Accessibility Lead Bioengineering, University of Washington
Being the Accessibility Lead that redesigned the course structure and materials to incorporate user accessibility and product usability content into introductory Bioengineering course curriculum.
Being the Co-Instructor to teach the accessibility module and lead quiz sections during the academic quarter.
Conduct research after the academic quarter to justify the higher learning outcome with new course structure
Highlighted in the Impact Report, published by Center for Research and Education on Accessible Technology and Experiences at University of Washington
Publication in progress.
September 2021 - November 2022
Han Feng - Accessibility Lead, Researcher
Mentor: Dr. Alyssa Taylor
Overview & Outcome
User accessibility and product accessibility should be populated through all engineering education curriculum. Accessibility do not limit in providing access to people disabilities, but rather make everyone receive the full benefit that was expected without barriers.
My responsibility is to incorporate user accessibility content into the class BIOEN 215 and make the course more accessible to student’s learning by redesign the course curriculum with added “hands-on” learning experience.
After the academic quarter, the research to examine student’s learning outcome has shown that the accessibility module has high effectiveness to educate student about user accessibility and universal design principles. Additionally, the new “hands-on” course structure was highly complimented in the course reflection and final presentation.
Our work was highlighted in the Year 2 Impact Report (click to view) by Center for Research and Education on Accessible Technology and Experiences at University of Washington.
Currently, I am working to publish a journal entry, co-authored with Dr. Alyssa Taylor, regarding the course redesign details and the guidelines to implement product accessibility contents into the introductory engineering classes.
Redesign Requirement
The overall goal is to create the accessibility module and transform the over introductory bioengineering class BIOEN 215 into a “more accessible” format based on the course evaluation results from previous quarters.
The requirement includes:
Create the module that educates student regarding universal design and product accessibility in the scope of engineering in general and Bioengineering specifically
Design appropriate and accessible assignments and assessments that do not force regurgitation from students
Incorporate the feedback from previous quarters into the new course curriculum to provide a good learning experience for students who are interested in Bioengineering
Hands-On Learning Experience
The most frequently mentioned issue from previous students is how assignments and lectures are very dull and disconnected, and the unnecessary long writing assignments do not support students with their learning.
One biggest change in the course format is to replace the large writing assignment and reports into smaller assignments that involves hands-on experience by using the materials taught during regular lectures and newly added guest lectures.
Example:
One redesigned major assignment focuses on solving accessibility problem from daily frustration. Students were asked to keep a journal entry regarding inaccessible or frustrated user experience during their daily life for a week. Then, everyone were assigned in the group of 3-4 to come up remediation solution. Students are guided through physical prototyping session during lectures to produce their remediated prototype. Finally, students are graded based on the presentations during quiz sections and the quality of proposed solutions.
Students making physical prototypes
Research Process
After the course was concluded, I have been working on the research paper with Dr. Alyssa Taylor, the course instructor. Our goal is to examine the effectiveness of the accessibility module and explore if the redesigned course format benefited student’s learning.
Quantitatively, we have examined the pre-module and post-module survey results that collects student demographic information and evaluates student’s confidence and ability to utilize accessibility and universal design principles in engineering designs. Then, we have used Welch’s T-Test to test statistical significance between the results.
Qualitatively, we have designed numerous rubrics to examine the frequency and the quality when students describe accessibility content in their written reflections and other deliverables. Elements that we focus on include if the word “accessibility” being mentioned and accurate description of specific universal design principle with the given problem space. Then, we have primarily used Unpaired Mann Whitney U Test to present our research in visualizations.
Looking Forward
Currently, I am working to publish a journal entry, co-authored with Dr. Alyssa Taylor to showcase our research results. The paper will also provide guidelines to implement accessibility materials and hands-on teaching format for introductory engineering classes. Please stay tuned for the full access upon publication!