WEBVTT 00:00:02.640 --> 00:00:10.920 [music] 00:00:10.920 --> 00:00:14.160 Including Universal Design in the Engineering Curriculum 00:00:17.280 --> 00:00:21.040 By including accessibility and universal design 00:00:21.040 --> 00:00:23.000 in engineering curriculum, 00:00:23.000 --> 00:00:26.040 you're making a statement to all the students that you're teaching 00:00:26.040 --> 00:00:29.760 that the perspectives and the needs of people with disabilities 00:00:29.760 --> 00:00:31.360 is something that they need to think about, 00:00:31.360 --> 00:00:36.800 whether they're engineering specifically for that group or for any other group. 00:00:36.800 --> 00:00:41.280 I think it's really important that we train our new engineers 00:00:41.280 --> 00:00:45.080 to be versed in the area of universal design and accessibility 00:00:45.080 --> 00:00:48.200 so that when they create products for the companies that they will work for 00:00:48.200 --> 00:00:52.040 they'll be accessible and usable by people with disabilities 00:00:52.040 --> 00:00:55.280 and individuals with all kinds of different characteristics. 00:00:55.280 --> 00:00:59.440 As a creator of a technology, 00:00:59.440 --> 00:01:03.000 you have the onus and responsibility 00:01:03.000 --> 00:01:07.760 to address the needs of a variety of end-users. 00:01:07.760 --> 00:01:10.680 Universal design and related frameworks 00:01:10.680 --> 00:01:13.960 such as inclusive design, ability-based design, 00:01:13.960 --> 00:01:15.800 and human-centered design 00:01:15.800 --> 00:01:21.960 encourage engineers to be proactive in considering the abilities of diverse users. 00:01:21.960 --> 00:01:24.760 Universal design is defined by the Center for Universal Design 00:01:24.760 --> 00:01:27.200 at North Carolina State University as 00:01:27.240 --> 00:01:30.120 "the design of products and environments to be usable by all 00:01:30.120 --> 00:01:33.520 people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for 00:01:33.680 --> 00:01:38.680 adaptation or specialized design." 00:01:38.680 --> 00:01:41.520 Universal design requires engineers to question 00:01:41.520 --> 00:01:45.440 any assumptions a design makes about its users. 00:01:45.440 --> 00:01:47.640 Engineering students who understand these concepts 00:01:47.640 --> 00:01:51.960 enter the workforce prepared to design for a wide variety of users. 00:01:51.960 --> 00:01:56.960 So just as we teach safety 00:01:56.960 --> 00:02:02.080 and material properties and dynamics within our engineering curriculum, 00:02:02.080 --> 00:02:05.120 incorporating universal design can ensure that our future engineers 00:02:05.120 --> 00:02:10.440 consider those small design tweaks and consider the breadth of the population 00:02:10.440 --> 00:02:13.000 in their design and future innovation. 00:02:13.000 --> 00:02:18.960 Asking “Is this accessible?” or “What are the accessibility implications?” 00:02:18.960 --> 00:02:25.000 then that is a practice that can follow them throughout their engineering career. 00:02:25.000 --> 00:02:29.080 Engineer Billy Price used his own life experience 00:02:29.080 --> 00:02:32.880 as a person with quadriplegia to design a line of shoes. 00:02:32.880 --> 00:02:36.040 It's an example of universal design. 00:02:36.040 --> 00:02:41.520 I don't have the ability to tie laces 00:02:41.520 --> 00:02:44.040 and I know when it comes to laces 00:02:44.040 --> 00:02:51.000 a common solution out there is to use Velcro, but even if you overcome the laces, 00:02:51.000 --> 00:02:55.640 you still have the physical issue of jamming your foot into the shoe, 00:02:55.640 --> 00:03:01.520 so staring at my feet for 18 years, in other words half a lifetime, 00:03:01.520 --> 00:03:07.000 of not being able to put my shoes on, I knew there had to be a better solution. 00:03:07.000 --> 00:03:12.680 The shoe that we've created, yes it has adaptive characteristics. 00:03:12.680 --> 00:03:16.080 But we're not marketing it as an adaptive shoe. 00:03:16.080 --> 00:03:17.200 It's a shoe that's trendy. 00:03:17.200 --> 00:03:19.120 It's a shoe that everyone's going to want to wear. 00:03:19.120 --> 00:03:21.720 It's a shoe that will be in all the stores, 00:03:21.720 --> 00:03:23.840 so anyone can buy it. 00:03:23.840 --> 00:03:25.640 The shoes have a unique zipper 00:03:25.640 --> 00:03:28.640 that runs along the outside edge of the shoe. 00:03:28.640 --> 00:03:31.840 It opens like a clamshell. 00:03:31.840 --> 00:03:35.600 There are opportunities for universal design 00:03:35.600 --> 00:03:38.480 in thousands of consumer products and built environments 00:03:38.480 --> 00:03:41.800 that engineers help to design and build. 00:03:41.800 --> 00:03:43.360 Addressing these needs can improve the lives 00:03:43.360 --> 00:03:48.080 of individuals with disabilities and the general population. 00:03:48.080 --> 00:03:50.120 Engineering educators can help prepare their students 00:03:50.120 --> 00:03:52.080 to design for diverse abilities 00:03:52.080 --> 00:03:55.360 by introducing accessibility or universal design topics 00:03:55.360 --> 00:03:57.000 in a variety of ways. 00:03:57.000 --> 00:04:01.800 You could do maybe just part of a lecture, 00:04:01.800 --> 00:04:04.600 or you could just do one lecture on it, 00:04:04.600 --> 00:04:07.120 or several lectures, not a whole course, 00:04:07.120 --> 00:04:10.120 and the third option is to just develop a whole course 00:04:10.120 --> 00:04:12.120 on accessibility and universal design. 00:04:12.120 --> 00:04:16.000 In a classroom when you're having a design challenge, 00:04:16.000 --> 00:04:19.040 if you think about how could somebody, 00:04:19.040 --> 00:04:21.720 could somebody who's older and has arthritis 00:04:21.720 --> 00:04:24.040 use this thing you're designing? 00:04:24.040 --> 00:04:28.720 Could a pregnant woman use this thing you've just created? 00:04:28.720 --> 00:04:30.920 Start asking those questions. 00:04:30.920 --> 00:04:32.520 Could somebody who's color-blind use this? 00:04:32.520 --> 00:04:36.320 You're actually thinking about a more broad population. 00:04:36.320 --> 00:04:40.320 It's an easy way to sneak some ideas about universal design, 00:04:40.320 --> 00:04:48.760 creating a product that's more widely usable into what you're designing. 00:04:48.760 --> 00:04:51.680 University of Washington's Terrill Thompson 00:04:51.680 --> 00:04:54.720 created a web design curriculum for high school students 00:04:54.720 --> 00:04:59.000 that integrates accessibility into design considerations. 00:04:59.000 --> 00:05:04.320 Kids are learning to code web pages 00:05:04.320 --> 00:05:07.920 using all the languages that you use to code webpages– 00:05:07.920 --> 00:05:11.080 HTML, CSS and JavaScript– 00:05:11.080 --> 00:05:16.400 and they learn very early on some core design principles, 00:05:16.400 --> 00:05:20.360 one of which is the need for accessible design. 00:05:20.360 --> 00:05:23.080 And so they learn how people with disabilities 00:05:23.080 --> 00:05:25.840 access computers and access the Web 00:05:25.840 --> 00:05:28.520 and what some of the challenges they face are, 00:05:28.520 --> 00:05:31.960 and then as they're learning new techniques throughout the course 00:05:31.960 --> 00:05:35.240 they learn or they're taught to ask, 00:05:35.240 --> 00:05:38.000 how does this technique affect accessibility? 00:05:38.000 --> 00:05:43.040 But there are other ways that faculty can teach about disability, 00:05:43.040 --> 00:05:46.120 accessibility, and universal design in their courses. 00:05:46.120 --> 00:05:52.080 I think that capstone courses, the purpose of them is to allow students to 00:05:52.080 --> 00:05:57.440 apply the skills that they've learned in a real world situation 00:05:57.440 --> 00:06:00.720 and so it can be a great opportunity for students, 00:06:00.720 --> 00:06:06.800 to first of all understand that accessibility and universal design 00:06:06.800 --> 00:06:09.560 can address real world problems. 00:06:09.560 --> 00:06:14.160 But also to allow the students to put some of the skills they've learned into practice. 00:06:14.160 --> 00:06:17.160 I teach our senior design course 00:06:17.160 --> 00:06:20.280 which is a common year-long course for engineering students 00:06:20.280 --> 00:06:23.520 that they take in their final year if they're an undergraduate. 00:06:23.520 --> 00:06:27.040 And that really is a natural place for integrating topics of 00:06:27.040 --> 00:06:28.400 accessibility and universal design. 00:06:28.400 --> 00:06:33.600 We have students working on projects from designing an electric skateboard 00:06:33.600 --> 00:06:39.960 to figuring out the next medical product that can prevent collapsed lungs. 00:06:39.960 --> 00:06:43.680 And in all of these, components of universal design 00:06:43.680 --> 00:06:48.760 can enter to help them do user testing on a diverse set of users, 00:06:48.760 --> 00:06:51.520 consider how small changes in their design 00:06:51.520 --> 00:06:55.000 can increase access, or make a device easier to use. 00:06:55.000 --> 00:06:57.040 Often a design tweak that, for example, 00:06:57.040 --> 00:06:59.720 makes it easier for an individual with a visual impairment 00:06:59.720 --> 00:07:02.400 or who has limited dexterity 00:07:02.400 --> 00:07:06.440 will actually make the product easier for everyone to use. 00:07:06.440 --> 00:07:10.680 So we inject universal design into our curriculum 00:07:10.680 --> 00:07:14.960 to encourage them to explore lots of different design spaces 00:07:14.960 --> 00:07:17.360 and hopefully, ultimately have a better design. 00:07:17.360 --> 00:07:21.560 In my class, I teach a biomechanics class 00:07:21.560 --> 00:07:27.520 and we talk about momentum and linear and angular momentum 00:07:27.520 --> 00:07:34.080 and I demonstrate how I use momentum to swing my arm to get my hand up 00:07:34.080 --> 00:07:38.040 onto the joystick of my wheelchair. 00:07:38.040 --> 00:07:44.440 So it's kind of, try to incorporate those type of examples in class. 00:07:44.440 --> 00:07:47.400 Giving students opportunities to 00:07:47.400 --> 00:07:50.000 meet and interact with people with disabilities 00:07:50.000 --> 00:07:52.960 is a great way to include it in the curriculum. 00:07:52.960 --> 00:07:55.720 We've found that the students learned so much 00:07:55.720 --> 00:08:00.080 through just having a space to sit down and talk frankly about 00:08:00.080 --> 00:08:05.160 issues surrounding accessibility, disability, and some of the societal implications. 00:08:05.160 --> 00:08:10.040 By teaching accessibility and universal design in engineering courses, 00:08:10.040 --> 00:08:14.520 faculty are producing engineers who can succeed in a competitive job market 00:08:14.520 --> 00:08:17.720 because they will be equipped to create products that are widely accessible 00:08:17.720 --> 00:08:21.400 to users with diverse abilities. 00:08:21.400 --> 00:08:23.920 Instructors can get started by... 00:08:24.080 --> 00:08:27.640 including a panel of individuals with diverse abilities, 00:08:27.680 --> 00:08:29.880 helping students to consider universal design 00:08:29.880 --> 00:08:35.680 and address disability-related issues in design projects, 00:08:35.680 --> 00:08:38.280 requiring that students adhere to accessibility guidelines 00:08:38.280 --> 00:08:41.080 when they create user interfaces or websites. 00:08:41.080 --> 00:08:51.520 If we want an accessible society with innovation that includes accessibility, 00:08:51.520 --> 00:08:57.600 then students need to be taught about universal design and accessibility. 00:08:57.600 --> 00:09:01.040 To learn more about how you can incorporate accessibility 00:09:01.720 --> 00:09:05.000 and universal design in engineering courses, visit the 00:09:05.000 --> 00:09:08.320 AccessEngineering website hosted by the University of Washington. 00:09:08.320 --> 00:09:17.200 uw.edu/doit/programs/accessengineering 00:09:17.200 --> 00:09:21.840 AccessEngineering is supported by National Science Foundation 00:09:21.840 --> 00:09:29.200 Grant number EEC-144961. Any opinions, findings, and 00:09:29.200 --> 00:09:32.520 conclusions or recommendations expressed in this video are 00:09:32.520 --> 00:09:35.520 those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of 00:09:35.520 --> 00:09:38.760 the National Science Foundation. 00:09:38.760 --> 00:09:42.000 Copyright 2016. 00:09:42.000 --> 00:09:45.000 Permission is granted to copy these materials for educational 00:09:45.720 --> 00:09:51.160 non-commercial purposes provided the source is acknowledged.