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Syllabus / HRS10

Hospitable Room: Designing a Pediatric Recreation Room

Objectives:

  1. Discover possibilities for fun in a pediatric recreation room at the NYU Hospital
  2. Explore computer vision and other techniques for enabling more expression from disabled children
  3. Deploy a real project that gets used at the hospital

Course Description:

Children in rehabilitation treatment often stay in the hospital for months at a time. We have the opportunity to create a room that will make that stay more fun and entertaining for them. This course will work in collaboration with the NYU Langone Medical Center: The Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine Pediatric Department. We have outfitted the pediatric recreation room with a video tracking, projection and transmission system through which ITP students participating in this class will build projects that examine how these environmental technologies can improve one's quality of stay in hospital. The technical exercises in the class will be around lighting, camera and coding tricks for video tracking and augmented reality as well as audio and video transmission over IP. Physical computing techniques will also be supported as projects require them. In addition, the class will cover issues of designing for the range of physical and cognitive function of children who will use this space. How can this system be used therapeutically? recreationally? how can it be used to decrease isolation? or foster collaboration? keep them smiling? Students in this class will meet with recreational and occupational therapists, the hospital's Therapeutic Recreation, Child Life & Creative Arts Therapies Department, as well as patients, to determine needs and usage. Final projects to deploy into the facility will be selected by faculty and hospital staff.

Readings:

  1. James P. Carse, "Finite and Infinite Games: A Vision of Life as Play and Possibility" (Recommended)
  2. Jean Piaget, "The Psychology of the Child" (Recommended)
  3. Howard Gardner, "Multiple Intelligences: New Horizons in Theory and Practice" (Recommended)
  4. Marcia J. Scherer, "Living in the State of Stuck: How Assistive Technology Impacts the Lives of People With Disabilities" (Recommended)

Week 1 Tuesday, January 18th

  • Introduction to course
  • Field trip to Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine http://rusk.med.nyu.edu/
  • Note: Trolley schedule 
     * from 715 Broadway to hospital:  http://www.nyu.edu/public.safety/transportation/routeEm-R-Outbound.pdf
     * from hospital to 715 Broadwayl:  http://www.nyu.edu/public.safety/transportation/routeEm-R-Inbound.pdf
  • Readings: 
     * Familiarize yourself with RUSK (Recreational Therapy, Child Life, Art Therapy, Music Therapy)
     * RESNA (T Journal V19:1 Article 4 - "Intelligent Systems in Pediatric Rehabilitation" by Tom Chau, PhD
     *  Selected Chapters from James Carse "Finite and Infinite Games"
  • Code: Run code for tracking a bright light. Modify it to be a paint program or move an image around.
  • Assignment: In teams of two, develop design sketch for "Assignment 1: Tracking a Single User"

Week 2 Tuesday, January 26th

     * Selected Chapters from Howard Gardner's "Multiple Intelligences" -84MB pdf
     * (see general introduction:   An Introduction to Howard Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligence  from the Enclyclopedia of Informal Education)
     * Gardner's article "Multimedia and Multiple Intelligence" (1996)
  • Code: Run code for a library.
  • Assignment: Continue "Assignment 1: Tracking a Single User"

Week 3 Tuesday, February 2nd

  • Show a working Tracking project at ITP.
  • Readings: 
     *Selected chapters: Living in the State of Stuck - 28M
     *RESNA (T Journal V19:3 Article 3 - "Use of a Team-Based Approach to Assistive Technology Assessment"
  • Assignment: Make example robust for user testing

Week 4 Tuesday, February 9th

  • User Testing and Presentation to RUSK Staff
  • Assignment: A great deal of children's media have educational philosophies. See examples linked here Characters and activities are created to support certain goals or skills. In teams of three-four, select one piece of children's programming (can be television program, educational software, social network, game) geared to one of the following age groups: baby/preschool, four-eight, nine-twelve, thirteen+. Be prepared to make a 15-minute presentation on your selected programming, it's intent, effectiveness, entertainment value, it's educational philosophy and goals (if any). Show samples in class to support and be prepared to discuss why you selected.

Week 5 Tuesday, February 16th

Week 6 Tuesday, February 23rd

Week 7 Tuesday, March 2nd

  • Midterm in progress.
  • Assignment: Continue working on midterm: Application tracking multiple users

Week 8 Tuesday, March 9th

  • Midterm Presentation

Spring Break

Week 9 Tuesday, March 23rd

Week 10 Tuesday, March 30th

  • Critique of Idea

Week 11 Tuesday, April 6th

Week 12 Tuesday, April 13th

  • Deployment and Testing at Rusk
  • Setups

Week 13 Tuesday, April 20th

  • Deployment and Testing at Rusk
  • Setups

Week 14 Tuesday, April 27th

  • Final Project Presentations

Grading:

    * On-time Participation 20%
    * Blogging 20%
    * Assignments 30%
    * Final Project 30%
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  Page last modified on April 12, 2010, at 03:11 PM