TY  - JOUR
AB  - Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate how teenagers on the autism spectrum respond to their involvement in the creation of a collaborative game, meeting the curriculum requirements in programming at secondary level in England.Design/methodology/approach Two autistic teenagers were involved in participatory design processes to elaborate and develop together a collaborative game of their choice using the visual programming software, Kodu Game Lab.Findings With the support of adults (teachers and the researcher), the participants were able to demonstrate and strengthen their participation, problem-solving and programming skills. The participants expressed their preferences through their attitudes towards the tasks. They created a game where the players did not need to initiate any interaction between each other to complete a level. Furthermore, the students naturally decided to work separately and interacted more with the adults than with each other.Research limitations/implications This is a small case study and so cannot be generalised. However, it can serve as starting point for further studies that involve students with autism in the development of interactive games.Practical implications It has been shown that disengaged students can develop various skills through their involvement in software programming.Originality/value Overall, this paper presents the involvement of teenagers on the autism spectrum in the initial design and development of a collaborative game with an approach that shaped, and was shaped by, the students’ interests. Although collaboration was emphasised in the intended learning outcomes for the game, as well as through the design process, this proved difficult to achieve in practice suggesting that students with autism may require stronger scaffolding to engage in collaborative learning.
VL  - 11
IS  - 2
SN  - 2398-6263
DO  - 10.1108/JET-02-2017-0004
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1108/JET-02-2017-0004
AU  - Bossavit Benoît
AU  - Parsons Sarah
PY  - 2017
Y1  - 2017/01/01
TI  - From start to finish: teenagers on the autism spectrum developing their own collaborative game
T2  - Journal of Enabling Technologies
PB  - Emerald Publishing Limited
SP  - 31
EP  - 42
Y2  - 2024/09/21
ER  -