class MeetsTuesdays 11am – 1:45pmHBK #0302J

Office HoursHBK #2118ATuesdays (except 10/29)Walk-in 2pm – 3pmSchedule 3pm – 3:30pm

Teaching AssistantsJonggi Hong jhong12@umd.edu

TA Office HoursHBK #0215ATuesdays (except 10/29)Walk-in 3:30pm – 4:30pmSchedule 4:30pm – 5pm

Reserved Design SpaceHBK 0215, 0215D-GTuesdays 9am-11amTuesdays 1:45pm-5pm

PrerequisitesINST631; or permission of instructor.

Course

the semester, starting from the second week. As with any assignment in this course, if paper-and-pencil sketching is not accessible to you, please let me know and we will use an alternative format. See the “Access and Accommodations” section below for more information. No other purchases are required.

Readings will consist primarily of book excerpts and research papers and will be provided by the instructor or online through the UMD Libraries.Supplemental resources for learning more about inclusive design:

• Holmes, Kat. 2018. Mismatch: How Inclusion Shapes Design. The MIT Press.

• Pullin, Graham. 2011. Design Meets Disability. The MIT Press.

• Horton, S. 2014. A Web for Everyone: Designing Accessible User Experiences. Rosenfeld Media.

CommunicationELMS announcements or email will be used to send time-sensitive information. I try my best to respond within 1-2 working days.

AbsencesStudents are expected to attend class regularly, particularly given the importance of in-class participation in this course.

Tips for success Make use of the collaborative space reserved for this class on Tuesdays to work

on assignments. Complete the reading at least two days before a new week begins and allow

yourself some time before writing the reflection. Be an active participant during lectures and group meetings. Ask questions - during class or office hours, or on the discussion board. Ask me,

your TA, your group members, and your classmates. Start early on your web accessibility assignments. For your project, team up with people that have complimentary skills. Practice, practice, practice and time your individual presentation as well as the

poster presentation.

Workload & GuidelinesYou are expected to put in about 6-9 hours of work/week outside of class. Some of you will do well with less time than this, and some of you will need more. Guidelines for written materials for the course include:

Full name and assignment title at the top of the paper Single-spaced 11 or 12-point font that is easily readable 1-inch margins In-text citations and references section in APA style. Consistent formatting Free of grammatical errors and erroneous typos

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GradesYour grade is determined by your performance on the learning assessments in the course and is assigned individually (not curved). I am happy to discuss any of your grades with you, and if we have made a mistake I will immediately correct it. Any formal grade disputes must be submitted in writing and within one week of receiving the grade. All assessment scores will be posted on the course ELMS page.

Learning Points Category

Category

Assessments # Each Total WeightClass Participation 15 6 90 9%Individual Presentation 1 60 60 6%Sketching Journal 12 10 120 12%Reading Reflections 12 10 120 12%Web Accessibility Assignments

2 based on assignment(accessible form, accessibility

evaluation)

200 20%

Group Project 1 based on deliverable(proposal, midpoint, poster,

report)

350 35%

Sketching Reflection 1 60 60 6%Total Points: 1000

100%

Final letter grades are assigned based on the percentage of total assessment points earned.

Final Grade Cutoffs+ 97.00

%+ 87.00

%+ 77.00

%+ 67.00

%A 94.00

%B 84.00

%C 74.00

%D 64.00

%F <60.0

%- 90.00

%- 80.00

%- 70.00

%- 60.00

%

Activities, Learning Assessments, & Expectations for Students

Class Participation (90 points – 9%)Students are expected to attend class regularly and actively discuss the readings and presented material, engage with guest speakers, and participate in design and evaluation activities. You are not graded on attendance, but you are graded on participation. We will track attendance to help us evaluate your participation grade.

Individual Presentation (60 points – 6%)You will do one short presentation during the semester that either introduces and discusses a news item related to inclusive technology design, or presents and critiques a particularly good or poor example of inclusive technology design. Presentations will be given before we start each lecture starting from Week 4. Please sign up in the

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following form for the date of your presentation stating your name and tentative topic or title of your presentation. All presentations will be in a shared Google Slides file. Presentations will be evaluated based on the student's ability to relate the presentation to concepts covered in class, the utility of the information presented, clarity, the student’s ability to engage the audience with questions or discussion, and length. For this last point, the presentation must be exactly 5 minutes. That means you need to practice and polish your presentation beforehand to ensure that you're concisely and effectively making all the points you need to make within the time limit.

Reading Reflections (120 points – 12%)This class requires a substantial amount of reading and discussion of reading in class. To ensure that you read and understand the required material and are prepared for discussions, each day that has a reading assignment, you will be required to submit a reading reflection that summaries the readings and lists two discussion questions. The reading reflection should be brief, approximately 200-400 words. The grading is pass/fail based on the quality of the summary and discussion questions.

Sketching Journal (120 points – 12%)Almost every week we will have an open-ended topic or a specific design problem to tackle, where you will do sketches on three inclusive design solutions related to that topic. For open-ended topics, you will come up with any new product idea or accessibility / assistive tech / inclusive design improvement to an existing product, perhaps inspired by your interactions with technology over that week. The focus is on the quantity of sketches and ideas and not the quality. Futuristic, off-the-wall, and original ideas are welcome and encouraged! You must bring your sketches to class to participate in design critique and discussion.

Sketching Reflection (60 points – 6%)One of the goals of this course is to be able to think critically about the design of existing objects and interactions and come up with ways of making them more inclusive, as well as coming up with completely new solutions to different problems. At the end of the semester, you will write a short reflection upon your sketching experience, its usefulness in the generation of design ideas, and what you learned from feedback during the group critique sessions.

Web Accessibility Assignment: Accessible form (80 points – 8%)You will create a version of a form that is accessible and report on your findings by submitting a URL to your form and writing up a one-page report.

Web Accessibility Assignment: Web accessibility evaluation (120 points – 12%)You will generate an accessibility report for a website based on an automatic accessibility checking tool, your experience with a screen reader, and general knowledge you have gained in class.

Group Project (350 points – 35%)

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For a bit over two-months you will work in groups of 3 to design, prototype, and/or evaluate a new technology. There are 4 deliverables:

• Proposal (50 points – 5%)• Midpoint progress report (100 points – 10%)• Poster submission & poster presentation (100 points – 10%) The team will submit

the poster in electronic format before printing it. Each member of the team will be presenting the poster in a rotating fashion during the last day of the class in a poster session that will be open to the iSchool.

• Final report (100 points – 10%)

Default project process. The default project process, which most (if not all) teams will follow is a participatory design process with a single participant.

Alternative projects. Other types of projects are possible, but only with advance approval from the instructor. An alternative project must be ambitious and original. If you would like to pursue an alternative project, you must talk to the instructor as early as possible (and long before the project proposal is due) about the feasibility of the idea and to receive permission.

Alternative projects can take one of three forms: • Formative research: The primary outcome of this type of project will be design

implications for a new technology. The focus will be on understanding the needs of a specific population and how those needs can be used to inform the design of or refinement of a particular technology. This could include interviews and/or focus groups with the target population, observations of behaviors, or participatory design sessions.

• Prototype: Design, prototype, and evaluate a new technology for a specific population. The evaluation for this type of project can be more exploratory, rather than a full-scale evaluation, but you must still work with target populations to understand their needs and reactions to the prototype.

• Usability Evaluation: Usability evaluation of an existing assistive technology with the specific population. This may include working on an experimental lab setup or fully assessing the usability and usefulness of a specific product through a field study.

Course-Specific Policies

Syllabus Change Policy. This is a living document and is subject to change. Please note that you have the latest document as indicated by the date at the document header.

Technology Use Policy. Bring your laptop and phone to class every day and limit their usage to course-related purposes only (e.g., taking notes, participating with Slido). If you are clearly dedicating more of your attention to your laptop or phone than to the activities of the class, your participation grade may be affected.

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Please understand your technology use in the classroom impacts not only your own educational experience, but that of the other students in class. Read this scholarly paper to learn more about how your technology use impacts you and others: Sana, F., Weston, T., & Cepeda, N. J. (2013). Laptop multitasking hinders classroom learning for both users and nearby peers. Computers & Education, 62, 24-31.

Absence Policy. If you are sick and need to stay home, or need to see a doctor, then please do so. Inform both of us (instructor and TA) before class via email and you will be excused for that day. Missing more than 3 excused days of class will affect your grade negatively, unless you have special circumstances that cannot be avoided.

Extensions and Late Work Policy. If you will be late or need an extension, message us both (instructor and TA). We are here to help you learn, not give you a low grade. Let's figure out what we can do, together. In most circumstances, a late assignment will be graded down by 10% of its total grade per calendar day, starting on the same day it is due.

Groupwork Policy. Outside of class, your group will be responsible for meeting to complete all required assignments. I am hoping that you will make the most out of the Collaborative Space that I have reserved for Tuesdays. Teams will evaluate one another three different times during the semester. Teams are expected to attempt to resolve conflict and disagreements on their own before asking the instructor team for help. If a group identifies a problem student who is not contributing I reserve the right to invoke the "slacker clause." In short, you will be required to finish theremaining work for the quarter by yourself (this will be difficult, so you do not want this to happen).

Accessibility Policy. When possible we will make all our media (documents, images, videos, slides) accessible.

Attribution Policy. We will pay a lot of attention acknowledge and cite all sources for everything we use.

Accommodations. Please come and see me as soon as possible if you think you might need any special accommodations for disabilities. In addition, please contact the Disability Support Services (301-314-7682 or http://www.counseling.umd.edu/DSS/). Disability Support Services will work with us to help create appropriate academic accommodations for any qualified students with disabilities.

Support for students’ health and wellbeing. I have made a conscious choice to have our assignment deadlines no later than 10pm and avoid any email correspondence after 6pm and on the weekends. I hope you will come talk to me so that I can help you find the right approach to success in this course, and I encourage you to visit tutoring.umd.edu to learn more about the wide range of campus resources available to you. In particular, everyone can use some help sharpen their communication skills (and improving their grade) by visiting ter.ps/writing and schedule an appointment with the campus Writing Center. You should also know there are a wide range of resources to support you with whatever you might need (see go.umd.edu/assistance), and if you just

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need someone to talk to, visit counseling.umd.edu or one of the many other resources on campus.

Names/Pronouns and Self Identifications. The University of Maryland recognizes the importance of a diverse student body, and we are committed to fostering inclusive and equitable classroom environments. I invite you, if you wish, to tell us how you want to be referred to both in terms of your name and your pronouns (he/him, she/her, they/them, etc.). The pronouns someone indicates are not necessarily indicative of their gender identity. Visit trans.umd.edu to learn more.

Additionally, how you identify in terms of your gender, race, class, sexuality, religion, and dis/ability, among all aspects of your identity, is your choice whether to disclose (e.g., should it come up in classroom conversation about our experiences and perspectives) and should be self-identified, not presumed or imposed. I will do my best to address and refer to all students accordingly, and I ask you to do the same for all of your fellow Terps.

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Course ScheduleAll assignments = To be submitted online by 10:00pm that day

WEEK LECTURE, ASSIGNMENTS, AND ACTIVITIES

WEEK 1Tue 8/27 Topic: Introduction to inclusive design

Mon 9/2 Reading ReflectionTue 9/3 Sketching Journal

WEEK 2Tue 9/3 Topic: Participatory design

Mon 9/9 Reading ReflectionTue 9/10 Sketching Journal

WEEK 3

Tue 9/10 Topic: Web accessibilityGuest Lecture: Jonggi Hong @ UMD

Mon 9/16 Reading ReflectionTue 9/17 Sketching Journal

WEEK 4

Student Presentations [1, 2, 3]Tue 9/17 Topic: Designing with people with visual impairments

Guest Lecture: Kyungjun Lee @ UMD

Mon 9/23 Reading ReflectionTue 9/24 Sketching Journal

WEEK 5

Student Presentations [4, 5, 6]Tue 9/24 Topic: Designing with people with motor impairments

Mon 9/30 Reading ReflectionTue 10/1 Sketching JournalMon 10/4 Create an Accessible Form

WEEK 6

Student Presentations [7, 8, 9]Tue 10/1 Topic: Designing with people who are Deaf or hard of hearing

Mon 10/7 Project ProposalMon 10/7 Reading ReflectionTue 10/8 Sketching Journal

WEEK 7

Student Presentations [10, 11, 12]Tue 10/8 Topic: Disability, design and AI

Guest Lecture: Cole Gleason @ CMU

Mon 10/14 Reading ReflectionTue 10/15 Sketching Journal

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WEEK 8

Student Presentations [13, 14, 15]Tue 10/15 Topic: Designing with people with cognitive impairments

Mon 10/21 Website Accessibility EvaluationMon 10/21 Reading ReflectionTue 10/22 Sketching Journal

WEEK 9

Student Presentations [16, 17, 18]Tue 10/22 Topic: Accessibility in industry

Guest Lecture: Emily Rhodes @ Google

Mon 11/4 Reading ReflectionTue 11/5 Sketching Journal

WEEK 10Tue 10/29 No Lecture – Movie Screening (TBD) – Project Week

Mon 11/4 Project Midpoint Progress

WEEK 11

Student Presentations [19, 20, 21]Tue 11/5 Topic: Designing with older adults

Guest Lecture: Amanda Lazar @ UMD

Mon 11/11 Reading ReflectionTue 11/12 Sketching Journal

WEEK 12

Student Presentations [22, 23, 24]Tue 11/12 Topic: Designing with people from low resource settings

Mon 11/18 Reading ReflectionTue 11/19 Sketching Journal

WEEK 13

Student Presentations [25, 26, 27]Tue 11/19 Topic: Accessibility in the real world

Guest Talk & Lab Visit: Dan Newsome @ Adaptive Technology Lab UMD

Mon 11/25 Reading ReflectionTue 11/26 Sketching JournalTue 11/26 Project Poster

WEEK 14

Student Presentations [28, 29, 30]Tue 11/26 Topic: Designing with people with situational impairments

Guest Talk: Gregg Vanderheiden @ Trace Center, UMD

Mon 12/2 Project ReportTue 12/3 Sketching Journal Reflection

WEEK 15 Tue 12/3 Project Poster Session - Open to the iSchool

Note: This is a tentative syllabus and schedule, and subject to change as necessary – monitor the course ELMS page for current deadlines. In the unlikely event of a prolonged university closing, or an extended

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absence from the university, adjustments to the course schedule, deadlines, and assignments will be made based on the duration of the closing and the specific dates missed.

AcknowledgementsThe materials for this course were compiled heavily drawing from previous iterations of related courses taught by Leah Findlater, Shaun Kane, and Matt Huenerfauth.

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