Anderson, R. E., & Kolko, B. (2011, June), Designing Technology for Resource-Constrained Environments: A Multidisciplinary Capstone Sequence   Paper presented at 2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Vancouver, BC. 10.18260/1-2--17728

\bibitem{asee_peer_17728}
  Anderson, R. E., \& Kolko, B. (2011, June), \emph{Designing Technology for Resource-Constrained Environments: A Multidisciplinary Capstone Sequence }
  Paper presented at 2011 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition, Vancouver, BC.
  10.18260/1-2--17728

Ruth E. Anderson and Beth Kolko.  "Designing Technology for Resource-Constrained Environments: A Multidisciplinary Capstone Sequence ".  2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Vancouver, BC, 2011, June.  ASEE Conferences, 2011.  https://peer.asee.org/17728 Internet.  15 Jan, 2025

\bibitem{asee_peer_17728}
  Ruth E. Anderson and Beth Kolko.
  "Designing Technology for Resource-Constrained Environments: A Multidisciplinary Capstone Sequence ".
  \emph{2011 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition, Vancouver, BC, 2011, June}.
  ASEE Conferences, 2011.
  https://peer.asee.org/17728 Internet.  15 Jan, 2025

@INPROCEEDINGS{asee_peer_17728
author = "Ruth E. Anderson and Beth Kolko"
title = "Designing Technology for Resource-Constrained Environments: A Multidisciplinary Capstone Sequence "
booktitle = "2011 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition"
year = "2011"
month = "June"
address = "Vancouver, BC"
publisher = "ASEE Conferences"
note = {https://peer.asee.org/17728}
number = {10.18260/1-2--17728}
}

TY  - CPAPER
AB  -          Designing Technology for Resource-Constrained Environments:                    a Multi-Disciplinary Capstone SequenceIn this paper we describe a year-long multi-disciplinary capstone experience where studentsengaged in designing and building technology to address problems faced by populations in localand remote resource-constrained environments. Resource-constrained environments provideunique infrastructure, technical, and social constraints that demand innovative designapproaches.In fall 2009, students from multiple departments participated in a 1-credit seminar where theyread and discussed papers about projects in developing countries as well as research papers aboutresource-constrained communities within developed countries (i.e., low-income communities,low bandwidth environments). The purpose of this quarter was to become familiar with uniqueconstraints when designing for resource constrained environments (e.g. How do you design forcultures where people are unfamiliar with or afraid of technology, or for environments wherepower and network connectivity are scarce and expensive?).Winter quarter was a multi-disciplinary group project design studio. Students from a variety ofmajors (Human-Centered Design, Psychology, Informatics) enrolled in a 5 credit HumanComputer Interaction (HCI) course and were partnered with Computer Science & Engineering(CSE) students registered for a 2 credit design studio. Project groups were organized aroundstudent interests, and each group consisted of both CSE and HCI students. Students from theHCI course were responsible for doing needs analysis through fieldwork, literature searches, andsocial impact analyses to lay project groundwork. HCI students did fieldwork in a variety ofdomains and scenarios including: interviews with doctors and medical students at local medicalclinics, observations of food bank operations and elementary school classrooms, web surveys ofpotential carpoolers, and email surveys of Ugandan midwives. CSE students were responsiblefor coming up with initial prototypes for the technology and discussing technical specificationswith the group. Throughout the course, student groups gave presentations to the class, and at theend of the quarter a poster fair and demo session was held for the general public.In spring quarter, CSE students enrolled in a 5 credit capstone and were partnered with HCIstudents who signed up for two credits. In this quarter, the CSE students built robust prototypeimplementations of the designs that had been developed in winter and the HCI students helpedevaluate the prototype through user testing. Throughout the quarter, student groups frequentlypresented their ideas to the class and to panels of experts in formal presentations, poster sessions,and written reports.The course ultimately brought together interdisciplinary teams of students who conductedfieldwork with potential user populations, designed a technology to solve a community-basedproblem, implemented a solution, and evaluated that solution. Students worked on projects withreal-world impact and gained valuable experience with multi-disciplinary design and multi-disciplinary team work. Both sides gained a greater appreciation of the difficulties faced by theirpeers – that fieldwork and software development are both often unpredictable and challenging. Inthis paper we describe the class format, sample projects, and course outcomes based on studentprojects and survey responses. The course sequence is currently being offered for a second time.
AU  - Ruth E. Anderson
AU  - Beth Kolko
CY  - Vancouver, BC
DA  - 2011/06/26
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Designing Technology for Resource-Constrained Environments: A Multidisciplinary Capstone Sequence 
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/17728
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--17728
ER  -