Experience Programming in Quorum (EPIQ)

Client: Quorum Outreach and Research Foundation

The Experience Programming in Quorum (EPIQ) conference is an international professional development workshop for educators to learn the foundational skills necessary to teach students computer science using the Quorum programming language. Quorum is a fully accessible evidence-based programming tool used for creating accessible gaming experiences, building robots, and so much more. This program empowers teachers to improve access to computer science learning for blind youth.

PAC President, Sina Bahram, has attended EPIQ since 2010, sat on the EPIQ Steering Committee since 2014, and is a recent member of the Quorum Outreach and Research Foundation board. Sina provides strategic insight to the conference, teaches classes, and is well known for his yearly talks and tech demos in which he presents a project he has constructed that week with the newest Quorum tools. EPIQ was started in 2010 as part of a National Science Foundation funded project (CNS-0940521).

You can find out more information and register for this year's conference on the Quorum Language Website.

Project Images

  • A group of 35 people stand look down, over the edge of a rounded balcony. Above them is a large sign reading "tsbvi."
    2018 EPIQ group on a balcony in front of the TSBVI braille sign
  • A group of 70 people in maroon shirts pose in front of the entrance of WSBVI.
    The 2017 EPIQ conference group at the Wisconsin School for the Blind and Visually Impaired
  • A selfie of Sina and three other people all smiling broadly with laptops sitting at a round table in a computer lab.
    Sina collaborating with other EPIQ 2016 participants
  • Sina sits a table wearing headphones, hands on his laptop keyboard, next to many other people at computers and other devices. The tables are full of boxes and small robotic devices.
    Sina works with EPIQ participants learning how to program Lego Mindstorm robots with Quorum
  • A red-headed woman with long hair and glasses sits at a table with a bearded man wearing headphones, both are looking at his laptop screen. A guide dog is curled up below the man's chair.
    Amanda from UNLV works with WSSB TVI Corey Grandstaff on hot keys for Quorum. Corey is using JAWS screen reader software to access the program. Corey's guide dog waits patiently.
  • A man lectures from the front of a classroom full of people sitting in front of computers.
    Andy Stefik, EPIQ's chairman, leads a session at Washington State School for the Blind in 2016