Journal Article

Small-Group Technology-Assisted Instruction: Virtual Teacher and Robot Peer for Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Welch, Karla C, Mohammad Nasser Saadatzi, Pennington, Robert C, Graham, James H

2018

Overview

The authors combined virtual reality technology and social robotics to develop a tutoring system that resembled a small-group arrangement. This tutoring system featured a virtual teacher instructing sight words, and included a humanoid robot emulating a peer. The authors used a multiple-probe design across word sets to evaluate the effects of the instructional package on the explicit acquisition and vicarious learning of sight words instructed to three children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and the robot peer. Results indicated that participants acquired, maintained, and generalized 100% of the words explicitly instructed to them, made fewer errors while learning the words common between them and the robot peer, and vicariously learned 94% of the words solely instructed to the robot.

• Publisher: Springer Nature B.V
• Subject: Autism / Autism Spectrum Disorders / Autistic children / Child Development / Children / Computer applications / Computer Simulation / Departments / Direct Instruction / Educational technology / Environment / Errors / Group technology / Influence of Technology / Interpersonal Competence / Interpersonal Relationship / Learner Engagement / Mental Disorders / Modeling (Psychology) / Observational Learning / Outcomes of Education / Peers / Periodicals / Researchers / Robotics / Robots / Sight Vocabulary / Sight words / Small Group Instruction / Special Education / Student Motivation / Supervision / Teachers / Teaching / Technological Advancement / Technology / Time / Tutoring / Vicarious learning / Virtual reality / Words