Projects

Fall 2023 Project Teams

Final Presentations

On this page:

Students are spending the semester working with community members in interdisciplinary teams. One of the course goals is for teams to collaborate equally to develop an accessibility solution.

Recommendations to get started

  • Don’t make changes to anyone’s personal equipment.
  • Don’t act as clinicians (even if you are a trained clinician). Don’t make clinical decisions for this project.
  • Limit risk. Make sure everyone on the team has discussed and is aware of the potential risks of any solution (physical, privacy, usability, etc).
  • Create an environment where everyone can share ideas freely and has equal opportunity to collaborate. 
  • Always get consent from everyone on the team before posting content on the website. 
  • Focus on simple problems with simple solutions first. 
  • Remember that the semester goes quickly.
  • Make a schedule.
  • Have fun!

Project Documentation

Groups should follow these instructions when documenting their projects, and use the project template as a starting point. 

Students are expected to follow digital accessibility best practices, and at a minimum all images should have descriptive alternative text, and all videos captions. See the NYU Digital Accessibility Guidelines for more information to get started. 

Projects should be documented with the following structure:  

Front Page

This page gives an overview of the project, the members, the achievements throughout the semester, and a “hero” image that highlights the main achievement. This page should be updated throughout the semester as the team meets (and refines) their goals.

Weekly Updates

Project blogs should be updated each week. The purpose of the first weekly update is to describe goals and the second is to start looking for related products and projects. After these firs two posts, students will update thier blogs weekly with their accomplishments, ideas, and questions. See details below. 

First Blog Post (Goals and Timeline)

  • Team Name (describe how this was a collaborative process) 
  • Select the student who will be the main point of contact for the group to schedule meetings, and manage email 
  • Overview of team member responsibilities
  • Schedule for regular meetings throughout the semester
  • Description of the project 
  • What tools / expertise will you leverage to complete the project?
    • What does your team already have a good understanding of
    • What additional tools / expertise will you need to complete the project?
  • What is your timeline?

Second Blog Post (Initial Competitive Analysis)

Include at least the following and may include additional sections depending on your project and findings.

  • What is commercially available to solve the problem?
    • Describe at least 3 potential approaches (either commercially available products or DIY tutorials) that could be used by your partner.
    • Include pictures and URLs for the products you found. For each, describe what differentiates your solution.
  • What research has been done in similar domains?
    • Briefly describe at least 3 related research papers from the academic field most relevant to your project (for example, Occupational Therapy, Rehab Science, Human-Computer Interaction, Engineering, …)
    • Include citations and link to resources page 
  • Reflect on the impact of this solution
    • What is the relationship between your proposed solution and the current technologies your partner uses?
    • How will your group ensure that your solution won’t interfere with your partner’s current daily activities?
    • How will your group design a solution so it doesn’t interfere with other devices in your partner’s environment.

Weekly Journaling 

As you plan and think through the problem/solution you are addressing, document your work on your project page. You may have one or two point-people post your journal but it should represent the work of all of the members. Entries should be posted at least once weekly, with dates.

Topics and Advice for Journal entries

  • Documentation: Include lots of details and pictures so that readers can follow your development process. You are welcome to link out to external resources (or upload to the wordpress media folder).
  • Challenges: Describe the challenges in creating this project and how you overcame the obstacles. You can highlight information included in your ‘journal’.
  • User testing / prototype evaluation: The community partner will take the primary responsibility trying the prototype. If you are able, consider asking others for input about the design and use of the prototype. Describe the testing/trial procedures you used.
  • Future Plans: What are the next steps (for your team or another one)? What suggestions do you have for other uses of the device and other features you would like to build in?
  • References: Use cite your sources within the body of the text (in whichever format you prefer), and link to the full citation on the resources page.

Resource Page (template example)

This page should include all tutorials, products, articles, research papers, social media, or other content that was used to inform this project. These resources can use any formatting style you choose (APA, MLA, ACM, etc.) and you can use one large list or organize it into sections. 

Midterm Deliverables

Final Deliverables