what i did

Map Research and Interviewing New to autism research, my team and I began the project by mapping the problem: we read literary articles on autism spectrum disorder, attended technology in the workplace (TiW)workshops for adolescent students with autism, and interviewed the teachers at the TiW workshops. The workshop students and the teachers were excited to work with us on the project, so we decided to design an app for the class.

Sketching and Storyboarding The students all had mobile Apple devices, so we sketched out different solutions on how a mobile app could help a teenager with autism in their day to day life based on the workshop topics. We brainstormed different solutions that used camera and sharing features in varied scenarios such as completing chores to improving hygiene. As a group, the team decided to focus on video modeling to improve social skills with the use of the recording features of a mobile device. We then chose the scope around job interviews because many of the teens were transitioning out of school to the workplace.

Wireframes and Mockups We codesigned the initial wireframes together and tested and reiterated our designs through feedback from our advisor, graduate researchers in the lab, and teachers from the autism workshop. Using the feedback, I compiled the final design mockups on Balsamiq for the final advisor approval to begin developing.

iOS Development We iterated through many designs of the app until it was simple enough for us to build and educationally complex enough for the students to actually want to use it. We were self taught in iOS development and I helped code a playback video feature early on.

Lead Qualitative Research Study As development was progressing rapidly, I switched hats to the lead researcher. I organized and conducted our month long qualitative research study of 14 students. I held one-on-one interviews with each participant about their experience and collected their feedback. We also gathered quantitative data from analyzing social improvements from the app by holding mock interviews.

Publish Research At the end of our study in April 2013, we released the video modeling app, VidCoach, to the app store for public download. I manually transcribed all the study interviews and coded the mock interviews with the research team to gather data and analyzed the results. I co-authored a research paper with the team at Interactive Design for Children (IDC 2013) and presented our research at International Meeting for Autism Research (IMFAR 2014).

Challenges + solutions

Non Relatable User Group The toughest challenge was designing for a user where I could not completely put myself in their shoes. As an empathetic designer, I really wanted to feel the pain points users were feeling in their lives to understand how to make it better. I was able to relate to an extent, having already gone through my teen years and have had the anxiety of interviewing for jobs. I am not on the autism spectrum, so that’s when I found it even more important to learn as much as I could from those who were.

Improving Qualitative Methods I engaged more by talking and interacting with the students rather than just observing and assuming their thoughts and behavior. I drew out conversations with open ended and follow up questions. I actively interacted with the students by having them walk me through the app from their perspective and how they typically were using the app to practice and prepare for their interviews. If they had a parent or teacher practice with them, I role played as the assistant to simulate the experience.

discoveries

Independent Practicing vs. Pair Practicing I learned how the experience of using VidCoach really changed when the student was using the app by themselves vs. with another person, and how the changes to improve both experiences were different. VidCoach was an MVP and had the bare essentials of mobile video modeling.  Students who practiced alone could benefit from gamification features that could make the app more interactive. Features like these not only remind the user to practice but also helps motivate them. Those who had help from an adult did not need self motivation because the adults provided the environmental trigger to use the app. When practicing with another person, the students tend to record, review and rate the quality of the videos with that person. These students would have benefited from having multiple versions stored for reference, and for each video be able to include notes and rating to visualize their progress.

lessons learned

Test and Iterate More We were building an app targeting students with autism in the workshop, and we wanted to wait until the app was complete before testing and interviewing the students. Looking back, I realized that we should have had gotten more target user feedback during the design phase instead of after implementation. It also would have been useful to interview other teens outside of the study group who had autism and get feedback from ones who were not looking for jobs. We could have gotten more insight to iterate in the design phase instead of spending extra time to redevelop app changes.

PUBLICATIONS

Ulgado, R.R., Nguyen, K., Custodio, V.E., Waterhouse, A., Weiner, R., and Hayes, G.R. VidCoach: a mobile video modeling system for youth with special needs. In Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Interaction Design and Children (IDC 2013). New York, NY. June 2013.

Hayes, G.R., Custodio, V.E., Haimson, O.L., Nguyen, K., Ringland, K.E., Ulgado, R.R., Waterhouse, A., and Weiner, R. Mobile video modeling for employment interviews for individuals with autism. Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation. (In Press). Phung, J.N., Abdullah, M.M.,

PRESENTATIONS

Nguyen, K., Custodio, V.E., Weiner, R., Ulgado, R.R., Waterhouse, A., O’neal, L. and Hayes, G.R. Evaluation of the Use of Mobile Video for Job Interviews. In Proceedings of the International Meeting for Autism Research (IMFAR 2014). Atlanta, GA. May 2014.

Team Members:  Erick Custodio, Rachel Rose Ulgado, Aaron Waterhouse, Rachel Weiner

Link to Project: Technologies for Autism: Mobile Video Modeling

Link to Research: IDC 2013 in ACM Digital Library