Development and evaluation of an educational multimedia storytelling courseware for children with autism

• Main Author: Andal, Arvie S.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2014
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/4630
• Institution: De La Salle University

The paper developed and evaluated an educational courseware to aid in introducing basic math concepts to children with autism using ADDIE Model. A needs assessment and a review of related studies determined the content and design considerations of a courseware for children with autism. The result of the needs assessment was used to create the story and storyboard from which the draft of the courseware was developed. The draft of the courseware was developed and subjected to a pilot testing to evaluate the appropriateness of its design. Three male children with autism ages 6 to 7 years old, two sped teacher and two assistant observers participated in the implementation and evaluation. Triangulation and analysis of data obtained through various tools revealed the issues in the design of the courseware and the unique characteristic of children with autism that gave rise to the issues. Findings reveals that it’s not enough that a courseware for children with autism to only meet the standards given for a courseware but it should consider their unique cognitive, language and sensory processing characteristics. A courseware for children with autism should have as many options as possible to accommodate different children with autism who may have different levels of cognitive and language skills and sensory preference. Options for controlling the different aspects of the courseware should be easily accessible and available to children with autism because it gives them a sense of confidence and this may influence attention and motivation to use the courseware. The amount of control that children with autism may have with the courseware should be regulated because it may affect their chances of learning from the courseware. Making the courseware too predictable can result into automatic and routinary response. From these findings, too mention a few, a list of recommendations was proposed and was used revising the courseware.