Investigating realtime remote activity schedules to facilitate learning for children within the Autism Spectrum Disorder

Abstract

Literature evidences that prevalence rates of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is soaring globally. It is claimed that children with ASD encounter learning barriers due to their limitations in social interaction and communication. In a technological era, assistive technology may assist these students to improve their performance in their educational journey and assist in developing other life skills. Literature in the field suggests that digital technology has proven to be more effective and efficient in education since it increases engagement due to an enhanced interaction with technology. This study focuses on young children who have been diagnosed with ASD and their learning environment. Various research demonstrates that the use of activity schedules is effective in developing diverse skills in children with ASD, such as engagement in learning tasks, willingness for participation in activities and facilitation in transitioning between tasks and/or situations. Various interventions were undertaken through an iterative approach which introduced the use of activity schedules as a digital tool. The design was informed by qualitative and quantitative techniques, including thematic analysis and standardised HCI metrics. Furthermore, due to the unforeseen and unprecedented circumstances that emerged, this research evolved to adapt the use of activity schedules in a new reality of virtual learning. The emerging technology, code named LivePlan, was developed as an online tool affording Realtime collaboration facilities as well as peer-to-peer voice and video communication to enable educators, learners and their guardians co-create and manage the activity schedules. This was value added in this domain. The main findings of this research demonstrate how even in an emergency situation of COVID-19 where learning was taking place virtually, digital activity schedules made learning more personalised, accessible and engaging and assisted the student to facilitate transitioning between tasks/activities while contributing to create a flexible learning environment.