Past Research
PD, AT, and HCD
Some of the AT & PD team members pose for a shot in Campbell Hall at UTEP after the first official meeting of the group. Pictured here are (from top left to bottom right): Report Date: August 31, 2016 AT, PD, AND HCD page 3 July 25, 2016 Meeting Summary Attendees: Erick Garcia El Paso Community College (EPCC), Lucia Dura UTEP Rhetoric and Writing, Meagan Kendall UTEP Engineering Education and Leadership, Lauren Perez PD Ambassador, Chris Garcia EPCC, Jessica McKay AT Specialist Ysletta School District, Kristin Kosyluk UTEP Rehabilitation Counseling. Missing from the picture but in attendance at this meeting were Stanley Mubako UTEP Geological Sciences and Joey Acosta Volar Center for Independent Living.
Positive Deviance, Assistive Technology, and Human Centered Design (PD, AT, and HCD)
In partnership with Volar Center for Independent Living in El Paso,and UTEP’s Engineering Education & Leadership Program (Co-PI Dr. Meagan Kendall) our research team is using an interdisciplinary approach to solving issues of access to Assistive Technology by people with disabilities in our region. We’re using a method of inquiry for solving complex social problems, Positive Deviance (“PD”), combined with an Engineering design approach, Human Centered Design. PD involves changing the way we typically problem solve by identifying individuals in the community who have already found solutions to the problem without access to additional resources, and then seeks to amplify these solutions among the greater community.
Below you can download a copy of a poster with further details about this project as well as reports from the first two team meetings.
PD Poster Spring 2016 IDR Symposium
Assistive Technology Positive Deviance and Human Centered Design Meeting Report
PD at HCD: Defining the Problem Workshop
In partnership with community partners in El Paso, Texas including VOLAR Center for Independent Living, Ysletta Independent School District, the Texas Workforce Commission, and El Paso Community College, Dr. Kristin Kosyluk of The University of Texas at El Paso’s (UTEP’s) Rehabilitation Counseling program and Dr. Stanley Mubako of UTEP’s Geological Sciences Department (Center for Environmental Resource Management [CERM]) are using a method of inquiry for solving complex social problems, Positive Deviance (“PD”), to solve issues of access to Assistive Technology by people with disabilities in our region. PD involves changing the way we typically problem solve by identifying individuals in the community who have already found solutions to the problem without access to additional resources, and then seeks to amplify these solutions among the greater community. We are also infusing this approach with technology through the inclusion of geographic information systems (GIS). GIS is a system designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, manage, and present spatial or geographic data.
Click here to download the July 25, 2016 meeting report.
Click here to download the September 30, 2016 meeting report.
Click here to download the May 23, 2017 meeting report.
Click here to download a binder of five case studies illustrating the use of PD to solve complex social problems.
Click here to view a YouTube playlist of videos on PD.
Click here to learn more about GIS.