Continuing the legacy: Assistive technologies at MIT

The late professor Seth Teller created 6.811 (Principles and Practices in Assistive Technologies, or PPAT) in the fall of 2011. Through his extensive experience developing assistive technologies (AT) at MIT, his compassion for making technology available to all, and his innovative approach and drive to build this class, student interest in PPAT and AT has grown steadily since. Following Teller's untimely death on July 1 this year, a group of former PPAT and AT students including his graduate student William Li SM '12, who TA'd the inaugural PPAT offering; Grace Teo PhD '14, a former student and member of the MIT Assistive Technology Club; and a core group of students who took the class in 2013 have formed a team to continue Teller's legacy through both the coninuation of PPAT and an outgrowth known as "AT Hack," a one-day workshop launched in spring 2014. Li and Teo, who will co-instruct this year's class, and three other members of the team will work with Professor Rob Miller, MIT MacVicar Faculty Fellow, member of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL), and co-education officer of the Department of Electrocal Engineering and Computer Science (EECS). Every year since the inaugural offering of PPAT, Miller had worked with Teller to help develop and teach the course.