Emerging Technologies and New Media for Children

A special issue of Multimodal Technologies and Interaction (ISSN 2414-4088).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 February 2021) | Viewed by 26706

Special Issue Editors

The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop, New York, NY, USA
Interests: equity and inclusion; diversity; joint media engagement; new media; interactive technology; play; children and families; informal learning; learning sciences; accessibility; human–-computer interaction; human-centered design; co-design.
University of Sussex, Sussex, UK
Interests: diversity and technology; participatory design; technology policy; accessibility; design education; UX design; evaluation and analysis methods in Design and HCI

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue aims to explore emerging technologies and new media for children (i.e., those in early and middle childhood, tweens, and teenagers). Children’s abilities and needs change rapidly, which demands adapted approaches to the design and research of multimodal, multisensory technologies. To design the right technologies for early childhood, we first need to have a clear understanding of what types of interactions with technology and new media are appropriate and supportive of sensory-motor, social, and affective development. Less investigated in human–computer interaction, cognitive and social changes of adolescence are also impactful for multimodal technology design. Such investigations are especially important as physical distancing measures are being implemented widely, affecting billions of families across the globe. Many children are not physically attending school or other activities outside of their homes, limiting their opportunities to interact with their peers. Technologies and new media are currently among the few means available for children to play, learn, be entertained, communicate, socially connect and interact, collaborate, etc. at a distance. However, this also reshapes and brings to the forefront inequalities, digital and otherwise.

How might emerging technologies and new media harness embodiment, movement, touch, hearing, sight, smell, and taste for children’s positive engagements? How might multimodal technologies for children shrink gaps in equity divides, as opposed to widening them? How might they be designed to be safe, engaging, and beneficial to children’s social–emotional, cognitive, and physical development? How can they support and empower diverse children not only now, at home, while we are physically apart, but also beyond this current time?

We encourage authors to submit original research articles, case studies, reviews, theoretical and critical perspectives, and viewpoint articles on emerging technologies, new media, and children, including but not limited to:

  • Theoretical or position papers: What do we know or need to know about children’s sensory needs and development that can affect what we design for them? Vice versa, how do new advances in interactive technologies influence how children’s sensory needs change and develop? How should multimodal interaction be designed to accommodate different sensory and material cultures?
  • Critical engagement with specific technologies and new media approaches, such as virtual, augmented, mixed, and cross realities; sensing and machine learning systems; AI-tailored media content; transmedia entertainment systems; robotics; remote communication and collaboration tools; etc.;
  • Exploration of methods or methodological approaches appropriate for designing and researching multimodal, interactive technologies and media for children (e.g., interaction, multimodal, and phenomenological analysis; participatory design; video-based studies; remote studies);
  • Case studies on the design and research of emerging multimodal technologies and new media for children;
  • Empirical studies on children’s use of emerging technologies and new media (individually, collaboratively, synchronously, asynchronously, at home, remotely, etc.);
  • Emerging trends and potentials in the research and design of innovative multimodal technologies and media for children.

Of particular interest are articles that critically explore emerging technologies and new media for children that harness multimodality and multisensoriality, with integrative perspectives and methods, and that address issues of equity, inclusion, and/or accessibility, and help kids to play, learn, and grow.

Dr. Kiley Sobel
Dr. Emeline Brule
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Multimodal Technologies and Interaction is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Children
  • Youth
  • Play
  • Learning
  • Child development
  • Interactive technology
  • New media
  • Multimodal and phenomenological analysis
  • Equity and inclusion
  • Accessibility
  • Socialization
  • Sensory cultures

Published Papers (4 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

Jump to: Review

21 pages, 7449 KiB  
Article
Engaging English Language Learners as Cultural Informants in the Design of a Social Robot for Education
by Elin A. Björling, Belinda Louie, Patriya Wiesmann and Annie Camey Kuo
Multimodal Technol. Interact. 2021, 5(7), 35; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/mti5070035 - 30 Jun 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 4067
Abstract
Background: There are 4.9 million English Language Learners (ELLs) in the United States. Only 2% of educators are trained to support these vulnerable students. Social robots show promise for language acquisition and may provide valuable support for students, especially as we return to [...] Read more.
Background: There are 4.9 million English Language Learners (ELLs) in the United States. Only 2% of educators are trained to support these vulnerable students. Social robots show promise for language acquisition and may provide valuable support for students, especially as we return to needing smaller classes due to COVID-19. While cultural responsiveness increases gains for ELLs, little is known about the design of culturally responsive child–robot interactions. Method: Therefore, using a participatory design approach, we conducted an exploratory study with 24 Spanish-speaking ELLs at a Pacific Northwest elementary school. As cultural informants, students participated in a 15-min, robot-led, small group story discussion followed by a post-interaction feedback session. We then conducted reflexive critiques with six ELL teachers who reviewed the group interactions to provide further interpretation on design feature possibilities and potential interactions with the robot. Results: Students found the social robot engaging, but many were hesitant to converse with the robot. During post-interaction dialogue students articulated the specific ways in which the social robot appearance and behavior could be modified to help them feel more comfortable. Teachers postulated that the social robot could be designed to engage students in peer-to-peer conversations. Teachers also recognized the ELLs verbosity when discussing their experiences with the robot and suggested such interactions could stimulate responsiveness from students. Conclusion: Cultural responsiveness is a key component to successful education in ELLs. However, integrating appropriate, cultural responsiveness into robot interactions may require participants as cultural informants to ensure the robot behaviors and interactions are situated in that educational community. Utilizing a participatory approach to engage ELLs in design decisions for social robots is a promising way to gather culturally responsive requirements to inform successful child–robot interactions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emerging Technologies and New Media for Children)
Show Figures

Figure 1

22 pages, 2712 KiB  
Article
Connected Play in Virtual Worlds: Communication and Control Mechanisms in Virtual Worlds for Children and Adolescents
by Yao Du, Thomas D. Grace, Krithika Jagannath and Katie Salen-Tekinbas
Multimodal Technol. Interact. 2021, 5(5), 27; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/mti5050027 - 11 May 2021
Cited by 17 | Viewed by 9047
Abstract
Technology plays an essential role in shaping youth’s communication and social interactions in online multiplayer games. Due to physical distancing restrictions during the COVID-19 global pandemic, online multiplayer games like Minecraft and Roblox are well-positioned to amplify healthy communication/social connections and mitigate the [...] Read more.
Technology plays an essential role in shaping youth’s communication and social interactions in online multiplayer games. Due to physical distancing restrictions during the COVID-19 global pandemic, online multiplayer games like Minecraft and Roblox are well-positioned to amplify healthy communication/social connections and mitigate the impact of social isolation. Research so far has been focused on how these gaming environments support youth development from the perspectives of individual stakeholders (e.g., caregivers, educators, designers, and developers). However, features of these games, such as communication and parental controls, are often misaligned with the ways in which children develop communication and social skills. Using a series of case studies of popular virtual worlds and online games, this paper provides an analysis of critical design features that serve youth throughout different stages of childhood and early adolescence. We offer three main contributions: (a) a comparison matrix of similarities and differences in communication and control features between platforms; (b) an evaluation of design features in selected virtual world platforms that promote safe and positive social interactions; and (c) a method for cross-platform comparison aimed at helping researchers, designers, and practitioners examine specific dimensions of social communication and play experience in virtual worlds. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emerging Technologies and New Media for Children)
Show Figures

Figure 1

25 pages, 1725 KiB  
Article
Preschoolers’ STEM Learning on a Haptic Enabled Tablet
by Sarah Pila, Anne Marie Piper, Alexis Lauricella and Ellen Wartella
Multimodal Technol. Interact. 2020, 4(4), 87; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/mti4040087 - 02 Dec 2020
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 4276
Abstract
The research on children’s learning of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) topics from electronic applications (apps) is limited, though it appears that children can reasonably transfer learning from tablet games to particular tasks. We were interested to determine whether these findings would [...] Read more.
The research on children’s learning of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) topics from electronic applications (apps) is limited, though it appears that children can reasonably transfer learning from tablet games to particular tasks. We were interested to determine whether these findings would translate to the emerging technology of haptic feedback tablets. The research on haptic feedback technology, specifically, has found that this type of feedback is effective in teaching physics concepts to older students. However, haptic feedback has not yet been sufficiently explored with younger groups (e.g., preschoolers). To determine the effect of playing a STEM game enhanced with haptic technology on learning outcomes, we designed an experiment where preschool participants were randomly exposed to one of three different conditions: (a) STEM game with no haptic feedback (tablet), (b) STEM game enabled with haptic feedback (haptics), or (c) a puzzle game (control). Results revealed no significant differences in comprehension or transfer by condition. Results from this study contribute to the literature on the effectiveness of haptic feedback for preschool STEM learning. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emerging Technologies and New Media for Children)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Review

Jump to: Research

22 pages, 8192 KiB  
Review
How Technology Applied to Music-Therapy and Sound-Based Activities Addresses Motor and Social Skills in Autistic Children
by Grazia Ragone, Judith Good and Kate Howland
Multimodal Technol. Interact. 2021, 5(3), 11; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/mti5030011 - 05 Mar 2021
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 8152
Abstract
Autism affects how people perceive and make sense of the world around them. Autism is a spectrum condition which impacts people in different ways. Also referred to as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), it is characterized by challenges in the domains of social, cognitive [...] Read more.
Autism affects how people perceive and make sense of the world around them. Autism is a spectrum condition which impacts people in different ways. Also referred to as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), it is characterized by challenges in the domains of social, cognitive and motor functioning, which differ in severity. Previous research suggests that music can have cognitive, psychosocial, behavioural, and motor benefits in this population. We systematically review the use of technology in Music-therapy and related sound-based activities to improve the motor and social skills of children. In May 2020 we conducted a systematic search on Music-therapy and musical activities for autistic children in research databases including Science Direct, APA PsycNet, Cochrane, IEE and Web of Science, to collect relevant studies. We initially collected 5179 papers of which only 27 studies were identified as suitable for the scope of this review. In the paper, we analyse and describe key characteristics of each project. We then highlight the commonalities, strengths and limitations of existing work, and identify implications for future interaction design. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emerging Technologies and New Media for Children)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop