"Can You Help Me?" An Experience Report of Teamwork in a Game Coding Camp for Autistic High School Students

Moster, Makayla; Kokinda, Ella; Re, Matthew; Dominic, James; Lehmann, Jason; Begel, Andrew; Rodeghero, Paige

doi:10.1109/icse-seet55299.2022.9794268

Cited by 7 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 50 publications

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“…Even these skilled educators struggled to foster social and self-advocacy opportunities for students online. Similar difficulties have been documented in other programs (e.g., Moster et al, 2022).…”

Section: Limitations and Future Directionssupporting

confidence: 79%

“…Mirroring the importance of the Internet for the early spread of the neurodiversity movement, informal, technology-focused educational programs have emerged as key spaces where autistic youth can learn self-determination and other skills that will help them succeed in adulthood (Dunn et al, 2015;Deiner et al, 2016;Lee et al, 2020;Martin et al, 2020;Begel et al, 2021;Chen et al, 2022;Moster et al, 2022;Jones et al, 2023). Emerging evidence suggests that such programs can promote technology-related selfefficacy, or autistic students' beliefs in their ability to master technology-related goals.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A participatory approach to iteratively adapting game design workshops to empower autistic youth

Gillespie-Lynch,

Grossman,

Herrell

et al. 2023

Front. Educ.

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IntroductionAutistic people face systemic barriers to fair employment. Informal learning may promote the self-determination transition-age autistic youth need to overcome and/or transform these barriers. This report focuses on the iterative process of developing video game design workshops guided by feedback from autistic students about instructional strategies they found engaging. This study is part of a three-year-long NSF-funded program of research that seeks to empower autistic youth to move toward successful careers by teaching educators how to more effectively guide them.MethodsIn the Summer of 2021, educators at an award-winning NYC-based, not-for-profit, education program, Tech Kids Unlimited (TKU) collaborated with researchers, including autistic students, to iteratively develop and assess two online game design workshops for transition-age autistic youth. Participants selected which workshop they were available for (Workshop 1: n = 18; M age = 16.72 years; Workshop 2: n = 16; M age = 16.56 years). Students in Workshop 2 had more varied support needs and were less motivated to learn video game design than students in Workshop 1. Students completed assessments before and after each workshop and rated their interest in specific workshop activities after each activity. Guided by data from Workshop 1, we revised instructional strategies before conducting Workshop 2.ResultsWe found little evidence for our hypothesis that attentional style would impact educational engagement. However, video game design self-efficacy and self-determination were often positively associated with engagement. Two industry speakers, one of whom was autistic, were among the highest-rated activities. As hypothesized, video game design self-efficacy and self-determination (and unexpectedly) spatial planning improved from pre- to post-test following Workshop 1. Despite our efforts to use what we learned in Workshop 1 to improve in Workshop 2, Workshop 2 did not lead to significant improvements in outcomes. However, students highlighted instructional strategies as a strength of Workshop 2 more often than they had for Workshop 1. Educators highlighted the importance of group “temperature checks,” individualized check-ins, social–emotional support for students and educators, and fostering a positive atmosphere.DiscussionFindings suggest that interactive multimodal activities, stimulating discussions, and opportunities to engage with neurodivergent industry professionals may engage and empower diverse autistic youth.

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Section: Limitations and Future Directionssupporting

confidence: 79%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A participatory approach to iteratively adapting game design workshops to empower autistic youth

Gillespie-Lynch,

Grossman,

Herrell

et al. 2023

Front. Educ.

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show abstract

“…4) Liebel and Sigurðardóttir [25] on neurodivergent students in undergraduate software engineering courses, the importance of autism awareness and the individual nature of neurodiversity. 5) Moster et al [26] on motivating autistic students with coding camps and teaching teamwork and programming. From a practical perspective, reports of published research on computing pedagogies for autistic learners have been minimal.…”

Section: B Autism and Computingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Square Pegs and Round Holes: Pedagogy for Autistic Students in Computing Education

Shah,

Elliott,

Nedungadi

2024

IEEE Trans. Educ.

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This study proffers a practical flexible framework for teachers and researchers embodying diverse computing pedagogies, to impart computing education (CE) to autistic students. The framework is based on the tenets of inclusion and personalised learning manipulating explicit CE pedagogies.Background: Research and anecdotal evidence exhort that autistic learners tend to favor coursework and careers in the STEM domain. Specifically, autistic young people excel in the fields of computing and programming. Computing is very logical and precise and seems to suit the strengths that categorize autism. Yet, the needs of autistic students are still not being met in the classroom as the education sector continues to explore inclusive models for teaching and learning.Intended Outcomes: The CE pedagogies infrastructure is propitious to augment the learning potential of autistic students.Application Design: The CE framework was developed pursuant to a mixed-methods study, encompassing a literature review, ethnographic experiences of this article's authors, a survey of computing and autism specialist teachers, and teacher interviews.Findings: This study's findings underscore that teachers are predisposed to what they know, and are not always aware of the emerging pedagogies beneficial to their pupils. Unplugged computing, physical computing, and predict, run, investigate, modify, and make (PRIMM) were adjudged as the most coveted pedagogical tools for autistic pupils. The greatest gaps in teachers' experience and knowledge were concept maps followed by semantic waves. Although autistic pupils seem to respond best to hands-on activities, teachers require a greater understanding of the range of computing pedagogies, as well as inclusive education.

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“…• Coding Camps. Moster et al created a summer coding camp for autistic high school students [19]. In the course, students learned soft skills, such as kindness, teamwork, proactive communication, and scrum.…”

Section: Broader Ideas For So Ware Engineering Course Designsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Retrospective on ICSE 2022

Winston¹,

Caleb²,

Winston³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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"Can You Help Me?" An Experience Report of Teamwork in a Game Coding Camp for Autistic High School Students

Cited by 7 publications

References 50 publications

A participatory approach to iteratively adapting game design workshops to empower autistic youth

A participatory approach to iteratively adapting game design workshops to empower autistic youth

Square Pegs and Round Holes: Pedagogy for Autistic Students in Computing Education

A Retrospective on ICSE 2022

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