Sophomore students boarded a houseboat docked on Biscayne Bay, tasked with transforming it into an inclusive space. Meanwhile, another group of students collaborated with leaders from one of the world’s largest cruise companies, brainstorming ideas to enhance accessibility on the company’s private island. Their shared mission: to reimagine travel and leisure for individuals with disabilities.
The projects are the cornerstone of ITD 256, a new course offered by the Innovation, Technology, and Design (ITD) program, housed under the College of Engineering. Combining principles of design thinking with real-world problem-solving, the course provides students with hands-on experience tackling design challenges with industry partners.
The course, led by David McMillan, director of education and outreach at the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, and Kirsten Schwarz, senior lecturer at the School of Education, emphasizes experiential learning. Students are encouraged to collaborate with industry partners to ideate and prototype solutions for companies and organizations.
“Working with real community partners, who are leaders in their fields of aquatech and disability, takes learning beyond the textbooks and allows students to see how they can develop prototypes, iterate as they fine-tune their designs based on the input of actual users, and see their designs come to life,” said Schwarz.
This semester’s projects included two major design challenges. The first group of students worked with Shake-A-Leg Miami, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering individuals with disabilities through aquatic activities, to make its newly acquired houseboat fully accessible. Students began by mapping user journeys, conducting interviews, and identifying challenges such as space constraints, limited accessibility, and autonomy barriers.
The solution presented to Shake-A-Leg included a wheelchair lift system designed with 3D modeling, ADA-compliant pathways and ramps for safe and comfortable navigation, and a multi-purpose top deck for networking events and educational programs with adaptable furniture. Students also developed a cost-analysis tool using artificial intelligence to help Shake-A-Leg identify manufacturers that could implement the design changes.
The second team faced a different challenge: improving mobility for Royal Caribbean’s guests with disabilities on the company’s private island, CocoCay. After interviewing stakeholders and conducting market research, students proposed redesigning beach wheelchairs for better water accessibility, creating a centralized wheelchair library to reduce clutter and improve access, and developing a secure transfer process for guests transitioning from personal to beach wheelchairs. The collaboration impressed the students, who noted how quickly Royal Caribbean began iterating on their designs and allocated resources to bring the ideas to life.
Students emphasized that their work extended beyond solving design challenges. It required a deep understanding of the experiences of individuals with disabilities and incorporating empathy at every stage of the design process.
