Special Topics: Celebrating Accessibility

Course Information

Course Number

HCI Undergraduate: 05-499 A
HCI Graduate: 05-899 A

Course Description

This course celebrates ability, disability, and accessibility. It introduces students to the theory, history, policy, and practice of accessibility and inclusion in computing. Course readings will explore relevant concepts from disability studies, accessibility, human-computer interaction, and design methods. Students will develop critical perspectives on issues of representation, identity, visibility, and inclusion. Students will also learn about organizations focused on accessibility and inclusion and examine various approaches to creating accessible and inclusive computing systems. Students will leave the course with a sense of what it takes to both create and use accessible computing systems for people with visible and invisible disabilities. This is a practice-oriented course, and students will work in multidisciplinary teams to brainstorm, develop, and evaluate some kind of tool or system with people with disabilities.

Semester Offered and Units

Semester: Fall 2024
Undergraduate: 12 units
Graduate: 12 units

Enrollment Requirements

Undergraduate Pre-Reqs (One of the following):
05-410 UCRE
05-430 PUI
05-391 DHCS
67-272 Application Design and Development
67-240 Mobile Web Design and Development

Pre or Co-Req:
17-313 Foundations of Software Engineering

MHCI/PhD Students:
Willingness to engage or experience in either development or user studies.

Instructor(s)

Patrick Carrington
Andrew Begel

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