Final Year Project
Design & Development of Augmented Reality Learning Experience for Children with Autism
Project Objective:
The main objective of this project would be to use Unity3D to design and develop an AR educational application for iOS devices that would create a positive learning experience for children with ASD.
Softwares Used:
Figma, Unity3D
The Problem
According to the World Health Organisation, about one in 160 children worldwide are affected by ASD, and many of these children have been denied access to education simply because either they do not have access to special needs school or they have been turned down by regular schools for not having the resources to teach children with ASD. In addition, parents are also struggling to teach their children since they do not have the right resources and skills to deliver the content in an effective way.
The provision of quality education is so important that it has been highlighted as the 4th (out of 17) Sustainable Development Goals to be accomplished by the year 2030 by the United Nations as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1: UN Sustainable Development Goals
The Solution
AR is one of the rising technologies in recent years and it has been heavily adapted in various industries including the Educational Sector. Since children with ASD learn better with interactive mediums such as physical games, we can adapt AR technology to develop a more effective, efficient and personalised learning experience for children with ASD.
Figure 2: AR Technology for Educational Purposes
The Process
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Research the different learning styles
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Research on the methods of long-term memory retention
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Understanding the needs of children with ASD
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Finalising important features and building a rough wireframe
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Coding and developing the modules in the AR application
The Reflection
To conclude, the goal of this project was to design and develop an AR Educational Application that helps Caregivers and OTs to teach young children with autism some of the basic topics of early-stage education such as identifying and labelling colours, fruits and emotions. This tackles some of the main components under the learning skills and social skills spectrum that are required by an autistic child. The AR Technology was also uniquely adapted for each of the different modules, giving the child an interesting variety of content delivery that helps to further enhance their understanding of the given topics.