Social context, singular focus

In the Computer Science Department at the University of Michigan (UM), we have spent the past five years building social context into several courses in the traditional computer science (CS) curriculum. Specifically, freshman- and senior-level, project-based classes have been designed to both teach significant and appropriate academic content, while also building software games and apps for children with cognitive and/or physical disabilities within the university´s associated hospital. Children with disabilities provide the context for these courses, while the content remains representative of a traditional curriculum. The cadence of the course(s) is typically: propose, pitch, form groups, design, build, test, and improve. Each student submits a written proposal for the project. A group of experts read all of the proposals, and choose the `best´ for pitching to the other students in the course. Groups are formed, using student preferences, based upon the pitches. The newly formed groups follow an engineering process that includes gathering requirements and designing the software system. Student groups partition the work, and implement three iterations (alpha, beta, final) of their designs. Groups are re-formed, and the newly formed groups test code from each other´s groups. Finally, original development groups have the ability to make final improvements to their code. Student groups are offered the opportunity to continue work on promising projects through subsequent independent studies or internships. If the software project is `minimally viable´, the groups are encouraged to continue development and work with the university´s Center for Entrepreneurship or Office of Technology Transfer toward eventual commercialization. During the past academic year (2013-2014), one of the senior-level courses had the singular focus of developing software apps and games for a 13 year old girl with athetoid cerebral palsy. Her family was actively involved in the course, filt- ring project ideas and offering suggestions for improvement. Some of the most promising apps are currently installed in the family´s house for methodical review and eventual improvement. This paper will discuss the general process that is used in this style of course, the specific approach that was used during the 2013-2014 academic year, and offer general suggestions for implementation in disciplines other than computer science.