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WILLIAM LI: So I
think our reason

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for really giving a public
face to the class in the course

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itself but also on
Open CourseWare,

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I think there's a number of
different dimensions associated

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with that.

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First I think it's sort
of personal, I think,

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that Professor Teller
started this class

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and we really want to make these
materials available to people

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and really kind of build
on that legacy of the work

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that he's done.

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And if the work that we've
contributed this year

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can help the class
continue on and continue

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to grow and flourish, I think
that's a really exciting part.

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The second piece I think
is really for the students,

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the opportunity to interact with
people in the wider community,

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to share their work, the
work that they have done.

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I think all of our students
are very proud of the work

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that they've done.

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They really got
into the projects

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and working with their clients.

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And so in having a public
showcase at the end

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and having them communicate
their work online, in video,

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or through OCW, I think is part
of the learning experience,

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I think.

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And the third piece
is that we really

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think there's a big
opportunity in terms

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of assistive
technology education

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or kind of
project-based education

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that we work with
people with disabilities

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in the Cambridge or Boston area.

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But in a lot of ways,
this model could

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be applied to a lot of other
places, a lot of other colleges

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or universities in other towns
or cities in the United States

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or around the world.

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There's really a huge need
or a huge opportunity,

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I think, to work in
assistive technology.

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A lot of potential partners
to spread geographically.

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And we want to kind of
communicate how we did here.

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And maybe share
some materials that

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make it a little bit
easier for somebody

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thinking about doing
this, or maybe just

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to inspire them
to think about how

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they might be able to work on a
course or a project like this.

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GRACE TEO: I think one of
the more public aspects

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of the class as
well was the fact

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that we asked our
students to write up

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blog posts over the semester.

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So all of them had to write
four different blog posts

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on a public blog for the class.

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And one thing that's
very important to me

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when we teach about
disability is that we're not

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coming in as saviors.

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And we're not coming
in to like, oh,

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let's share our wonderful
engineering knowledge with you.

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One of the central
aspects of this class

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is that it user-centered design.

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And we have to recognize
that the clients themselves

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understand their
disability the best.

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And they understand
the type of challenges

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that come with living with
a disability the best.

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So one of the great things about
having those blog posts was

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that the community outside could
also engage with the students

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and say, wow, this
is a good idea,

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maybe this is not a
good idea, have you

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considered this other aspect.

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And so we think that
by engaging our users,

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that also just makes the design
process a lot more rigorous.