Syllabus
About Capstone
About this Capstone Course
Accessibility is quickly emerging as a leading consideration for product design and engineering. Disability is part of the human condition – almost everyone will be temporarily or permanently impaired at some point in life. In this class, you will learn through project-based design. Working with project mentors and potential users, we will use human centered methods to explore how computing can enable new solutions to accessibility.
This course specifically emphasizes intersectionality. In the words of Kimberle Crenshaw, who first coined the term:
Intersectionality is a lens through which you can see where power comes and collides, where it interlocks and intersects. It’s not simply that there’s a race problem here, a gender problem here, and a class or LGBTQ problem here. Many times that framework erases what happens to people who are subject to all of these things.
What are the Prerequisites and Expectations?
- We are expecting there to be a significant implementation component. Students who have built a significant full stack system will be best suited to this aspect of this class – i.e. a website that goes beyond simple static information; a mobile app, or something similar. The CSE course that best meets this requirement is CSE 340.
- We are expecting there to be good programming skills. Something like 331 (software concepts and tools) would be the ideal prerequisite for this
- Familiarity with human centered design is helpful but not required. The two classes that best meet this prerequisite are 440 or 493e (the accessibility course). We will be going over methods for user engagement in the class and revisiting material around accessibility audits and disability design principles.
In addition to these expectations, please note that the class will have a strong emphasis on inclusive design – we will be covering intersectionality, and all of the projects will engage in some way with multilingualism, multiculturalism, or other identities in addition to disability.
ABET Accreditation
Because this is an ABET-accredited Capstone course, we are expected to teach you how to meet standards topical to the course. In this course, we are using a mix of technology standards (drawn from the IEEE standards database) and other standards. The standards we will use in this course are selected for feasibility and relevance to the materials and include:
- Design Justice list of principles
- Voluntary Product Accessibility Template, specifically VPAT 2.5
- IEEE Standard for Information Technology–Systems Design–Software Design Descriptions
Course Structure
This course is organized around a quarter-long capstone project. You will:
- Form teams of 3-4 students in Week 1, after project pitches.
- Work with a project mentor throughout the quarter
- Engage with at least 3 potential users (typically people with lived disability experience who might use what you build) across at least 2 distinct rounds.
- Keep one running project document in GitLab from Week 2 through Week 10. You will build it up incrementally at 4 milestones alongside class demos.
- Design, prototype, and implement an accessible solution
- Present your work at a final poster session
The course emphasizes iterative design, inclusive research methods, and justice-centered approaches to accessibility. See Projects for the milestone-by-milestone structure, or Assignments for the individual competency checks.
Course arc
Course Logistics
Course Communication
We’re using Ed Discussion for class Q&A. This is the best place to ask questions about the course, whether curricular or administrative. You will get faster answers here from staff and peers. If you must send an email, please use the course staff email list (which reaches all instructors and TAs).
In Person
This is an in person class. As much as possible, we ask that you attend in person. That said, we know that many individual concerns may make this a barrier. We will do our best to support remote participation when there is a need for this due to a family obligation, disability, or other concern.
Occasional Remote Participation
Occasional remote participation is permitted if there is a safety concern (e.g. you might get others in the class sick) or access concern (e.g. you have fatigue). When you are remote, unless you are unwell, you will still participate synchronously. To participate synchronously, you need to do the following:
- Make sure one of your project group members is available to be your “zoom buddy” (they should log into zoom and be in class in person)
- Attend via zoom and participate in discussions with the help of your zoom buddy
- Report your reason for being remote and who your zoom buddy was, and how you participated, in your weekly survey
Missing Class
We understand that sometimes you will miss a class. Examples of reasons include religious holidays that overlap class times, or major illness. In these cases, please reach out to the instructors. To help:
- Course content will be posted as a set of readings/videos that can be watched asynchronously. Recordings of the live class will be shared on request
- Office Hours: We will host remote office hours on request. Please contact the course staff if none of the times/locations work for you.
Course Structure
Monday & Wednesday
Class Location: MGH 058.
Lectures covering design methods, accessibility concepts, and relevant standards; Work time with your team; and Mentor presentations are all ways we may use class time.
Project Mentor Cadence
Mentors are not required to meet you outside of class. Some mentors my choose to do this. Others may check in during class times. You are encouraged to use office hours for regular checkins if your mentor is not providing that support.
Materials
All course materials including slides, readings, and assignment descriptions will be posted on the course website, or via a link to Canvas. There is no required textbook.
Learning and Grading
Competency Based Grading
This course uses competency based grading in alignment with the disability justice focus in this course. Competency based grading is designed to reward growth and final understanding, rather than penalizing you if you initially have trouble with a skill or topic.
There will not be quizzes, or a midterm or final exam. Instead, your knowledge will be assessed through demonstrated competencies aligned with ABET requirements.
Details on what specific assignments you need to complete for this can be found in the Assignments section of the course website.
What is Competency Based Grading?
Competency based grading separates out how you learn a skill from whether you know it. We try to give you chances to resubmit, or be re-assessed. We don’t care if you get them wrong at first, as long as you eventually learn them. If you learn them all, and participate fully in the class, you will get an A.
Competencies
This course has the following competencies, each aligned with specific ABET requirements:
- Accessible Implementation - Apply WCAG 2.1 AA standards in your prototypes
- Inclusive Person Centered Design - Base design decisions on first person perspectives
- Accessible Communication - Create accessible documents, presentations, and posters
- Design/Disability Justice - Enact positive disability principles in your design
- Inclusive Experiments - Consider accessibility, ethics, and power dynamics in research
Each competency is assessed on three levels:
- Excellent: Demonstrates mastery and depth of understanding
- Competent: Demonstrates solid understanding and application
- Not Yet Competent: Does not yet demonstrate understanding; needs revision
Grading Scale
70% 80% of your final grade is calculated based on your group’s performance on the competencies. If you do not achieve at least competent on your individual competency assessment, we will adjust your grade on the final project downwards.
- 4.0 (A): Excellent on all competencies; Full participation
- 3.7 (A-): Excellent on most competencies, competent on others; Full participation
- 3.3 (B+): Excellent on some competencies, competent on others; Full participation
- 3.0 (B): Excellent on none; competent on all competencies; Good participation
- 2.7 (B-): Competent on some competencies; Good participation
- Below 2.0: Not meeting minimum competency requirements
Your competency grade (above) is based on all 5 competencies, weighted equally.
30% 20% of your grade is your participation, effort and teamwork (showing up, pulling your load), and engagement points.
Attendance and Deadlines
Attendance
Regular attendance is essential for success in this course, particularly because of the team-based nature of the capstone project.
This means you are expected to attend Monday/Wednesday lectures. In addition, you should schedule regular checkins either with your mentor or via office hours with the course staff.
Excused absences include:
- Illness (please stay home if you’re sick!)
- Religious holidays
- University-approved absences (sports, conferences, etc.)
- Family emergencies
- Disability-related accommodations
Please notify the course staff and your team as soon as possible if you need to miss class. When feasible, and appropriate, we will try to set up for remote attendance.
Religious Accommodations
Washington state law requires that UW develop a policy for accommodation of student absences or significant hardship due to reasons of faith or conscience, or for organized religious activities. The UW’s policy, including more information about how to request an accommodation, is available at Religious Accommodations Policy. Accommodations must be requested within the first two weeks of this course using the Religious Accommodations Request form.
Deadlines and Late Work
All assignments are due at 11:59 PM Pacific Time on the specified due date unless otherwise noted. Assignment dates are listed on the course schedule. Wherever possible, assignments are allowed a two day extension, no questions asked.
- Individual assignments: You may request a 48-hour extension by emailing the course staff before the deadline. These are automatically approved, no matter how many previous assignments you used this for.
- Group assignments: Extensions must be requested by the entire team, but only when the whole team agrees, and may not be approved. This is because mentor visits to class are not possible to reschedule.
- Final deliverables: Cannot be submitted late as they are tied to the poster session and final presentations
If you are experiencing ongoing challenges that affect your ability to meet deadlines, please reach out to the course staff as soon as possible so we can work with you.
Revision Policy
Because we use competency-based grading, you can revise and resubmit work to improve your competency level. However:
- You must submit something by the original deadline
- Revisions must be submitted within one week of receiving feedback
- You can only revise work that demonstrates genuine effort
- Some assignments (e.g., in-class presentations) cannot be revised
Weekly Expectations
Plan to spend approximately 10-12 hours per week on this course, including:
- 3 hours in class (Monday/Wednesday)
- Remaining time on project work and assignments
Some weeks will require more time, especially around major deadlines.
Course Accessibility and Inclusion
- Course Accessibility and Inclusion
- Disability Accommodations
- Mental Health and Wellness
- COVID Safety
- Inclusion and Respect
Course Accessibility and Inclusion
We hope you will find the class accessible and inclusive! The class is a shared learning environment and it is important to us to make it a welcoming environment for everyone, from all backgrounds. We strive to treat everyone in the class with respect and understanding. We ask the same of you – please make every effort to ensure your assignments and communications are accessible to your teaching staff.
If you have any concerns, please feel free to give us feedback directly, or through the CSE anonymous feedback form, which allows you to provide constructive feedback and report problems anonymously. Anyone in a CSE course can provide feedback about a specific course.
Disability Accommodations
If you have a temporary health condition or permanent disability (either mental health, learning, or physical health related) that impacts your academic experience, please let us know how we can accommodate you. You are NOT obligated to disclose any of these issues with the instructor, only specify if there’s any accommodations required.
The course is designed to be flexible and accommodate various needs:
- Remote participation options
- Flexible deadlines with communication
- Multiple ways to demonstrate competency
- Accessible course materials
Please work with Disability Resources for Students (DRS) to establish accommodations. Once you have your accommodation letter, please share it with the course staff so we can ensure your needs are met.
Mental Health and Wellness
It is very important to us that you take care of your physical and mental health throughout the course. We have built flexibility into course assessments where possible, with the goal of reducing stress. However we know that sometimes that is not enough.
Everyone on the course staff is available to chat, and you can always attend office hours for a non-academic conversation if necessary. Beyond the course staff, the University of Washington provides the following resources for mental health concerns:
- UW Counseling Center - available to all UW students at no cost
- UW Health and Wellness programs
- SafeCampus at (206) 685-7233 if you’re concerned for yourself or a friend
- Resources about sexual assault on and off campus
COVID Safety
Please attend class remotely if you are sick or have potentially been exposed to COVID-19. We can accommodate remote participation - your health and the health of the class community are the priority.
If an instructor or TA gets sick, we will move in-person activities online or have someone else on the course staff fill in while we are potentially contagious.
Inclusion and Respect
What should I do if something happens that makes me feel excluded or unsafe?
If something about the course materials makes you feel excluded, please let us know. We also review them ourselves with inclusion in mind each time we prepare to teach.
We have tried to make the course inclusive of people who have work, childcare or appointments that have to be prioritized at specific times. However if we can do something to improve this further, or you have needs we haven’t thought of, please tell us.
If something has made you feel uncomfortable in any way, you have been harassed or assaulted, or you observe concerning behavior, SafeCampus is a helpful resource (206-685-7233).
Community Guidelines
- Use respectful, non-ableist language
- Listen actively and engage with diverse perspectives
- Support your teammates
- Engage constructively in critique
- Respect users’ time and perspectives
- Honor confidentiality when working with potential users
- Give credit where credit is due
Academic Conduct
- Academic Conduct
- Collaboration Policy
- Use of AI and Generative Tools
- User Interactions
- Attribution and Citations
- Questions?
Academic Conduct
Please familiarize yourself with the UW CSE Academic Misconduct Policy. Looking beyond policy, plagiarizing is a violation of disability justice and in direct conflict with the learning goals of this course.
We will grade on the assumption that you have read and understood it, and there will be penalties if you do not follow these policies. These will be determined on a case by case basis, but at a minimum:
- If you plagiarize you will receive a 0 on participation for that assignment
- If you plagiarize on any assignment, you will receive a non-competent on your Design/Disability Justice competency
Collaboration Policy
Individual Assignments
- Must be completed individually
- You may discuss concepts with classmates but must write your own responses
- You may seek help from course staff
- Cite any sources you use
Group Assignments
- Work should be completed collaboratively by your team
- All team members should contribute meaningfully
- Include a contribution statement with each group submission
- Work from other teams should not be shared or copied
Code and Implementation
- You may use open source libraries and frameworks (with attribution)
- You may reference documentation and tutorials (with citation)
- You may ask for help from course staff
- You may NOT copy code from other teams or previous quarters
- When using AI tools, follow the guidelines below
Use of AI and Generative Tools
We acknowledge that AI tools like ChatGPT, GitHub Copilot, and others are becoming part of professional practice. However, they must be used thoughtfully and ethically.
You may use AI for general course questions and ungraded work. You may also use AI on graded work when that work is specifically listed in Authorized Graded Work. AI is not allowed on any graded assignment that is not included in the authorized list.
Remember: The goal is learning. If AI tools prevent you from learning the material, you’re using them incorrectly. In addition, be sure to read the full policy carefully before using AI.
Definition of AI
For this policy, “AI” refers to generative AI systems that can produce or modify text, code, images, audio, video, or other content — whether in a single response to a prompt or by operating autonomously across multiple steps (e.g., chatbots such as ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini; code assistants and agents such as GitHub Copilot, Cursor, and Claude Code; and AI-powered writing, translation, and image-generation tools). This includes AI features built into IDEs, operating systems, or browsers when they generate or substantially rewrite content, but excludes non-generative tools such as basic spell-check, grammar/syntax highlighting, and linters. A tool’s ability to act autonomously (e.g., independently writing, running, and debugging code) does not exempt it from this definition.
Rationale
AI can be valuable for exploring concepts, practicing skills, and developing one’s capabilities. AI use is allowed on some assignments to give you experience working with these tools to supplement and grow your own knowledge. However, you are still ultimately responsible for your own learning, and some assignments will require you to demonstrate your knowledge and skills without the use of AI.
Authorized Graded Work
AI use is permitted only for the following graded work:
- Debugging code errors
- Getting syntax help for unfamiliar languages/frameworks
- Brainstorming ideas (not final solutions)
- Improving writing clarity (not generating content)
- Generating code scaffolding (that you understand and can explain)
AI use is not allowed on any graded assignment that is not listed above. The instructor may provide additional instructions or limits for any authorized activity.
Permitted Actions
- You may use AI for general questions and support–including concept explanations, study questions, practice problems, ungraded exercises, and exploratory coding–on all work.
- You may use AI to help develop your submissions only for the specific assignments listed in Authorized Graded Work, subject to any instructions or limits stated for that activity.
Prohibited Actions
- Do not use AI to produce work you submit on any graded assignment that is not listed under Authorized Graded Work.
- Do not use AI in ways that exceed the stated limits for an authorized graded activity.
- Do not submit AI-generated work, or lightly edited AI-generated work, as your own when the activity’s instructions require work to be independently produced.
- Do not use generative AI to plagiarize or cheat. For example, you may not use AI to create fake data and pass that off as based on real people.
- If an assignment has stricter rules, those rules override this policy for that assignment.
For example, AI use is not permitted for the generation of text, including mentor- or user-facing written materials, and also your written assignment answers / essays
Examples
- Allowed: using AI to explain a concept
- Allowed: using AI on an ungraded exercise or exploratory code that will not be submitted for credit.
- Allowed: using AI to help produce your submission on a graded assignment if that activity is listed under Authorized Graded Work.
- Not allowed: using AI to fix a bug or rewrite a proof for you on an assignment that is not listed under Authorized Graded Work.
- Not allowed: copying work produced by an AI into your submission that is not listed under Authorized Graded Work.
Required Attribution
If you utilized AI on an authorized assignment, specify the tool you used and how you utilized it in your work.
- For AI use in coding, disclose it in your team’s Build Log.
- For AI use when answering written questions, disclose it in your handin. Example: “Used ChatGPT to produce an initial solution to all problems, which I then refined and corrected.”
Guidelines for Effective AI Use
- Before using AI on graded work, confirm that the activity is listed under Authorized Graded Work and review any activity-specific instructions.
- Use AI to expand your thinking, not to replace it.
- Verify AI output carefully; AI can be inaccurate, incomplete, biased, or inconsistent with course expectations.
- Test AI-generated code
- Ensure AI-generated content is accessible and appropriate
- Maintain control of your work: you should be able to explain and defend every part of what you submit.
- When in doubt, err on the side of not using AI and ask the course staff for clarification.
Data Privacy Expectations
- Do not upload course-specific materials—including assignment prompts, course code, datasets, class notes, hidden tests, solution keys, or other restricted content—to AI tools without the instructor’s explicit approval.
- Some AI tools (e.g., Cursor, Claude Code, and similar coding agents) can automatically access files beyond what you explicitly share — including your entire local repository, file system, or connected accounts. - Before using such a tool, confirm what it can access and restrict or scope that access so it does not read private repositories, hidden test files, other students’ code, solution keys, or other restricted materials without your intent.
- Do not submit personal, sensitive, or university-protected information into AI tools.
- Be aware that prompts and outputs may be stored or reused by third-party AI providers.
- UW’s Purple tool and certain GenAI tools provided by the Allen School for use in courses are designed specifically for UW students and staff and have stronger privacy protections than public commercial tools. When AI usage is permitted, using Purple or Allen School-provided tools is advised if possible.
Academic Integrity
Using AI in ways prohibited by this policy or by assignment-specific instructions will be considered academic misconduct and referred to CSSC. Students found responsible for violating this policy will, at minimum, receive no credit for the affected assignment. Stronger penalties, up to and including failing the course, may apply for repeated or egregious violations. In cases of group work, all students will be held equally responsible for violation unless there is clear evidence that a subset of team members were not involved or aware.
Accommodations and Approved Exceptions
Students with accessibility needs or other extenuating circumstances should contact the instructor to discuss exceptions. Accommodations or exceptions require instructor approval before they are used.
Attribution
The general approach and key elements of the policies were developed by the Teaching with Generative AI committee during the 2025-26 academic year. The text of the policies was written by the committee chair (Brett Wortzman) utilizing Purple for help with wording, formatting, and refinement. All output from Purple was reviewed by humans and edited as deemed necessary. I (Jen) further edited the text when I imported it into this syllabus.
User Interactions
When working with potential users
- Respect their time and expertise
- Honor their privacy and confidentiality
- Obtain informed consent before any research activities
- Share findings with them when appropriate
- Give credit to their contributions
- Do not share their information outside your team without permission
Attribution and Citations
Always cite your sources:
- Use standard citation formats (APA, MLA, or IEEE)
- Include URLs for web resources
- Credit any code snippets, even small ones
- Acknowledge collaborators and helpers
- Be specific about what you used and how
Questions?
If you’re ever unsure whether something is allowed, ask! It’s always better to ask first than to deal with consequences later. The course staff is here to help you succeed while maintaining academic integrity.