Can accessibility be a crucial use case to get students interested in Computer Science (CS)? I think we are all aware that there is a decline in Computer Science enrolments. In April's issue of the Communications of ACM, I saw an article in the ViewPoint column that discusses this issue and shows how working with disabled people can motivate students to study Computer Science. I think people who teach Computer Science courses would find this article interesting as it shows how accessibility can be a good use case for teaching.

Computing as Social Science

And so the message is just not getting out there. Students' firsthand experience with computers - their music and their phones - is accepted and reinforced by the image we portray in school - one of unrelenting banality and geekdom - and potential computer science students do not see themselves as having a greater impact.

At the University of Buffalo we have two senior-level courses that require teams to create real systems for real clients. They are introduced to the wider community of people with disabilities and told to make a difference. That's it. Those are the instructions. Improve the quality of life of someone less able than you. If you can't figure it out, you fail. So don't fail.

Full Paper: http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1498765.1498779
Full Proceedings: Communications of the ACM, Volume 52, Issue 4, April 2009.

Labels: accessibility, compputer science, education, social