This document describes research into developing a wearable application to assist students with intellectual and developmental disabilities in a post-secondary education program. The researchers conducted a needs assessment including interviews and focus groups with students and staff. Based on their findings, they designed a smartwatch and mobile application that provides students with reminders, checklists, flashcards, and behavior monitoring to help them in class. An initial prototype was tested and found to be well-received by users, though further refinement is needed to balance notification usefulness with unobtrusiveness and battery life. The system demonstrates the potential for wearable technologies to support students with special needs in educational activities.

1. Wearable Life: aWrist-Worn
Application to Assist Students in
Special Education
Hui Zheng,VivianGenaro Motti
George Mason University, United States
Vancouver, July 12th, 2017

2. Wearables
• Body-worn technologies
– Combining sensors and actuators
– Provide computational solutions

3. Wearables
• In education
– e-Textiles to teach anatomy
and physiology
– Augmented reality
experience in classroom
– Physics
• As assistive technologies
– Glass for users with color
blindness, autism, aphasia,
hearing loss
– Smartwatches for autism
and neurodevelopmental
disorders

4. Smartwatches as AssistiveTechnologies
• Little is known about the potential of
smartwatches to assist students with
intellectual and developmental disabilities in
post-secondary educational activities

5. Mason LIFE
• 4-year post-secondary program
• Supportive, inclusive academic environment for
students with intellectual and developmental disabilities
– Cognitive challenges such as Down syndrome,
autism, or traumatic brain injury

6. Users
• Students
– Between 18 and 27 year
old
– Ethnically-diverse
– Gender-balanced sample
• Support Staff
– Special education
students
– Provide assistance on
campus

7. Methods
• IRB-approved study
• Needs assessment
• User-centered design
Interviews and
focus groups
Design and
development
Test and
evaluation

8. Needs Assessment
• Resources
– Frames
– Zones of Regulation
• Devices
[www.zonesofregulation.com/]

9. Specifications
PebbleTime
• Color e-paper display
• Tactile buttons
• Vibration
• Water resistant
• US $70
• discontinued
Nexus 5x
• Google Android
• 5.2-inch
• US $286.73
Wearable + Mobile
Sony Smartwatch
SWR50
• 1.8 inch transflective
display
• Android Wear 1.5
• Ambient light, IMU, GPS
• Water protected
• US $154
Moto G Plus 5th
generation
•Google Android 7.0 Nougat
• 5.2-inch full HD
• Unlocked
• US $220

10. Non-Functional Requirements
Ease of use
Responsiveness
Energy efficiency
Water resistance

11. Functional Requirements
Before
class
Reminders
Checklists
Flash cards
In class
Presentation
Behavior
Rewards
After class
Planning
Homework
Review

12. TaskTree

13. TaskTree

14. TaskTree

15. TaskTree

16. TaskTree

17. TaskTree

18. Prototypes

19. Sketches

20. Architectural Design
7/5/2017 HTA-W L.svge
Staff Student
zoneofregulationquestion
answer
notific
a
tion

21. User Interfaces

22. User Interfaces

23. Results
• Mobile + wearable solution
– Suitable for in-class settings
– To support students with IDD
• Flexibility to customize the app according to specific requirements
• Responsiveness to provide real-time personalized notifications

24. Findings
• Both users’ profiles were enthusiastic about the novelty of the
technology
– Staff and students
• Sliding options were preferred than scrolling
– On the watch
• Minimalistic design for all interfaces and tactile interaction was
preferred

25. Concluding Remarks
• Wearable technologies
– fast-paced moving ground
• High acceptance rates
• Key trade-offs
– successfully notifying vs. being unobtrusive
– battery life vs. sensing and adapting to the users’ contexts

26. Acknowledgments
This material is based upon work supported by the National
Science Foundation under Grant No. 1314342. Any opinions,
findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this
material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect
the views of the National Science Foundation.
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27. References
• [1] Norooz,L.,Froehlich,J.: Exploring early designs for teaching anatomy and physiology to
children using wearable e-textiles. In: Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on
Interaction Design and Children, pp. 577–580. ACM (2013)
• [2] Norooz, L., Mauriello, M.L., Jorgensen, A., McNally, B., Froehlich, J.E.: BodyVis: a new
approach to body learning through wearable sensing and visualization. In: Proceedings of the 33rd
AnnualACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 1025–1034. ACM (2015)
• [3] Parslow, G.R.: A head-up display to facilitate teaching and learning. Biochem. Mol. Biol. Educ.
42(1), 91–92 (2014). Commentary: Google glass
• [4] Peer: A Mixed Reality Educational Experience. http://itsdpark.com/peer/

28. References
• [5]Tanuwidjaja, E., Huynh, D., Koa, K., Nguyen, C., Shao, C.,Torbett, P.,Weibel,
N.: Chroma: a wearable augmented-reality solution for color blindness. In: Pro-
ceedings of the ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous
Computing, pp. 799–810. ACM (2014)
• [6]Washington,P.,Voss,C.,Haber,N.,Tanaka,S.,Daniels,J.,Feinstein,C.,Wall,D.: A
wearable social interaction aid for children with autism. In: Proceedings of the CHI
Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp.
2348–2354.ACM (2016)

29. Q+A
vmotti@gmu.edu
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30. Q+A vmotti@gmu.edu
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