Virtual reality tour: Experiences of autistic children

Newbutt, Nigel

Abstract

We worked with 11 autistic children in a school setting. The age ranged from 10-14 with a mean age of 12.4. Of the 12 children invited to take part, eleven (11) completed the process. The process comprised five parts:

1. Answering questions related to their experiences of visiting museums/cultural spaces (2-3 mins.). 2. They had the chance to experience a museum tour using a VR 360-degree app (using cardboard
googles) (5-10 mins.).
3. Completed follow up questions about their experience of the VR app (2-3 mins.).
4. 4 days later visited the same museum in real life (4 hours).
5. The next day completed a post museum visit questionnaire related to their experiences (5 mins).

At all points the participants were checked for any signs of ‘cyber-sickness’ or negative effects (feeling unwell, eye strain, etc..) when using the VR app. Teachers helped to ask the questions and performed the post- questionnaire survey. The following questions are reduced/condensed versions of the questions / questionnaire administered.

• Report Type: Project Report
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 7, 2019
• Peer Reviewed: Not Peer Reviewed
• Keywords: virtual reality, autism, autistic, apps, 360 video
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/863338