Teaching

At the end of a conference table, an attendee focuses and holds their soldering iron, while Lauren Race observes.

Teaching

I teach curricula on accessibility design in industry and academia, informed by my work at the NYU Ability Project and IAAP certification. I’ve taught at places such as New York University, Hunter College, and the Maryland School for the Blind.

A room full of attendees to NYCML sit around tables, while myself is standing in front of the room holding up microcapsule paper and explaining what it is.

Curricula

Multisensory Design Course

10.20.2022 – 12.8.2022
Expanded to 14 weeks, coming Fall 2023
NYU ITP

Georgina Kleege holds a white cane on her left shoulder and pets a multisensory white cat pillow that purrs and smells like cat shampoo, while 3 students observe.
Georgina Kleege and Fayen d’Evie petting Purrlow, a cat-sized, rectangular fur pillow with a tail that purrs and smells like cat shampoo

In this class, we took a multisensory approach to design that makes interfaces more accessible to disabled and nondisabled users. Students learned how to design for the senses (think tactile controls combined with atmospheric sounds and olfactory or taste experiences), while they gained an understanding of the assumptions we make about our users’ sensory preferences.

→ Go to Multisensory Design Class Website

Tactile Still Life Drawing Workshop

5.17.2022 – 6.11.2022
Andrew Heiskell Braille
& Talking Book Library

Twitter NYC

Close up of a 12 by 14 inch scale model of a black penny farthing bicycle with a triangular wooden seat, resting upright on a table. Positioned in front are two tactile drawings: one continuous line of the bike in the exact same position (plus a bonus rendering of a tiny Empire State Building) and one of a negative space drawing with the wheel spoke negative space depicted, resembling the shape of a whole pizza with gaps between the slices.
Two workshop drawings, Andrew Heiskell Braille & Talking Book Library

In this hands-on nonvisual drawing workshop, we arranged still life scenes using 3D touch objects. We explored tactile drawing techniques, such as continuous line and negative space, using Sensational Blackboards, ball point pens, and computer paper.

Myself at the head of a long conference table of employees with slides behind my head on high fidelity tactile graphics. An assortment of touch objects are laid across the table.
Reviewing types of tactile media, Twitter NYC

Nonvisual Soldering Workshop

2.28.2020 – 3.1.2020
NYU ITP

A long conference table, full of attendees, is set up with individual soldering stations with soldering irons, fans, vices, and soldering mats. In the foreground one attendee guides another's hand across their circuit board held by a vice at their soldering station.

Seeking to learn how we can design curricula to increase access to learning soldering non-visually, we designed and evaluated a nonvisual soldering curriculum with a three-day workshop led by the founder of the Blind Arduino Project, Dr. Joshua Miele.

→ Go to Soldering Workshop Details

Nonvisual Arduino Workshop

12.19.2019
Andrew Heiskell Braille
& Talking Book Library

Overhead view of a tactile component diagram of a piezo. On the far left is a small, black piezo buzzer glued to the page. Next to it is an enlarged tactile graphic of a piezo with the anode and cathode labeled. On the far right is an industry symbol of a piezo: a semicircle with two parallel pins extruding from the rounded edge of the semicircle.

We taught a nonvisual Arduino workshop which revealed the complexities of designing textual descriptions and tactile graphics for Blind Arduino workflows. The findings led to design recommendations for future accessible electronics learning materials. 

→ Go to Arduino Workshop Details

Museum Accessibility Design Course

1.30.2020 – 5.7.2020
New York University

Co-taught a course with Dr. Amy Hurst and Dr. Anita Perr, led reading discussion sessions, assisted with homework assignments and grading, and mentored final project for team that addressed accessibility of artifacts behind glass.

→ Go to Museum Accessibility Class Website

Intro to Tactile Design Workshop

08.22.2019 – 1.29.2020
A11y NYC
frog
NYC Media Lab Summit 2019
NYU DesignLab
Hunter College

Lauren Race standing in front of a microphone to the left of a projected slide about when to make tactile graphics that reads: "Tactile Graphics. Object unavailable (the stars), object too small (insect), object too large (tree), difficult to explain (rainbow), cannot be touched. (snowflakes), size relationship needs describing (an elephant and a man). Source, Tactile Graphics by Polly Edman"
Describing the best scenarios for making tactile graphics at A11y NYC

Promoted inclusive design and accessibility awareness by framing tactile design as a useful collaborative tool and use case, provided hands-on experience by inviting attendees to design and produce their own tactile designs using microcapsule paper and a fuser.

Over the shoulder long shot of myself at frog design. Everyone has their heads down sketching their tactile graphics, while a slide on a monitor shows some tips in the background.
Using Sharpies to add carbon to microcapsule paper at frog
Close up of the hands of a group of people gathered around a table, touching a tactile graphic.
Attendees touching example microcapsule tactile graphics at NYC Media Lab Summit 2019

DIY Tactile Design Workshop

04.29.2020 – 08.16.2020
NYU Ability Project
NYU IDM
NYU ITP
Andrew Heiskell Braille
& Talking Book Library
Maryland School for the Blind

Zoom screenshot of students, faces and names blurred out, holding up their DIY tactile graphics they made with found materials at home.

No longer having access to NYU’s microcapsule fuser, we covered alternative tactile graphic design techniques using found materials to create Do It Yourself tactiles at home. We pressed pencils into paper on top of cutting boards to create reverse tactile graphics and scissors, glue, found objects, and hot glue to create raised collages.

Talks

axe-con

March 15, 2023

Maker/Space: a DIY, Accessible Workflow for Tactile Graphics Used in Zero-Gravity Flight

At axe-con 2023, we invite attendees to reimagine and reclaim tactile graphics as a fully accessible community practice open to people of all backgrounds and budgets. New York Public Library’s Dimensions lab hosted crew from Astro Access to develop a system of tactile symbols that communicate critical information during zero-gravity flight. We’ll introduce you to the Dimensions open lab model, accessible workflows for rapid iteration of graphics, collaborative flows that bridge gaps in access to CAD software, and how to cultivate and support Blind designers.

Council for Museum Anthropology Virtual Symposium

March 25 – 26, 2022

Designing, Producing, and Preserving Accessible Touch Objects for Museums

At CMA 2022, we shared our research developing new approaches to safely providing accessible content to visitors, as traditional solutions were being phased out during Covid-19. We defined the properties of a high-quality touch object and outlined the best practices for their safe handling, ensuring access for visitors who learn best through their sense of touch.

PastForward 2021

November 2 – 5, 2021

BYOAD (Bring Your Own Accessible Device)

Shared our work developing accessible and multi-sensory visitor experiences at museums and historic sites across the U.S. at  PastForward 2021. We discussed how personal mobile devices and auditory, tactile, and smell experiences can remove barriers to information access.

Museum Computer Network (MCN) 2020

November 10 – 19, 2020

Touch and Multi-sensory Experiences: Developing Safe and Inclusive Practices During Covid-19

For MCN 2020, we described our efforts to better understand the challenges and opportunities for sustaining and expanding tactile objects in museums through conducting interviews with 15 museum access specialists from museums ranging in size and location. We discussed the responses from six accessibility experts who identified as blind or low vision to the museums current practices.

Carnegie Mellon HCI Institute

October 5, 2020

HCII Access Seminar Soldering Panel

I spoke on a panel of Blind Arduino Project soldering practitioners about community collaboration for making and research. We shared how building rapport within Blind making and academic research was critical to offering non-visual skill-building opportunities to community partners.

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