Perspectives is the newsletter of the Stanford course,
Perspectives in Assistive Technology.

Summer Update

This newsletter issue summaries last academic year's course
and describes plans for the coming year.

Summer Update

Greetings, members of the Stanford's Assistive Technology course community,

I hope you are doing well - getting vaccinated, staying healthy, and being safe - during this post-pandemic time. Over the past several months, I have been scrambling to finish my Winter Quarter Assistive Technology course, including reading final reports and submitting grades. I have continued to struggle to keep up with my physical exercise, emails, meetings, virtual conference presentations, and interactions at home with my laptop. My previous on-campus routine has been disrupted and I have just begun seeing friends and colleagues in person. However, I am optimistic about the return to "normal life" at home and at on-campus. Here is my report on what has happened since the end of March and my thoughts for the future.

Review of last academic year's course

Thanks - First, I would like to thank everybody who participated in the course as a student, a guest lecturer, an Assistive Technology Faire vendor, a project partner, or an interested community member. Your contributions are much appreciated.

Students - This past academic year, the course enrolled 43 students who Zoomed in from their Stanford residences, from their homes in the US, and from several foreign countries. Twenty-four worked on projects - some fabricated prototypes, others produced CAD designs, and some wrote reports on assistive technology products or facilities. One student contracted the COVID virus but recovered quickly. Here is a slideshow of their projects.

Student comments - Despite a few glitches with Zoom and network issues, the course went well. Here are the students' comments.

Plans for next year's course

In-person instruction - Stanford is planning to hold in-person instruction starting in the Fall. One important change is the timing of the class sessions. As you may recall, this course ran from 4:30 to 5:50pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This was an ideal time slot as community members were able to take advantage of open parking after 4:00pm. However, the new time schedule offered 90-minute class sessions starting at 3:15pm and 5:30pm. I choose the earlier time to take advantage of the daylight and allow field trips to the VA Medical Center and the Magical Bridge Playground. The 10-minute increase in class time permits a tenth team and its 3 students to participate in the course.

Course activities - Stanford courses are planned to be taught in-person in the coming academic year, so I will be re-instating the following course activities and features: team projects, community attendance in class sessions, field trips, in-person Assistive Technology Faire, movie night, and most importantly, chocolate chip cookies.

Classroom assignment - Almost every year I have had trouble securing a suitably accessible classroom. I thought this year would be no different - or even more difficult due to rennovations and unavailability of some classrooms. I submitted an email to the folks who assign classrooms to courses outlining the accessibility needs, DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) implications, and ADA mandate for a reasonable accommodation for students, guest lecturers, and community members with disabilities or older adults. I just found out last week that my request was read and the classroom I used in 2019 and 2020 - Lathrop 282 - has now been assigned to my course!

Course schedule - I plan to follow my course strategy of inviting guest lecturers to present in class sessions. I do not anticipate many new presenters. Contacting them, getting their available dates, and scheduling the class sessions will occur over the next several months.

Upcoming solicitations

Project and Faire solicitations - In preparation for the upcoming Winter Quarter course offering, I would like to begin to solicit projects suggestions from community members now and Assistive Technology Faire vendors thereafter. Here are some project criteria to consider:

1. Project suggestions must address a real challenge experienced by a community member with a disability or older adult who lives in the local community. The problem or struggle must be one that is not adequately served by existing commercial products. (Perform an internet search to verify this.) It is important to identify and describe the challenge rather than imagining a solution.
2. The scale of the project must be such that it could be pursued by a team of three students in the 10-week quarter, resulting in a fabricated functional prototype.
3. Refer to Project Requirements webpage for further information.

Here is an example project suggestion that should guide your thinking:

Please contact me with your ideas, questions, comments, and project suggestions - or just to say hello. Please continue to stay safe & healthy.

Dave Jaffe - Course Instructor

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