Paper Reading #16: Classroom-Based Assistive Technology, Collective Use of Interactive Visual Schedules by Students with Autism

Meg Cramer is a graduate student at UC Irvine study Informatics.
Sen H. Hirano is a PhD student at UC Irvine also studying Informatics.
Monica Tentori is an assistant professor in Computer Science at the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California.
Michael T. Yeganyan is a researcher at UC Irvine.
Gillian R. Hayes is an assistant professor in Informatics at UC Irvine.

This paper was presented at CHI 2011.

Summary


Hypothesis
The researchers hypothesis was that, through their vSked interactive and collabortive system, they could assist and augment the teaching of students with autism.

Methods
The vSked system consists of portable touch devices for each student as well as a large touch display at the front of the classroom. This large display is connected to by the smaller portable devices. The smaller devices report the students progress through the day and their progression through a set of systems to the screen.

The vSked systems allows for the student to select a reward they want to work towards as they answer questions. The system can ask the student two different types of questions: either multiple choice or "voting" questions (where there is no right answer).

For the multiple choice questions, an icon for each answer is displayed for the student to tap. If the student gets it incorrect, the correct icon will wiggle on the screen.

After a student has been progressing through their questions, the teachers can award tokens that students can use towards their chosen reward.

To test the success of the system, the researchers used a combination of observation and interviews with the teachers and aids.

Results
They found that their system garnered independence as students were excited to work on the device. The students became more focused on the task at hand without needing a teacher to assist them in staying focused.
Students also stayed motivated due to the reward system based on a students correct answers.

The system also allowed for consistency through the student's educated in many different areas.
For example, the system allowed the students to keep track of their schedule and look at it whenever they needed to without being able to change it. They were also able to see changes that a teacher would make on the big screen, on their local smaller screen.

Finally, they found that the system built community. With each student having their own screen, sometimes students would want to see how another student was using the device. Students would also keep track of their peer's progress through the large screen at the front of the class room.

Discussion

Overall, the paper was a well documented, easy to understand experiment. This kind of technology used in the classroom, especially with students with autism, can be extremely powerful.

One interesting note that I'd like to know about in the future of this system is how it affected students in the long-term. Did students who used this system progress faster in their education than students who didn't use this system? Or did these students end up relying too heavily on the devices and thus this system hurt their education?
These are a few questions I'd like to learn about in the future.