Browsing by Subject "Mobile apps"
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Item A mobile platform for teaching nonverbal social communication skills to high-functioning autistic children using discrete trial training(2015-05) Chamsaz, Amir; Summers, Kathryn; Salter, Anastasia; Kohl, Deborah; University of Baltimore. School of Information Arts and Technologies; University of Baltimore. Doctor of Science in Information and Interaction DesignThe purpose of this project is to provide a mobile platform for teaching nonverbal social communication skills to high-functioning autistic children. The application uses the established method of Discrete Trial Training to deliver customizable programs that can be tailored to meet the unique needs of children with autism. Although the focus of this study is nonverbal social communication skills related to gestures, the mobile app (designated "Wave") enables the teaching of a wide array of basic skills, including attention, perception, reasoning, memory, reading and writing, and motor skills, through matching exercises, imitation exercises, and natural environment training. Wave allows programs to be customized and enables adjustments to be made to fit the specific educational needs of an ASD (autism spectrum disorder) child. Its portability supports learning at any time and in any location, allowing users to take the classroom experience with them and to transfer the learning process to natural environment settings, including family settings and public environments. Furthermore, it helps teachers to save time by allowing them to reuse programs and decreases their workload by offering easy access to monitoring children's data. For this project, two versions of an initial interactive prototype (one for iPhone and one for iPad) were created using Axure in order to test the mobile delivery method. Four user tests were conducted with these versions to identify the user requirements for designing the application. Findings from these tests were used in developing the second prototype application, which was built using jQuery Mobile. Two pilot tests and twelve user tests, with participants who included Discrete Trial Training experts, were conducted using the app on an iPad. These user tests resulted in overall improvements of the application to enable it to support the needs of educators, parents, and autistic children.Item Student Use Of Technology And Academic Activities In Community Colleges(2017) Pittman, Margaret E.; Gillett-Karam, Rosemary; Community College Leadership Program; Doctor of EducationThis quantitative study was guided by the Student Engagement Theory (Kuh, 2001). This study examined the differences in the number of academic activities performed among community college students reporting use of various types of technology (handheld mobile smartphone devices and mobile apps). This study analyzed secondary data provided by the EDUCAUSE Center for Analysis Research (ECAR) 2011 survey of a nationally representative sample of community college students (N =1110). Descriptive statistics described the demographic characteristics of the community college students, the types of academic activities students performed, the types of handheld mobile smartphone devices used, and the types of mobile apps used. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to analyze the differences in the number of academic activities performed among community college students reporting use of three types of handheld mobile smartphone devices as well as between students who used handheld mobile smartphone devices and reporting use of seven different types of mobile apps. A significant but small effect size was found in the number of academic activities performed by community college students reporting use of the three different types of handheld mobile smartphone devices. In total, android users performed a higher number of academic activities than those using other handheld mobile smartphone devices. However, iPhone users were the same as android and other handheld mobile smartphone device users in the number of academic activities performed. Similarly, a significant but medium effect size was found in the number of academic activities performed by community college students who used handheld mobile smartphone devices reporting use of seven different types of mobile apps. Students who used handheld mobile smartphone devices and who reported using social media apps performed a higher number of academic activities than those using educational and productivity apps. Conversely, students using handheld mobile smartphone devices and who reported using the other four apps (entertainment, communication, internet browser search, and miscellaneous apps) were the same as those using social media, educational, and productivity apps in the number of academic activities performed. Seventy-three percent of students reported using the apps that facilitated communication (i.e., texting and emailing) between students and students or students and instructors. The researcher attempted to offer insight into the concept of technology use as it is used in the literature and made recommendations for future studies.