Reading #16: Classroom-Based Assistive Technology

References:
Classroom-Based Assistive Technology:  Collective Use of Interactive Visual Schedules by Students with Autism by Meg Cramer, Sen H. Hirano, Monica Tentori, Michael T. Yeganyan, Gillian R. Hayes.  Published in the CHI '11 Proceedings of the 2011 annual conference on Human factors in computing systems.


Author Bios:
Meg Cramer is a graduate student ad UC Irvine.
Sen Hirano is also a graduate student and UC Irvine.
Monica Tentori is a professor of computer sciences at UABC Mexico.
Michael T. Yeganyan is a Informatics researcher at UC Irvine.
Gillian R. Hayes is a professor in Informatics at UC Irvine.


Summary:
Hypothesis:
vSked can off advantages to assisting students with Autism than other currently existing technologies.


Methods:
The first step was to ask teachers their opinion on the system. It was difficult to interview the actual students as they did not have the best communication skills. The effectiveness of the whole system was based on consistency, predictability, teacher awareness, behavior. The system would allow the student to pick a goal or reward and work towards it. As the students progress the teachers will award them tokens which go towards achieving that goal or reward.


Results:
Overall the results are very positive. Overall focus by the students increased quite a bit and their need for teacher assistance declined. Images that closely resembled the subject matter really helped students understand the content. The self updating schedule helped students to better keep track of their activities. Students also collaborated with each other. Trying to see what other students were doing with their devices.


Contents:
The paper introduces a new technology called vSked. It is aimed to help students with autism have less trouble in a learning environment. The paper describes the various tests and results that went on over a 5 week period. It also discusses the feedback from the teachers, which is all overwhelmingly positive.


Discussion:
I thought this paper was really awesome. One of my favorite topics in computer science is using technology to help people with disabilities. The application of a lot of the touch screen and computer technologies i think were really positive. They really don't develop any new technologies in the paper per se, but they are adapting technologies that currently exist into a new form of device that hasn't really been seen before.