HCDE 515: Accessible and Inclusive Design

This course provided an introduction to designing, prototyping, and evaluating inclusive user interfaces that meet the needs of a diverse range of users — such as older adults, users with visual, cognitive, or motor impairments, and users who are deaf or hard of hearing. Building on basic principles of human-centered design, students learned about design exclusion and barriers to use, and methods by which these can be overcome.

Course topics covered both physical and digital technologies, and practical considerations (e.g., web accessibility requirements), as well as research developments and design of the next generation of accessible technologies. By the end of the course, students worked in groups to design an accessible product through co-design sessions with disabled individuals whose needs were being met by such a product.