Group Members – Sarah Wu, Sara Ye, Kendra, Kathreen, and Alicia.

 

The Challenge: 

In this accessibility challenge as a group we had to create a device or design that would help Molly move around in our school. Molly is in grade 9, and she is legally blind and has poor hearing. As a group we had to create something that would help her move around the school more easily.

 

What was learned from listening to Molly:

• There were no railings anywhere in the school, besides the stairs.
• She had trouble finding her way around the Scinece wing (upstairs).
• She used structures and identifications, such as sounds from the washroom to know where she is in the school.
• Her cane is a great tool to help her move around the school.
• Also with her cane she can determine different textures, since her cane would make different sounds depending on what it was touching in the school.
• She knows braille, and is constantly learning the different types.
• However since she only is relying on her eyes all the time, it is mentally exhausting for her.

 

With having Molly and her personal assistants share some information about what could be changed, we decided to come up with some ideas.

 

Brainstorming: 

• we could create a vibration device that could alert Molly if there was something to be careful around or pointy.
• We could create mini maps beside classrooms that would demonstrate a simple structure of the classroom (map-like device)
• Create braille labeling around the school, but reachable for Molly.

 

After discussing throughout our whole group we decided to pick an idea and elaborate on it –>

 

We chose to create mini maps of classrooms along with braille labeling to help Molly understand the layout and structure off classrooms before she went into them. 

 

With that, we first wanted to make a total of 8 classrooms in the school, however as we started drawing each classroom we narrowed it down to 4 since there was a lot that needed to be done, but we didn’t have too much time.

 

The classrooms we picked –> Room 128, Room 205, Room 111, Room 202

Once we figured out the classrooms we started to draw them out, to see how the maps would look like.

We also decided that the maps would be 3-D printed, from the printers at our school.

 

Our sketches – 

Room 128 – Foods Room

Room 205 – Science Room (Mr. Campbell)

Room 111 – Art Room (Mr. Drysdale)

Room 205 – Science Room (Ms. Mireau)

 

After we had all the sketches we decided what everything meant in the classroom. We followed this list:

 

With braille we would add the letter on the indent in the map.

 

For example, the teachers desk would have a T on it in braille so Molly would know that T stands for the teachers desk. However, we also made sure that everythig would be explained as well so Molly can get a great understanding of the map, so she can find it useful in the school.

 

With all this information, Kathreen and Kendra started to design the maps on Tinkercad. Also Sarah Wu designed one classroom on 3D builder.

 

Sarah Wu’s classroom design

 

 

After they were created they started to find times to print the classrooms. However, this was a struggle since many of the printers were already used all throughout the school days.

On top of this Sarah Wu also was printing out the braille for the classrooms on Blender and 3D builder.

 

Here is the braille on Sarah’s computer:

 

 

 

Finally after many hours here are the finished pieces –>

Both Rooms 202 and 205

Room 202

Room 205

 

And here’s the braille prototype:

Braille size too big

Testing out sizes

Final Brialle –>

Overall Time and Results: 

Pro’s

• Map can be learned and is understandable
• Map can help people vision the classroom before they go into it, with using th sense of touch instead of sight.
• Braille was easy to create, and useful for the school.
• The map was printed well, with smooth edges and clean overall look.

 

Con’s

• Maps took 13 hours to print in total, which is why we only printed two.
• Maps had to be smaller since they were too “big,” however size had to be adjusted to satisfy the 3D printer.
• Braille was very small, but also took a very long time to print.

 

Overall, there were many obstacles and changes that had to be made, however as a group we were all very happy with the final product. We would love to see our idea go even further in the future, however now we can understand that taking on projects like these are very time consuming and difficult.

I hope that this inspires others to also create projects like these to create positive change for others. With that, this project was challenging but also very fun and interesting to do.

 

 

Reflection –

Points that I will adress for this relection:

My role in the project was to run the group into the right direction, while we were designing the project. I kept all the papers organized and wrote out all the interviews. I helped a lot with the designing stage, sharing my ideas to finally collaborate with all the members in my group. I made sure everyone was on the right track during the creation process, and I made sure we had a final piece in the end.

My responsibilities included making sure we had all the information we needed for the project (interviews from Molly and her assistants). I also lead the group to share their ideas, since the more thoughts the better. Also, since this project was done over this past month I made sure everyone was doing their job, and asked if anyone needed support or help.

I am proud of these contributions that I made which were: leading the group to create an amazing piece, expressing and motivating my whole group whenever they had ideas, asked if anyone needed help, and started the group in the right mindset and process.

I will improve my collaboration skills by asking more question to my group memebers so I know whats going on. Communicating with my whole team more, and setting up meeting instead of just talking individually to everyone. Lastly, to be more involved with other peoples roles throughout the project.

This is what I learned about the ‘Design Sprint’ and design process: I learned that it was hard to create a useful device that would be even more useful than Molly’s cane. Since her cane can help from not bumping into things, my group had to create something different and not to necessarily do with physically moving around the school.

This is what I learned while working with the SME (the student): I learned that eventhough schools are getting better at being inclusive, Riverside and other schools still have a lot to improve on. Seeing and listening what Molly has to go through everyday made me realize that as a community we need to make more sacrifices for people like Molly.

This is what I like about this process: that we could get a really good understanding of the person we were creating something for. Getting this perspective definitely helped my group work, and find out how to help her.

This is what I will remember about this project in the future: I will remember when we saw the 3D printed design on Blender and Tinkercad, and then we saw the actual printed piece. It was very rewarding, and my group and I thought it was very cool to see the map in person and in 3D form.