Just received word of approval for STS 3284: Technology and Disability!!!! This is now an official course offering and not a rotating topics course!!!!
If you are looking to take STS 3284 during SPRING 2018, course sign-ups are open! The CRN is 20072 if you don’t want to go surfing through the timetable.
We will be meeting in Goodwin 241 on Tuesdays & Thursdays 2:00-3:15pm.
PINCH ME. WOOOOT.
[Graduate students who are interested, please standby: we are working out a course listing at the grad-level.]
Here is the course ad: STS 3284 Course Ad Sp 2018
For Screen Readers
For those with screen readers whose computers are going to get boggled by this PDF, it features an image and text. The image shows 7 versions of the same military-ish guy in a Lockheed Martin exoskeleton moving from wheelchair on the left to fully standing on crutches and about to take a step by the 7th frame, and then it has all this info about the course, a good bit of which is repeats from above —
It reads:
Technology and Disability
New Class!
Dr. Ashley Shew
Questions? Write to Dr. Shew at shew@vt.edu
Visit Dr. Shew’s course webpage at techanddisability.com.
News stories frequently report the development of “game-changing” and “life-altering” technologies for people with disabilities, from colorful 3D printable prosthetic hands to wheelchairs that climb stairs. But the reality is often far different from the claims of these feel-good stories. A device might not live up to the hype, may be functional only under certain environmental/architectural constraints, or may not be covered by insurance and therefore unattainable. This class equips students to enter a cultural conversation of growing importance at a level deeper than dominant media portrayals.
Students will play an active role in the development of classroom content, leading class in discussion, and presenting on individual technology projects of their choice. We will also learn how to measure to ADA specs and check out neat stuff in the assistive tech lab! Technologies we’ll look at will include: cochlear implants and hearing aids, prosthetic arms and legs, exoskeletons, apps for a variety of disabilities, computer tech for blindness and learning disabilities, mobility tech (walkers, canes, etc.), and more!
STS 3284 SPRING 2018
Tuesdays & Thursdays 2:00-3:15pm, Goodwin 241
CLE AREAS 2 and 7 – CRN 20072
Technology and Disability 
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