Do Screen Presentations via Interactive Whiteboards Increase Engagement in Whole-Group Lessons for Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder? A Pilot Study

Abstract

Visual presentations may assist students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to access instruction, and they may be more engaged when interacting with screen media in particular. Interactive whiteboards (IWBs) are large electronic screens that are used for instruction in many classrooms. An alternating treatment design was used to compare the engagement levels in a whole-group lesson of four students with ASD and mild intellectual disability in conditions using an IWB and in conditions using paper-based materials. Despite some inconsistency, an overall effect was seen and maintained for an increase in engagement levels in the nonwhiteboard conditions for two of the four participants. It is suggested that when content and presentation are kept constant, electronic screen presentation on IWBs does not necessarily increase student engagement. Several directions for future research are suggested.

The Relationship between the Use of Non-Verbal Information in Communication and Student Connectedness and Engagement in Online Design Education

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Educational technology in Abu Dhabi public schools: teaching with interactive whiteboards (IWBs)

“…Hence, the use of the IWBs provided for whole-class learning with the students' interactions where the teacher played the facilitator's role (Berson et al, 2014;Maher, 2012). Moreover, IWBs serve as instructional enrichments that facilitate active learning engagement in a learner-centred environment (Fessakis et al, 2013;McCrea, 2014;Mariz et al, 2017;Samsonova, 2018Samsonova, , 2019Yang and Teng, 2014). Comparing traditional and innovative schools, De Koster et al (2013) provided examples of the IWBs being used to support whole-class teaching with active students' role in controlling the classroom dialog as well as the IWBs content.…”

The importance of dignity and choice for people assessed as having intellectual disabilities

“…While the prevalence of programs has grown, there is a lack of research in the literature assessing their effectiveness, purpose and outcomes (Parsons, 2004). Most studies continue to focus on outcomes in residential services or schools (Datta and Talukdar, 2017; Hendrickson et al, 2015; Mariz et al, 2017) with day program outcomes considered an afterthought, leaving a significant gap in the literature. In addition, while residential services are highly regulated, up until 2006 there were no federal standards for day treatment centers (Kaufman, 2006b).…”