The following research group descriptions are archived because they are no longer offered, the faculty member is on sabbatical, or the group is taking a break. Please contact the faculty member or an advisor to learn more about these groups.

• The Boys in the Boat: Reimagining the ASUW Shell House
• Give Your Pi Eyes: Machine Learning with Image Models
• Exploring the Impact of Outreach in Engineering Education
• Exploring the Impact of Outreach in Engineering Education
• HCD charrette for K-12 outreach (Winter 2020)
• HCD charrette for K-12 outreach (Autumn 2019)
• HCD charrette for K-12 outreach @ the Library
• HCD charrette for K-12 outreach (Spring 2019)
• HCD charrette for K-12 outreach (Winter 2019)
• Alternative spring break: HCDE workshop (Winter 2019)
• UCD Charette for K-12 Outreach (Spring 2018)
• Alternative Spring Break: HCDE Workshop (Winter 2018)
• UCD Charette for K-12 Outreach (Autumn 2017)
• UCD Charette for K-12 Outreach (Spring 2017)
• Designing Interactivity in the Urban Landscape - II
• Human Centered Design Workshop for Alternative Spring Break
• Measuring Teen Stress with a Social Robot
• UCD Charrette for K-12 Outreach (Autumn 2016)
• UCD Charrette for K-12 Outreach (Autumn 2015)
• Considering the Possibility of an HCD MOOC: Learning from a MOOC Experience
• FizzLab: A Directed Design Group
• Physical Computing Project

Spring 2022

The Boys in the Boat: Reimagining the ASUW Shell House

• Andrew Davidson, Associate Teaching Professor, HCDE
• Kristine Matthews, Associate Professor, Visual Communication Design
• Plamena Milusheva, Physical Experience Designer

OVERVIEW
Watch the video above for a quick overview of the ASUW Shell House and restoration plan.
In this DRG, we will research, explore, design, and prototype concepts for interactive exhibits for the restored ASUW Shell House building.

BACKGROUND

In 1936, the UW Rowing team took the gold medal at the Berlin Olympics, defeating the world’s best crew teams in a stunning victory in front of Adolf Hitler. This inspiring story was chronicled in Seattle author Daniel James Brown’s best-selling 2013 book “The Boys in the Boat.” For more details about the 1936 Olympic rowing event, check out this excellent 2017 PBS documentary: “The Boys of '36.”

The team’s home was an iconic building on the UW campus known as the ASUW Shell House (pictured above with the 1936 medalist team). This building, which had previously served as a US Navy hangar and training facility for seaplanes in World War I, dates from 1918 and still exists, but has been languishing unused for many years.

The UW has launched a capital campaign for the restoration of the Shell House with comprehensive plans for its new life: The Next 100 Years Campaign. In addition, a feature film adaptation of “The Boys in the Boat,” directed by George Clooney, is going into production soon.

The restoration planning team, led by campaign manager Nicole Klein, envisions the new Shell House building as a student space for meetings and classes, an event venue, and a cultural center, including historical exhibits.

It is the latter purpose that is the focus of our investigation -- exploring ideas and concepts for engaging interactive exhibits about the history and legacy of the ASUW Shell House.

DETAILS

Students will work in small multi-disciplinary teams to engage in user research, ideation, design, and prototyping of concepts for interactive exhibits that could be a part of the restored Shell House experience. These exhibits could range from permanent installations to temporary pop-ups that bring to life the history and engaging stories about the building.

There are many aspects of the Shell House site and building that could be explored, from the indigenous Native American significance of the site (before the ship canal was constructed), to the US Navy origins of the hangar, to the home of the UW crew teams and famed boat builder George Pocock, the role of women in rowing at the UW, and the ASUW period after the crew teams moved to their current home at Conibear Shellhouse. 

Students will have access to the Shell House building, various stakeholders in the restoration, and experts on different aspects of the project. 

After engaging in the research and design process, teams will develop prototypes of their concepts, and will present these concepts to stakeholders at the end of the quarter.

HOW TO APPLY

We are looking for dedicated and enthusiastic students at all levels (Bachelor to PhD) to work on this project. We are especially interested in having students from both HCDE and Design in the DRG in order to facilitate a rich cross-disciplinary collaboration.

HCDE applicants should be familiar with basic human-centered design processes, including user-centered design research, ideation, and prototyping. At a minimum, they must have taken HCDE 318 or HCDE 518.

Design applicants should be familiar with design-centered ideation, visualizations and research, and have an interest in storytelling that is integrated into 3d environments. Skills in 3d-modeling and/or material exploration are a plus but not required.  
 

Spring 2021

Give Your Pi Eyes: Machine Learning with Image Models

Spring 2021 | HCDE 496/596 | 2 credits
Meetings: Wednesday, 4:00 – 5:30 pm, in Zoom
Adi Azulay, HCDE Affiliate Instructor | Office of the CTO, Microsoft Corporation
Andrew Davidson, HCDE Associate Teaching Professor

Description
Machine Learning (ML) is all around us and impacts our lives in many ways, from email spam filters to facial recognition to fraud detection on credit cards. Until recently training, and running ML models required a team of data scientists and mathematicians. Now with software like Lobe and Custom Vision all you need to do is upload images and labels and the software does the rest.

In this DRG students will train their own ML models using Lobe and deploy them on a Raspberry Pi (hardware will be provided). As a group we’ll examine how ML models are built, what type of data goes into them, and dig into the ethics and efficacy of using them in different applications. 

We are looking for dedicated and enthusiastic students at all levels (BS to PhD) to work on this project. Technical skill is not required, and students with a background in humanities or liberal arts are encouraged to apply. 

Applicants should be familiar with basic concepts of programming (as covered in HCDE 310 or HCDE 524, for instance). Experience programming in Python is desirable but not required. All applicants should have already taken HCDE 318 or HCDE 518. 

Spring 2020

Exploring the Impact of Outreach in Engineering Education

Over the past 5 years, HCDE has engaged in outreach to K-12 students through design charrettes in classrooms, libraries, and community centers across Washington State. This program has helped K-12 students in under-represented areas with college readiness.

These design charrettes have been facilitated by many UW students, primarily undergraduates. Beyond the value of the charrettes to the K-12 students, we hypothesize that the experiences and reflections of the UW student facilitators have been beneficial to their own learning. 

In this DRG, we will continue to work on an exploratory study to understand the impact the HCDE K-12 Outreach program has had on students who have led the design charrettes. We will be conducting qualitative interviews with former HCDE outreach facilitators to understand their experiences. This research will contribute to a better understanding of service learning and how outreach can help support undergraduate engineering education.

We are looking for students who have experience with, or a willingness to learn about qualitative research and STEAM outreach and engineering education. This DRG will offer participants an opportunity to work on a research project from its outset.

Planned activities:

A literature review on outreach and college access programs, STEAM pipeline, college access, reflective learning, engineering education
Building and running a semi-structured interview protocol
Analyzing interview data to understand cross-cutting themes

Note: this DRG is currently closed to new students

Questions? Please contact:

Andrew Davidson <adavid7@uw.edu>, HCDE faculty, K-12 Outreach director
Taryn Bipat <tbipat@uw.edu>, HCDE PhD student, K-12 Outreach coordinator
Wendy Roldan <wr4@uw.edu>, HCDE PhD student, K-12 Outreach coordinator

Winter 2020

Exploring the Impact of Outreach in Engineering Education

Over the past 5 years, HCDE has engaged in outreach to K-12 students through design charrettes in classrooms, libraries, and community centers across Washington State. This program has helped K-12 students in under-represented areas with college readiness.

These design charrettes have been facilitated by many UW students, primarily undergraduates. Beyond the value of the charrettes to the K-12 students, we hypothesize that the experiences and reflections of the UW student facilitators have been beneficial to their own learning. 

In this DRG, we want to launch an exploratory study to understand the impact the HCDE K-12 Outreach program has had on students who have led the design charrettes. We will be conducting qualitative interviews with former HCDE outreach facilitators to understand their experiences. This research will contribute to a better understanding of service learning and how outreach can help support undergraduate engineering education.

We are looking for students who have experience with, or a willingness to learn about qualitative research and STEAM outreach and engineering education. This DRG will offer participants an opportunity to work on a research project from its outset.

Planned activities:

• A literature review on outreach and college access programs, STEAM pipeline, college access, reflective learning, engineering education
• Building and running a semi-structured interview protocol
• Analyzing interview data to understand cross-cutting themes

Questions? Please contact:

Andrew Davidson <adavid7@uw.edu>, HCDE faculty, K-12 Outreach director
Taryn Bipat <tbipat@uw.edu>, HCDE PhD student, K-12 Outreach coordinator
Wendy Roldan <wr4@uw.edu>, HCDE PhD student, K-12 Outreach coordinator

Winter 2020

HCD charrette for K-12 outreach 

For the past few years, we have been using a design activity known as a charrette as a way to introduce students to the human centered design (HCD) process. In the "HCD Charrette," students are given a particular design space to explore (such as user interfaces for a website, mobile app, or a physical device). In a very short period of time (two hours or less), working in small groups, they brainstorm user needs, develop use-case scenarios, and create interaction designs for an application. We have run these participatory workshops with students at various educational levels, from middle school to graduate programs, and with K-12 teachers. 

A fast-paced, hands-on activity that gives a good first-hand overview of the entire field, the HCD Charrette allows students to experience the thrill of design, while raising questions about its practice, setting the stage for further study. It is adaptable to many different application areas and levels of expertise and interest.

We firmly believe that participatory activities such as this HCD Charrette are far more effective as outreach and recruiting for HCDE than traditional college information sessions. Our long-term goal is to use the HCD Charrette for broad outreach and recruiting in the K-12 environment. We also intend to evaluate this program and practice, and to expand its reach.

In a dub talk (July 5, 2017), “Filling the Pipeline: Design & Engineering Workshops for K-12 Outreach,” we summarized various HCDE outreach efforts. This short paper, “Human-Centered Design Charrettes for K–12 Outreach,” describes our HCDE charrettes for outreach. Further information about the HCDE K-12 Outreach program may be found here: hcde.uw.edu/about/k12.

In this DRG, we will continue to broaden our outreach efforts for human centered design in the K-12 environment. UW student teams will facilitate an HCD Charrette in local school classrooms. Students will meet with classroom teachers to understand their students, learning goals, and environment. Curricula and materials for the HCD Charrette exist and students adapt these materials, customizing them for specific classroom needs. Charrette teams will visit local middle and/or high school classrooms and lead students in the workshop. They will assess the results of the workshops and prepare a report on their findings. We will use these findings to further develop the HCD Charrette protocol.

Autumn 2019

HCD charrette for K-12 outreach 

For the past few years, we have been using a design activity known as a charrette as a way to introduce students to the human centered design (HCD) process. In the "HCD Charrette," students are given a particular design space to explore (such as user interfaces for a website, mobile app, or a physical device). In a very short period of time (two hours or less), working in small groups, they brainstorm user needs, develop use-case scenarios, and create interaction designs for an application. We have run these participatory workshops with students at various educational levels, from middle school to graduate programs, and with K-12 teachers. 

A fast-paced, hands-on activity that gives a good first-hand overview of the entire field, the HCD Charrette allows students to experience the thrill of design, while raising questions about its practice, setting the stage for further study. It is adaptable to many different application areas and levels of expertise and interest.

We firmly believe that participatory activities such as this HCD Charrette are far more effective as outreach and recruiting for HCDE than traditional college information sessions. Our long-term goal is to use the HCD Charrette for broad outreach and recruiting in the K-12 environment. We also intend to evaluate this program and practice, and to expand its reach.

In a dub talk (July 5, 2017), “Filling the Pipeline: Design & Engineering Workshops for K-12 Outreach,” we summarized various HCDE outreach efforts. This short paper, “Human-Centered Design Charrettes for K–12 Outreach,” describes our HCDE charrettes for outreach. Further information about the HCDE K-12 Outreach program may be found here: hcde.uw.edu/about/k12.

In this DRG, we will continue to broaden our outreach efforts for human centered design in the K-12 environment. UW student teams will facilitate an HCD Charrette in local school classrooms. Students will meet with classroom teachers to understand their students, learning goals, and environment. Curricula and materials for the HCD Charrette exist and students adapt these materials, customizing them for specific classroom needs. Charrette teams will visit local middle and/or high school classrooms and lead students in the workshop. They will assess the results of the workshops and prepare a report on their findings. We will use these findings to further develop the HCD Charrette protocol.

We are looking for dedicated and enthusiastic students to participate in this project. Eligible students should be familiar with the User Centered Design process, and have already taken HCDE 210, 318, or 518. Experience working with, teaching, or mentoring young students is a plus.

Questions? Please contact:

• Andrew Davidson <adavid7@uw.edu>, HCDE faculty, K-12 Outreach director
• Taryn Bipat <tbipat@uw.edu>, HCDE PhD student, K-12 Outreach coordinator

Summer 2019

HCD charrette for K-12 outreach @ the Library

For the past few years, we have been using a design activity known as a charrette as a way to introduce students to the human centered design (HCD) process. In the "HCD Charrette," students are given a particular design space to explore (such as user interfaces for a website, mobile app, or a physical device). In a very short period of time (two hours or less), working in small groups, they brainstorm user needs, develop use-case scenarios, and create interaction designs for an application. We have run these participatory workshops with students at various educational levels, from middle school to graduate programs, and with K-12 teachers. This summer we are excited to partner with the Seattle Public Library to bring this program to students in communities all over the city.

A fast-paced, hands-on activity that gives a good first-hand overview of the entire field, the HCD Charrette allows students to experience the thrill of design, while raising questions about its practice, setting the stage for further study. It is adaptable to many different application areas and levels of expertise and interest.

We firmly believe that participatory activities such as this HCD Charrette are far more effective as outreach and recruiting for HCDE than traditional college information sessions. Our long-term goal is to use the HCD Charrette for broad outreach and recruiting in the K-12 environment. We also intend to evaluate this program and practice, and to expand its reach.

In a dub talk (July 5, 2017), “Filling the Pipeline: Design & Engineering Workshops for K-12 Outreach,” we summarized various HCDE outreach efforts. In this more recent keynote talk at Interaction 19 (February 4, 2019), we talked about the current outreach work: Filling the Pipeline: K-12 Outreach in Human Centered Design. Further information about the HCDE K-12 Outreach program may be found here: hcde.uw.edu/about/k12.

In this summer DRG, we will continue to broaden our outreach efforts for human-centered design in the Seattle youth community. UW student teams will facilitate an HCD Charrette in local branches of the Seattle Public Library system all over the city. UW students will meet with librarians to understand their patrons and environment. Curricula and materials for the HCD Charrette exist and students adapt these materials, customizing them for specific workshop needs. Charrette teams will visit local libraries and lead students in the workshop. They will assess the results of the workshops and prepare a report on their findings. We will use these findings to further develop the HCD Charrette protocol.

We are looking for dedicated and enthusiastic students to participate in this summer project. Eligible students should be familiar with the User Centered Design process, and have already taken HCDE 210, 318, or 518; or INFO 360; or IMT 540. Experience working with, teaching, or mentoring young students is a plus.

Questions? Please contact:

• Andrew Davidson <adavid7@uw.edu>, HCDE faculty, K-12 Outreach director
• Jessica Carr <jcarr88@uw.edu>, HCDE MS student, K-12 Outreach coordinator

Spring 2019

HCD charrette for K-12 outreach

For the past few years, we have been using a design activity known as a charrette as a way to introduce students to the human centered design (HCD) process. In the "HCD Charrette," students are given a particular design space to explore (such as user interfaces for a website, mobile app, or a physical device). In a very short period of time (two hours or less), working in small groups, they brainstorm user needs, develop use-case scenarios, and create interaction designs for an application. We have run these participatory workshops with students at various educational levels, from middle school to graduate programs, and with K-12 teachers.

A fast-paced, hands-on activity that gives a good first-hand overview of the entire field, the HCD Charrette allows students to experience the thrill of design, while raising questions about its practice, setting the stage for further study. It is adaptable to many different application areas and levels of expertise and interest.

We firmly believe that participatory activities such as this HCD Charrette are far more effective as outreach and recruiting for HCDE than traditional college information sessions. Our long-term goal is to use the HCD Charrette for broad outreach and recruiting in the K-12 environment. We also intend to evaluate this program and practice, and to expand its reach.

In a dub talk (July 5, 2017), “Filling the Pipeline: Design & Engineering Workshops for K-12 Outreach,” we summarized various HCDE outreach efforts. Further information about the HCDE K-12 Outreach program may be found here: hcde.uw.edu/about/k12.

In this DRG, we will continue to broaden our outreach efforts for human centered design in the K-12 environment. UW student teams will facilitate an HCD Charrette in local school classrooms. Students will meet with classroom teachers to understand their students, learning goals, and environment. Curricula and materials for the HCD Charrette exist and students adapt these materials, customizing them for specific classroom needs. Charrette teams will visit local middle and/or high school classrooms and lead students in the workshop. They will assess the results of the workshops and prepare a report on their findings. We will use these findings to further develop the HCD Charrette protocol.

We are looking for dedicated and enthusiastic students to participate in this project. Eligible students should be familiar with the User Centered Design process, and have already taken HCDE 210, 318, or 518. Experience working with, teaching, or mentoring young students is a plus.

Questions? Please contact:

• Andrew Davidson <adavid7@uw.edu>, HCDE faculty, K-12 Outreach director
• Taryn Bipat <tbipat@uw.edu>, HCDE PhD student, K-12 Outreach coordinator

HCD charrette for K-12 outreach

Winter 2019

For the past few years, we have been using a design activity known as a charrette as a way to introduce students to the human centered design (HCD) process. In the "HCD Charrette," students are given a particular design space to explore (such as user interfaces for a website, mobile app, or a physical device). In a very short period of time (two hours or less), working in small groups, they brainstorm user needs, develop use-case scenarios, and create interaction designs for an application. We have run these participatory workshops with students at various educational levels, from middle school to graduate programs, and with K-12 teachers.

A fast-paced, hands-on activity that gives a good first-hand overview of the entire field, the HCD Charrette allows students to experience the thrill of design, while raising questions about its practice, setting the stage for further study. It is adaptable to many different application areas and levels of expertise and interest.

We firmly believe that participatory activities such as this HCD Charrette are far more effective as outreach and recruiting for HCDE than traditional college information sessions. Our long-term goal is to use the HCD Charrette for broad outreach and recruiting in the K-12 environment. We also intend to evaluate this program and practice, and to expand its reach.

In a dub talk (July 5, 2017), “Filling the Pipeline: Design & Engineering Workshops for K-12 Outreach,” we summarized various HCDE outreach efforts. Further information about the HCDE K-12 Outreach program may be found here: hcde.uw.edu/about/k12.

In this DRG, we will continue to broaden our outreach efforts for human centered design in the K-12 environment. UW student teams will facilitate an HCD Charrette in local school classrooms. Students will meet with classroom teachers to understand their students, learning goals, and environment. Curricula and materials for the HCD Charrette exist and students adapt these materials, customizing them for specific classroom needs. Charrette teams will visit local high school classrooms and lead students in the workshop. They will assess the results of the workshops and prepare a report on their findings. We will use these findings to further develop the HCD Charrette protocol.

We are looking for dedicated and enthusiastic students to participate in this project. Eligible students should be familiar with the User Centered Design process, and have already taken HCDE 210, 318, or 518. Experience working with, teaching, or mentoring young students is a plus.

Questions? Please contact:

• Andrew Davidson <adavid7@uw.edu>, HCDE faculty, K-12 Outreach director
• Samantha West <samwest@uw.edu>, HCDE MS student, K-12 Outreach coordinator

Alternative spring break: HCDE workshop

Winter 2019

• Would you like to do something meaningful on your spring break this year?
• Would you like to play an important role in K-12 outreach for HCDE and the UW?
• Are you interested in traveling to rural Washington to mentor middle and high school students?

Alternative Spring Break (ASB) is an outreach program organized by the UW’s Pipeline Project. It provides opportunities for teams of undergraduate students to spend their spring break in a rural or tribal community of Washington State, working with local schools.

This year, in partnership with the Pipeline Project, HCDE is running its third ASB program, and will send two teams of undergraduates to Neah Bay, Washington, the Makah Tribe town, to lead middle and high school students in an HCDE Workshop.

The workshop will focus on physical computing for citizen science, using the Circuit Playground Express (Arduino) platform. Over the course of the week, the workshop students, guided by the HCDE student team, will develop and deploy a scientific instrument that can be used to gather field data.

HCDE Alternative Spring Break 2017

hcde.uw.edu/videos/asb

The above video captures the experience of the first HCDE Pipeline ASB project team in 2017. You can also read more about the team's work here: hcde.uw.edu/news/hcde-alternative-spring-break-recap.

To prepare for the ASB workshop, the HCDE student team will participate in a winter quarter DRG. In the DRG, they will develop and pilot the curriculum, learn the essentials of engaging with students in their community, and generally prepare for this outreach adventure. The DRG will meet one evening each week (either Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday, TBD) from 6:00 — 8:00 pm.

In addition to registering for this 2-credit DRG, participants must also be willing to spend spring break week (March 23 – 29, 2019) on the ASB trip. Housing, transportation, food, and incidental expenses for the trip will be arranged and paid for by the department.

For the ASB workshop, we are seeking dedicated and enthusiastic undergraduates with generous spirit who are passionate about mentoring and inspiring young learners. Participants must be a current HCDE undergraduate student, and have completed HCDE 210 or HCDE 318, and ideally also HCDE 439.

To apply for the program, please fill out this online application «goo.gl/forms/AYKvkU0f5l4ITjR83» by Saturday, November 24 at 11:59 pm.

In the application, you will be asked to submit your resume, in PDF form, and to answer a number of essay questions, but you do not have to complete them all in the same session. This is a summary of the essay questions:

• Why are you interested in the ASB project? Tell us about your academic and personal goals, and how ASB might help you achieve them.
• What experiences do you have working with, teaching, or mentoring teens and children?
• An important part of ASB is working as part of a closely-knit team. What personal characteristics and experiences do you have that will positively contribute to the team dynamic?
• Relate an experience in which you worked with an individual or group from a different background than your own. What did you learn from the experience?
• What aspect of human centered design do you find most compelling, and why?
• Do you have any special interests, skills, or experience that you think would be useful on an ASB team?
• Is there anything else that you would like to share with us?

We will also require an interview with selected applicants between November 26 and December 7. Students who are accepted to the program will be notified by December 11.

If you are interested in this exciting opportunity to make a difference in young people’s lives, inspire them about the potential of human centered design and a college education, to learn about and engage with communities in rural Washington, and enrich your life in many ways, please consider applying for the HCDE ASB program!

If you have any questions about the program or the application process, please get in touch with one of us:

• Arpita Bhattacharya, HCDE PhD Student, K-12 Outreach Coordinator
• Andrew Davidson, HCDE Faculty, K-12 Outreach Director

UCD Charette for K-12 Outreach

Spring 2018

For the past few years, we have been using a design activity known as a charette as a way to introduce students to the user-centered design (UCD) process. In the "UCD Charette," students are given a particular design space to explore (such as user interfaces for a website, mobile app, or a physical device). In a very short period of time (two hours or less), working in small groups, they brainstorm user needs, develop use-case scenarios, and create interaction designs for an application. We have run these participatory workshops with students at various educational levels, from middle school to graduate programs, and with K-12 teachers.

A fast-paced, hands-on activity that gives a good first-hand overview of the entire field, the UCD Charette allows students to experience the thrill of design, while raising questions about its practice, setting the stage for further study. It is adaptable to many different application areas and levels of expertise and interest.

We firmly believe that participatory activities such as this UCD Charette are far more effective as outreach and recruiting for HCDE than traditional college information sessions. Our long-term goal is to use the UCD Charette for broad outreach and recruiting in the K-12 environment. We also intend to evaluate this program and practice, and to expand its reach.

In a recent dub talk (July 5, 2017), “Filling the Pipeline: Design & Engineering Workshops for K-12 Outreach,” we summarized the various HCDE outreach efforts.

In this DRG, we will continue to broaden our outreach efforts for human centered design in the K-12 environment. UW student teams will facilitate a a UCD Charette in local high school classrooms. Curricula and materials for the UCD Charrette have already been developed. Students will use existing charrette materials, adapting and customizing them for specific classroom needs. Teams will go into the classroom and lead students in the exercise. They will assess the results of the workshops and prepare a report on their findings. We will use these findings to further develop the UCD Charette protocol.

We are looking for dedicated and enthusiastic students at all levels (BS to PhD) to help with this project. Eligible students should be familiar with the User Centered Design process, and have already taken HCDE 210, 318, or 518. Experience working with, teaching, or mentoring young students is a plus.

Alternative Spring Break: HCDE Workshop

Winter 2018

Would you like to do something meaningful on your spring break this year?
Would you like to play an important role in K-12 outreach for HCDE and the UW?
Are you interested in traveling to rural Washington to mentor middle and high school students?

Alternative Spring Break (ASB) is an outreach program organized by the UW’s Pipeline Project. It provides opportunities for teams of undergraduate students to spend their spring break in a rural or tribal community of Washington State, working with local schools.

This year, in partnership with the Pipeline Project, HCDE is running its second ASB program, and will send two teams of undergraduates to Neah Bay, Washington, the Makah Tribe town, to lead middle and high school students in an HCDE Workshop.

The workshop will focus on digital storytelling using the Scratch programming system. Over the course of the week, the workshop students, guided by the HCDE student team, will create and program animation and interactive media projects using Scratch to tell stories of their culture or explore math and science principles.

Video: HCDE Alternative Spring Break 2017

The above video captures the experience of the first HCDE Pipeline ASB project team last year. You can also read more about the team’s work here: hcde.uw.edu/news/hcde-alternative-spring-break-recap.

To prepare for the ASB workshop, the HCDE student team will participate in a winter quarter DRG. In the DRG, they will develop and pilot the curriculum, learn the essentials of engaging with students in their community, and generally prepare for this outreach adventure. The DRG will meet on Tuesdays from 6:00 — 8:00 pm.

In addition to registering for this 2-credit DRG, participants must also be willing to spend spring break week (March 18 – 24, 2018) on the ASB trip. Housing, transportation, food, and incidental expenses for the trip will be arranged and paid for by the department.

For the ASB workshop, we are seeking dedicated and enthusiastic undergraduates with generous spirit who are passionate about mentoring and inspiring young learners. Participants must be a current HCDE undergraduate student, and have completed HCDE 210 or HCDE 318, and HCDE 310.

UCD Charette for K-12 Outreach

Autumn 2017

Elena Agapie, HCDE PhD Student
Andrew Davidson, HCDE Faculty

Autumn 2017 | HCDE 496/596
Meetings: Thursdays, 4–5:30 p.m.

For the past few years, we have been using a design activity known as a charette as a way to introduce students to the user-centered design (UCD) process. In the "UCD Charette," students are given a particular design space to explore (such as user interfaces for a website, mobile app, or a physical device). In a very short period of time (two hours or less), working in small groups, they brainstorm user needs, develop use-case scenarios, and create interaction designs for an application. We have run these participatory workshops with students at various educational levels, from middle school to graduate programs, and with K-12 teachers.

A fast-paced, hands-on activity that gives a good first-hand overview of the entire field, the UCD Charette allows students to experience the thrill of design, while raising questions about its practice, setting the stage for further study. It is adaptable to many different application areas and levels of expertise and interest.

We firmly believe that participatory activities such as this UCD Charette are far more effective as outreach and recruiting for HCDE than traditional college information sessions. Our long-term goal is to use the UCD Charette for broad outreach and recruiting in the K-12 environment. We also intend to evaluate this program and practice, and to expand its reach.

In a recent dub talk (July 5, 2017), “Filling the Pipeline: Design & Engineering Workshops for K-12 Outreach,” we summarized the various HCDE outreach efforts. The video of this talk should be available there soon, if it is not already.

In this DRG, we will continue to broaden our outreach efforts for human centered design in the K-12 environment. UW student teams will facilitate a a UCD Charette in local elementary and middle school classrooms. Curricula and materials for the UCD Charrette have already been developed. Students will use existing charrette materials, adapting and customizing them for specific classroom needs. Teams will go into the classroom and lead students in the workshop. They will assess the results of the workshops and prepare a report on their findings. We will use these findings to further develop the UCD Charette protocol.

We are looking for dedicated and enthusiastic students at all levels (BS to PhD) to help with this project. Eligible students should be familiar with the User Centered Design process, and have already taken HCDE 210, 318, or 518. Experience working with, teaching, or mentoring young students is a plus.

UCD Charette for K-12 Outreach

Spring 2017

Catie Baker, CSE PhD Student
Andrew Davidson, HCDE Faculty

For the past few years, we have been using a design activity known as a charette as a way to introduce students to the user-centered design (UCD) process. In the "UCD Charette," students are given a particular design space to explore (such as user interfaces for a website, mobile app, or a physical device). In a very short period of time (two hours or less), working in small groups, they brainstorm user needs, develop use-case scenarios, and create interaction designs for an application. We have run these participatory workshops with students at various educational levels, from middle school to graduate programs, and with K-12 teachers.

A fast-paced, hands-on activity that gives a good first-hand overview of the entire field, the UCD Charette allows students to experience the thrill of design, while raising questions about its practice, setting the stage for further study. It is adaptable to many different application areas and levels of expertise and interest.

We firmly believe that participatory activities such as this UCD Charette are far more effective as outreach and recruiting for HCDE than traditional college information sessions. Our long-term goal is to use the UCD Charette for broad outreach and recruiting in the K-12 environment. We also intend to evaluate this program and practice, and to expand its reach.

In this DRG, we will continue to broaden our outreach efforts for human centered design in the K-12 environment. UW student teams will facilitate a a UCD Charette in local high school and/or middle school classrooms. Students will plan and prepare the charette activities, and then go into the classroom and lead students in the exercise. Teams will assess the results of the workshops and prepare a report on their findings. We will use these findings to further develop the UCD Charette protocol. 

Additionally, we will be creating a website for the outreach program. The goal of this website is to provide information for local teachers who are interested in having us visit their classroom and resources for anyone who would like to lead their own charettes.   

We are looking for dedicated and enthusiastic students at all levels (Bachelor to PhD) to help with this project. HCDE DFA students and HCDE 210 alumni are especially welcome to apply. Only students willing to commit to at least 3 credit hours will be considered. 

Designing Interactivity in the Urban Landscape - II

Spring 2017

EXPLORE interactivity with large screen interfaces!
INVESTIGATE sensors and gestural interactions!
DESIGN for a high-profile interactive public display wall!

This is the continuing on going project for interactive displays at the West Campus Utility Plant (WCUP) - a brand new major power plant installation on the UW Campus located on University Way. The facility contains 12 large, street-facing, high-resolution screens. This DRG will explore and implement prototype interactions for this display, enabling passersby to gain an understanding of the University’s commitment to the environment and energy conservation, and enhancing public perception of UW Campus and UW sustainability profile. Team members will investigate possible gestural, sensor-driven interactions and incorporate feeding live data to the responsive displays. 

The WCUP displays are intended to be a permanent installation on the UW campus, and student work will be considered for showcasing at a project launch or in the media.

This project is sponsored by the Office of the UW Architect, This DRG requires dedicated and enthusiastic students at all levels (BS to PhD) to help with the project. We will be limiting participation to a small number of students. Only those willing to commit to at least 3 credit hours will be considered.

Ideal candidates will have some of the following knowledge/skills:

User Research
Contextual inquiry
UI Prototyping
Physical Computing/Electronic s
HTML+CSS+Javascript
D3
Information Visualization

The project team will meet for 1.5 hours per week (Thursday afternoons, 3:30-5:00) and will run over the 10 week term. It may be extended beyond Spring quarter, depending on the project outcome and success.

Credits: 3

Faculty:
Brock Craft
Andy Davidson
Tyler Fox

Human Centered Design Workshop for Alternative Spring Break

Winter 2017

• Would you like to do something meaningful on your spring break this year?
• Would you like to play an important role in K-12 outreach for HCDE and the UW?
• Are you interested in traveling to rural Washington to mentor middle school students?

If so, consider applying for the first Human Centered Design Workshop for Alternative Spring Break!

Alternative Spring Break (ASB) is an outreach program organized by the UW’s Pipeline Project. It provides opportunities for teams of undergraduate students to spend their spring break in a rural or tribal community of Washington State, working with local elementary and middle schools.

This year, in partnership with the Pipeline Project, HCDE is launching its first ASB program, and will send a team of five undergraduates to lead middle school students in a Human Centered Design Workshop. HCDE students will work with the school and community leaders to identify a problem or need that can be addressed by our user-centered design process. Over the course of a week, the middle school students, guided by the HCDE student team, will research the problem, design and prototype a solution, and present their project idea. This workshop will build on HCDE’s existing UCD Charette for K-12 Outreach program.

To prepare for the ASB workshop, HCDE students will participate in a winter quarter DRG. In the DRG, we will develop and pilot the curriculum, learn the essentials of engaging with middle school students in their community, and generally prepare for this outreach adventure.

If you are interested in this exciting opportunity to make a difference in young people’s lives, inspire them about the potential of human centered design and a UW education, and to learn about and engage with communities in rural Washington, consider applying for the DRG.

In addition to registering for this 3-credit DRG, you must also be willing to spend your spring break week on the ASB trip. Housing, transportation, food, and incidental expenses for the trip will be arranged and paid for by the department. The DRG meeting time will accommodate the schedules of students who are accepted to the program.

We are seeking five dedicated and caring students for the workshop. To apply, please fill out this application. The deadline is December 2, 12:00 noon.

Note that the application requires answering a number of essay questions, but you do not have to complete them all in the same session. This is a summary of the questions:

• Why are you interested in this project? What are your academic and personal goals, and how might ASB help you achieve them?
• What experiences do you have working with children and/or youth?
• An important part of Alternative Spring Break is the team. What personal characteristics (talents, skills, knowledge, etc.) do you have that will contribute to the team aspect of ASB?
• Talk about an experience in which you worked with an individual or group from a different background than your own. What did you learn from the experience?
• What aspect of human centered design do you find most compelling and why?
• Is there anything else about you that you'd like to share with us?

We will also require an interview with selected candidates during the week of December 5–9 before offering places in the program.

If you have any questions about the program or the application process, please get in touch with one of us.

Catie Baker, HCDE Outreach RA
Andrew Davidson, HCDE Faculty

Measuring Teen Stress with a Social Robot

Winter 2017

During Winter 2017 quarter, we are running an interdisciplinary DRG to explore human-robot interactions among teens in a local high school with our low-fidelity prototype of EMAR. We will observe teens engaging and responding to EMAR’s questions regarding their stress and mood. DRG student teams will analyze and assess these interactions, as well as interview teens about their interactions with EMAR.

Research questions we plan to explore are:

1. What kinds of robot interactions are appropriate for gauging whether teens feel “heard”?
2. What kind of social interactions (person to person) result from engaging with EMAR?
3. What barriers do teams encounter in deploying the EMAR prototypes?

Our team

The team is led by UW Tacoma faculty member Dr. Elin Björling, a stress researcher who studies adolescents. Collaborators include Dr. Emma Rose, UW Tacoma Assistant Professor and UX researcher; and Andrew Davidson, HCDE Senior Lecturer and physical computing specialist.

Background

Adolescents are subject to high levels of stress in their lives, resulting from school, relationships, and family life. Not surprisingly, school stress is most commonly reported as the biggest source of stress for teens. Therefore, accurately measuring teen stress within a student’s school setting can be a valuable way to assess how students are doing and to provide useful feedback for school staff making efforts to reduce student stress.

Social robots are being used to help other populations, such as the elderly and young children. However, there is very little research on either the experience of stress in teens, or the interactions between teens and robots. This presents a unique research opportunity in the field of human-robot interaction (HRI).

Our interdisciplinary team is using participatory, human-centered design to develop a social robot that can measure teen stress in a high school setting. So far, we have developed initial prototypes of a social robot, named EMAR (Ecological Momentary Assessment Robot), and performed preliminary research with teens.

Designing a Social Robot to Assess Teen Stress Using Human-Centered Approach
dub research talk, 8/10/16, by Elin Björling and Emma Rose about the project

UCD Charette for K-12 Outreach

Autumn 2016

Catie Baker, CSE PhD Student
Andrew Davidson, HCDE Faculty

For the past few years, we have been using a design activity known as a charette as a way to introduce students to the user-centered design (UCD) process. In the "UCD Charette," students are given a particular design space to explore (such as user interfaces for a web site, mobile app, or a physical device). In a very short period of time (two hours or less), working in small groups, they brainstorm user needs, develop use-case scenarios, and create interaction designs for an application. We have run these participatory workshops with students at various educational levels, from middle school to graduate programs, and with K-12 teachers.

A fast-paced, hands-on activity that gives a good first-hand overview of the entire field, the UCD Charette allows students to experience the thrill of design, while raising questions about its practice, setting the stage for further study. It is adaptable to many different application areas and levels of expertise and interest.

We firmly believe that participatory activities such as this UCD Charette are far more effective as outreach and recruiting for HCDE than traditional college information sessions. Our long-term goal is to use the UCD Charette for broad outreach and recruiting in the K-12 environment. We also intend to evaluate this program and practice, and to expand its reach.

In this DRG, we will continue our outreach efforts for human centered design in the K-12 environment. UW student teams will facilitate a a UCD Charette in local high school and/or middle school classrooms. Students will plan and prepare the charette activities, and then go into the classroom and lead students in the exercise. Teams will assess the results of the workshops and prepare a report on their findings. We will use these findings to further develop the UCD Charette protocol.

We are looking for dedicated and enthusiastic HCDE students at all levels (Bachelor to PhD) to help with this project. HCDE DFA students and HCDE 210 alumni are especially welcome to apply. We will be limiting this DRG to a small number of participants. Only students willing to commit to at least 3 credit hours will be considered.
 

Measuring Teen Stress with a Social Robot

Autumn 2016

Facilitators

• Elin Björling, UW Tacoma
• Andrew Davidson, UW HCDE
• Emma Rose, UW Tacoma

Adolescents are subject to high levels of stress in their lives, resulting from school, relationships, and family life. Not surprisingly, school stress is most commonly reported as the biggest source of stress for teens. Therefore, accurately measuring teen stress within a student’s school setting can be a valuable way to assess how students are doing and to provide useful feedback for school staff making efforts to reduce student stress.

Social robots are being used to help other populations, such as the elderly and young children. However, there is very little research on either the experience of stress in teens, or the interactions between teens and robots. This presents a unique research opportunity in the field of human-robot interaction (HRI).

Our interdisciplinary team is using participatory, human-centered design to develop a social robot that can measure teen stress in a high school setting. So far, we have developed initial prototypes of a social robot, named EMAR (Ecological Momentary Assessment Robot), and performed preliminary research with teens.

Our team

The team is led by UW Tacoma faculty member Dr. Elin Björling, a stress researcher who studies adolescents. Collaborators include Dr. Emma Rose, UW Tacoma Assistant Professor and UX researcher; and Andrew Davidson, HCDE Senior Lecturer and physical computing specialist. We are interested in engaging UW students in this project.

During Autumn 2016 quarter, we are offering an interdisciplinary DRG to explore human-robot interactions among teens in a local high school with our low-fidelity prototype of EMAR. We will observe teens engaging and responding to EMAR’s questions regarding their stress and mood. DRG student teams will analyze and assess these interactions, as well as interview teens about their interactions with EMAR. Research questions we plan to explore:

1. What kinds of robot interactions are appropriate for gauging whether teens feel “heard”?
2. What kind of social interactions (person to person) result from engaging with EMAR?
3. What barriers do teams encounter in deploying the EMAR prototypes?

Interested students

We are looking for dedicated and enthusiastic UW students at all levels (Bachelors to PhD) to help with this project. We will be limiting this DRG to a small number of participants. Students will be expected to register for at least 3 credit hours. This project is open to students from both UW Seattle and UW Tacoma campuses.

The DRG participants will meet weekly, as noted above. Seattle and Tacoma teams will meet on their respective campuses, and we will arrange a video teleconference between them.

You should apply if you are interested in technology, physical computing, psychology, design, working with teens, or robots.

UCD Charrette for K-12 Outreach

Autumn 2015- Winter 2016

Elena Agapie, HCDE PhD Student
with
Andrew Davidson, HCDE Faculty
Emma Rose, UW Tacoma Faculty
Kiley Sobel, HCDE PhD Student

• Take a Coursera course on design (offered 10/21-12/13, the Coursera course website lists time estimate of 5 to 10 hours per week, Statement of Accomplishment from Dr. Ulrich upon completion)
• Keep a record of your experiences in the course and what your experiences suggest about the possibility of an HCDE-specific MOOC
• Meet five times with UW students and faculty running the research group (Thursdays, 4:00-5:30, 10/3 and 10/10 devoted to planning and orientation, 10/31 and 11/14 devoted to check-in/status/experiences, 12/12 (or earlier) to share final thoughts)

• Design: UX, IxD, UI
• Software: Arduino, web, mobile
• Electronics: digital & analog circuits
• Communications: documentation, process, coordination

• PresenDuino: a timing and reminder app for speakers and presenters to get feedback about the progress and pace of their talk.
• MooDuino: a classroom voting app, allowing an instructor to gather real-time feedback from students in the class.

• Traffic signal binary counter
• Bicycle computer
• Environmental data robot
• Wireless doorbell system
• Interactive gown

• Computer science (programming for embedded and ubicomp applications)
• Electronics (designing and building basic digital circuits)
• Technical communication (writing, photography, video)
• Teaching and pedagogy (project-based learning)