iSocial

iSocial, led by Dr. James Laffey and Dr. Janine Stichter, is a design-based research project focused on developing a three-dimensional virtual learning environment (3D VLE) for teaching youth with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) to develop social competency. iSocial uses OpenWonderland, an open source virtual worlds toolkit to build the worlds which make up the units and lessons in which the curriculum is delivered.


Role and Description

I came on to iSocial early Fall of 2009 as a designer on the project. At the time, the primary focus was on the design and development of orthotics. The intention of orthotics are to be elements in the virtual world which enable a user to do more and behave more socially appropriate than without them. This collaborative design work by the team led to the development of group spaces and pods, elements which help to facilitate the gathering of students in one location as well as a social positioning during teacher-led discussions.

Towards March of 2010, we wanted to investigate more about agents. I, along with Nan Ding, worked on the design of a low-fidelity prototype for agents in iSocial. We conducted a small usability study with four neurotypical adolescents ages 11-14 as well as special education and usability experts in order to ascertain the important usability features when designing agents. We presented three different designs of a reaction-based agent (an agent triggered by user errors) and found that location on screen, size, and wording were the top three issues to consider when looking at designing the agents.

Our next step is to begin to implement the first iteration of agents within the iSocial environment. This is a prime interest of mine and I look forward to being involved in researching this both for iSocial as well as my dissertation.


Writings from this research:

Laffey, J., Schmidt, M., Galyen, K., & Stichter, J. P. (under review). Smart collaborative 3D virtual learning environments: A preliminary framework. [Currently under review by the Journal of Ambient Intelligence and Smart Environments].

Laffey, J., Schmidt, M., Ding, N. & Galyen, K. (2010. A Design Research Approach to Innovation in 3D Virtual Learning Environments. Proceedings of the 2010 Educational Design Research Conference, Athens, GA.

Schmidt, M., Galyen, K., Laffey, J., Ding, N., & Wang, X. (2010). Leveraging open source software and design based research principles for development of a 3D virtual learning environment. SIGCAS Comput. Soc., 40, 45-53. doi:10.1145/1929609.1929614. [Download]

Schmidt, M., Laffey, J., Galyen, K., Babiuch, R. & Stichter, J. (under review). Building iSocial: Lessons learned from 3D virtual learning environment research and development. [Currently under review for the 2011 Immersive Education iED Summit, Boston, USA].

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