Stewart Koplick

Design insights into embedding virtual reality content into life skills training for people with intellectual disability

This paper presents some lessons learnt from the co-creation, within a support organisation, of a virtual world dedicated to practicing life skills for people with intellectual disability. The progression of the project throughout successive stages has indicated what people would want to see and practice in a such a virtual world, which would not have been found after a single development iteration. These desires include the representation of public spaces, social interactions and disruptions. Based on initial trials, we propose some new design insights for further implementation of such virtual worlds in training sessions with the use of immersive headsets. While immersive headsets have been demonstrated to enhance the learning experience, they also visually isolate the person in training from the trainer. To overcome this isolation, a new design concept is presented which allows the teacher to communicate, using gestures, with the immersed student.

An Exploration of How People with Intellectual Disability Engage with Online Information Retrieval

Much of the research on how technology can support better access to online information for people with intellectual disability focuses on a deficit model. Studies are typically based on a quantitative analysis of how various aspects of cognitive functioning might impact the usability of existing technologies. In this paper, we instead present new insights into what competencies and strategies young adults with intellectual disability, who are often digital natives, are already employing to meet their online information needs. In-depth observations of 12 people using one of two search technologies (web search or video search) were analyzed together with other field notes. Beyond the importance of visuals and usability, we unpack a different view on efficiency, and on the role played by emotional barriers, confidence and social support in the use of search results ranking lists.