A collaborative approach to the design and evaluation of an interactive learning tool for children with special educational need

We have developed an educational software tool (Aprendiendo) to reinforce the learning process of children with special educational needs. This tool makes use of a variety of interactive technologies such as Embodied Conversational Agent and multimedia elements (video images from a WebCam, pictures and photos). In this paper we propose a multidisciplinary approach to system design and the evaluation of the users' experience, involving the engineers, teachers therapists and the children themselves, and combining Wizard-of-Oz with other techniques commonly employed in this educational context. We illustrate our approach with a real user evaluation of Aprendiendo's emotions module. Categories and subject descriptors K.4.2. [Computers and society]: Social Issues Assistive technologies for persons with disabilites General Terms Design, Human Factors Keywords Educational software, Reinforcement learning, Embodied conversational agents, Evaluation scheme, Emotions

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2010
• Where: ACMIDC
• Authors: Beatriz López-Mencía, David Díaz Pardo de Vera, Álvaro Hernández Trapote, Luis A. Hernández Gómez, José Relaño-Gil
• Keywords: ACMIDC 2010, Educational Software, Educational Software Tool, Embodied Conversational Agents, Human Computer Interaction