COMP364: Designing & Prototyping

Lauren Milne, assistant professor of Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science researches accessibility in digital interfaces. Her expertise centers on making more accessible computer interactions for people with disabilities. In Milne’s Spring 2025 Computer 364: Human-Computer Interaction course students actively applied concepts from her lectures. They tackled questions like, “How do you create design systems that inspire joy instead of frustration?” or “How do you ensure you design for everyone, including people who may be very different from yourself?” during regular sessions in the Idea Lab.

The course focuses on a set of four group projects where students identify a design problem, explore solutions, and refine a prototype. By moving the traditional computer science classroom to the Idea Lab students have the opportunity to think beyond the screen and prototype with physical artifacts. Students used the Idea Lab to make paper prototypes of the Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science department website and prototype assistive technology through the Makers Making Change organization.