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Comments
about the Course
Winter 2020
Contents
Contents
Comments extracted from
students' Individual Reflections
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Previous years' comments
from Student's Individual Reflections
- 2014 2013 2012
Contents
Comments from VPTL Online
Evaluation
In response to these
questions:
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What skills or
knowledge did you learn or improve?
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Diving deeper into
needfinding
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I became aware that my level of
empathy towards disabled persons was not where I thought it was, or should have
been. I've grown as a result.
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I learned how to think in an
inclusive and adaptive design mindset. I learned how to use some basic tools at
the PRL.
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Failing forward, rapid
prototyping processes, designing within constraints
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Designing for people with
disabilities
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I was exposed to a variety of
different realms in the assistive technology sphere and learned a lot from the
guest lecturers who came in to talk about their
experiences.
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Building for one
person
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Use my skills to help
others.
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Assistive technology - what
devices were/are on the market, what are people looking for, related issues and
challenges - also interesting social questions
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Engineering
fundamentals
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Prototyping,
engineering
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I learned about a lot of
technologies I was unfamiliar with and also the challenges of developing these
technologies.
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What would you like to
say about this course to a student who is considering taking it in the
future?
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Great course to make an impact
in someone's life. Having direct access to the end user is an incredible
advantage to the iterative process. There is little instruction on design
thinking or engineering-specific topics, so show up ready to take some serious
initiative outside of class. That said, choose your team wisely. You may find
yourself carrying someone else's workload if you don't have a good mix of
skills.
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Take this class for more than
one unit. Felt like more work than expected or planned, but fun to work on a
project with real impact.
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It is definitely a great course.
The caveat is the group work. In my case my group was not really that helpful,
but since I enjoyed the projects a lot, it worked.
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It's a neat class. Accessible to
students of all engineering backgrounds. The other comments are right that it's
good to start the project with plenty of time because different from other
classes you're working with a real person and you have a relationship with this
person so you want to be respectful and deliver a solid project. Overall very
chill workload.
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You are given a lot of freedom
in terms of how you want to approach your project. I would suggest taking time
in making sure you are choosing a team that you will work well in. The aspect
of the class were you work with a community member and build a project I very
much enjoyed.
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The guest speakers are great and
really interesting!
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Do it! But get started early and
pick a good team with notable skillsets!
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Although I did not take it for 3
units, I think the 3 unit project with a community partner will allow you to
get the most out of this class. It is rare at Stanford to be able to work with
a person with disabilities and design something just for
them.
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Go for it, you get to do a super
cool project with a (hopefully) great community member and learn some stuffs.
Good if you want more building experience.
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The team project is
great.
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It's entertaining and a good
opportunity to use your skills to generate a positive impact in
society.
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The speakers provide an
interesting in sight on assistive technology, and the project brings invaluable
experience to anyone who wishes to apply their design skills to useful
problems.
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Make sure to start early and
establish a steady pace.
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Overall I would recommend this
course. Some of the speakers are great and engaging. I think that the project
is worthwhile and cool to work with partners outside of
Stanford.
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Would you like to
provide any other comments about this course?
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Have a "more advanced" version
for grad students would be amazing!
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Thanks Dave!
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For all students - What
item did you hear, see, or learn was most surprising, new, interesting, or
provided a new perspective?
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I loved that this was not only a
class of what are the assistive devices and how to make them, but rather on how
to see the person first and the disability second.
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Hearing from primary source
individuals regarding disabilities was better than the common secondhand
conveyance normally encountered in classroom settings.
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I learned that each person has a
different perspective and relationship with technology and it is important to
hold as wide of a scope as possible to make things
inclusive.
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I especially appreciated the
perspectives of students with disabilities. I thought this was beneficial
because it provided an alternative lens to interpret Stanford and its
environment in framing our design process.
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Design for a person with
disabilities so that the focus is no longer on their
disability
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I really appreciated the dancer
(Alice Sheppard) who came in to talk and provide a very valid view on
disability and how it is part of her identity.
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How assistive technology was
seen by the persons according their different disabilities. Some of them
prefered don't have assistive technology because they felt that distance them
from the rest, others (usually those disabilities that impacted more their life
styles) where ok with the assistive technology, while other envisioned a world
that can work for everyone, without making special
accommodations.
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Alice's lecture - you don't have
the right to know people's medical history so you should be careful about
asking.
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Alice Sheppard's approach on
society in regard to disability
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The cool factor was something I
found new.
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I liked the Stanford student
perspectives.
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I think something that I learned
was how individual everything is. It truly is about individual perspectives
which is what makes designing products difficult. At the same time, we are all
similar in the fact that we want to be included and look and feel good in our
bodies.
top
For students who worked
on a team project - Provide one example of an assistive technology or design /
development concept presented in class that you used in pursuit of your team
project.
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Empathy! and listening more than
speaking
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To create effective designs for
people with disabilities, it is necessary to receive first-hand feedback, but
also to think outside of the confines of what is considered
"normal".
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Rapid
iteration.
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My team heavily utilized the
"understanding the need" portion of the design framework that David
presents.
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Alice Sheppard's
perspective
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We tried to make our system look
nice
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Designing for
aesthetics
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We decided to explore existing
solutions and re-examine how they can be used or modified for our
partner.
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For students who worked
on a team project - What did you find most valuable about your team project
experience?
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Definitely the community
partners intercations
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We created a novel design, which
was exciting to work on. Plus I got to get back into the PRL and work with my
hands, which I enjoy.
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Meeting
often
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I really enjoyed working with
our suggestor and it was a very rewarding experience!
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Building a real product for a
real person
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Getting to work with Abby --
she's amazing
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Getting
feedback
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Learning how to navigate team
dynamics in conjunction with feedback from our assigned
group
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I liked meeting with community
members.
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I think of the most valuable
aspects of the team project was the process. Starting with a problem,
interviewing our partner, understanding the problem and developing our ideas
and solution.
Previous years'
comments
- 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008
Contents
Comments from Cardinal
Course Student Survey
In response to these
questions:
top
Provide an example of a
course concept that you encountered in pursuing your
project.
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top
What did you find
valuable about your project experience?
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top
How could your project
experience have been improved?
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top
Would you recommend
that other students take this course?
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Previous years'
comments
- 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008
Contents
Comments accompanying
Final Reports or Individual Reflections
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Contents
Comments in reply to
instructor's review of students' Individual Reflections
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Contents
Comments from community
members at the Final Project Presentations
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Comments from students on
the Course Evaluation Form
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Contents
Comments from community
members on the Course Evaluation Form
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Contents
Comments from a community
members by email
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Contents
Comments from a student by
email
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Draft of an article for Stanford
Daily Magazine:
As Stanford students, we often
think about the impact we want to make on the world. With the legacy of the
university and the powerful role models surrounding us, it is easy to stress
about what or how we want to make a difference. Who will know our name? What
will we invent? Whether it is deciding on a major or deciding what to do after
graduation, we are constantly thinking long-term about our ambitions. But among
such existential questions, it is easy to lose sight of the everyday
opportunities we have to take small steps in the right
direction.
For this reason, I was very
excited This quarter to learn that Engineering 110, Perspectives in Assistive
Technology, is one such opportunity to find a purpose on campus. It is a
Cardinal course, funded by the Haas Center for Public Service, designed to give
students and community members a space to connect in a unique but powerful way.
In the very first meeting, instructor Dave Jaffe captured my attention as he
explained the set-up and more importantly the mission of the class. This course
would focus on not only discussing the field of assistive technology but also
devoting effort toward making a meaningful contribution to it.
Students enrolled in the full
three-unit version of the class break into teams to work on creating a tool to
improve ease and quality of life for people with disabilities. Jaffe devotes
many hours leading up to the course each year, hearing from such individuals
about challenges they face and solutions they wish to see implemented. After
much research to make sure that there is not a viable option that already
exists for the issue, he gives each selected member the opportunity to present
their pitch to the students. From there, students sign up to take on one of
these projects and work closely with their teammates and the community member
throughout the quarter to develop a prototype of their solution. They are given
access to the Project Realization Laboratory's resources on campus, where team
members can bring their ideas to life by building real life models of their
designs.
This year's projects include a
rotating dresser, elevator button pusher, and a portable wheelchair lap tray.
The goal, Jaffe explains, is to develop students' communication, collaboration,
and organization skills by putting their minds to a real-life problem with a
practical solution. Additionally however, Jaffe' welcomes more students to
enroll in a one unit version of the course to work on a smaller individual
project or simply attend the class sessions as a one-unit seminar. He also has
created a network of about 1,000 community members to provide updates on the
course, and he opens his class up to these contacts as well.
As a blind individual, I
admittedly had my concerns about joining this class. When living with a
disability, there is often people who pity the challenges we face and try to
find ways to “fix” what is viewed as a problem. But instead of
framing the target community as a minority that needs help, Jaffe took a new
but empowering approach to the topic of disability. "Disability is a normal
variation of the human condition," says Jaffe. He argued that we should not
isolate the members of this community and brand them as different than us
because such a distinction suggests that disability is not a common condition,
when in reality it exists all around us. He believes that disability is often
not recognized as a form of diversity in the same way race or origin is, and
that this exclusion is an important societal issue that needs to be reconciled.
Even if a person is in the prime of life now, that doesn't mean that they are
immune to injuries or age in the future. We as human beings are susceptible to
changes in our bodies that are not always ideal; but we need to educate and
prepare ourselves to be inclusive to this aspect of our nature. Given my
unexpected vision loss as a young teen, I couldn't help but resonate with this
perspective.
I have personally been inspired
to see that all of my awe from the first day of class has persisted throughout
the many guest lectures and opportunities the course provides. I had the
privilege of speaking on a Stanford student panel, to learn how people with
disabilities are living their lives all around us. But perhaps more exciting
was moving beyond the scope of school to see how advancements in technology are
transforming our perceptions of what is normal. We heard lectures about collier
implants and custom prosthetic design while also being immersed in other's
creations through field trips to the VA and Magical Playground. Jaffe reached
out to many important names in the assistive technology world to create a
captivating fair that showcased everything from emergency lifts for wheelchair
users to a headband to increase activity in the prefrontal
cortex.
I have had the privilege of
getting to know some of the community members and fellow students in
Engineering 110, and it has been equally powerful to see the impact Engineering
110 has had on their lives. One incredible family that I have spent time with
this quarter is brothers Daniel and Stanford Stickney. Daniel, a devoted and
involved member of the community, has cerebral palsy and a visual impairment,
but it has far from stopped him from reaching his goals. Stanford explains that
"they are always searching for ways to improve Daniel's independence and
quality of life." For the past two years, the brothers have attended
Perspectives in Assistive Technology and have loved their experience in the
class. They have collaborated with multiple teams on projects and have found
much success with the tools that have arisen from the work, such as a rotating
easel. This year they are focusing on building a lap tray for Daniel's
wheelchair, a device to help pick up dropped items, and a cup holder to assist
with transporting belongings. When asking about how these creations have
changed his life, Daniel pointed out to me that his time has been so much more
than a project, "it has been their small part in building Stanford's
community."
Looking back on my short time in
Perspectives in Assistive Technology, I can't help but feel privileged to be
impacted by the incredible efforts of Dave Jaffe and the community he has
built. There are very few courses currently being taught at Stanford
surrounding the topic of disability, but Jaffe's course shows us why we should
have more. It exemplifies the importance and value of normalizing what it means
to live with a physical, mental, or invisible condition. Through attending his
class, I have realized that although a healthy amount of stress fuels our
progress forward, there are too many opportunities to be lost when being
consumed about worries of the future. This course has been like no other that I
have taken, and it has shown me the power of focusing effort on changing one
person's life for the better. Instead of diving into trying to find the cure to
cancer or the next ground-breaking technological advancement, I am excited to
start making my own difference at Stanford one person at a time, and I hope
that you will join me.
Contents
Other comments from VPTL
Online Evaluation and Responses
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