“It’s important to think of Pepper as a teaching aid or resource external to the classroom”: A social robot in a school for autistic children (2022)
Journal Article
Daly, J., Lemaignan, S., Newbutt, N., & Rice, L. (in press). “It’s important to think of Pepper as a teaching aid or resource external to the classroom”: A social robot in a school for autistic children. International Journal of Social Robotics, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12369-022-00928-4

For a period of 3 weeks in June 2021, we embedded a social robot (Softbank Pepper) in a Special Educational Needs (SEN) school for autistic children. The robot’s behaviours and integration into the school were co-designed with the children and teache... Read More about “It’s important to think of Pepper as a teaching aid or resource external to the classroom”: A social robot in a school for autistic children.

Exposure to green, blue and historic environments and mental well-being: A comparison between virtual reality head-mounted display and flat screen exposure (2022)
Journal Article
Reece, R., Bornioli, A., Bray, I., Newbutt, N., Satenstein, D., & Alford, C. (2022). Exposure to green, blue and historic environments and mental well-being: A comparison between virtual reality head-mounted display and flat screen exposure. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(15), e9457. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19159457

Improving the mental health of urban residents is a global public health priority. This study builds on existing work that demonstrates the ability of virtual exposure to restorative environments to improve population mental health. It compares the r... Read More about Exposure to green, blue and historic environments and mental well-being: A comparison between virtual reality head-mounted display and flat screen exposure.

UNICEF guidance on AI for children: Application to the design of a social robot for and with autistic children (2021)
Presentation / Conference
lemaignan, S., newbutt, N., Rice, L., daly, J., & charisi, V. (2021, September). UNICEF guidance on AI for children: Application to the design of a social robot for and with autistic children. Paper presented at IROS: The Roles of Robotics in Achieving the UN's Social Development Goals, Prague

For a period of three weeks in June 2021, we embedded a social robot (Softbank Pepper) in a Special Educational Needs (SEN) school, with a focus on supporting the well-being of autistic children. Our methodology to design and embed the robot among th... Read More about UNICEF guidance on AI for children: Application to the design of a social robot for and with autistic children.

Participatory technology design for autism and cognitive disabilities: a narrative overview of issues and techniques. (2021)
Book Chapter
Robb, N., Doyle, B., Politis, Y., Newbutt, N., Hung Jen, K., & Sung, C. (in press). Participatory technology design for autism and cognitive disabilities: a narrative overview of issues and techniques. In A. Brooks, S. Brahman, B. Kapralos, A. Nakajima, J. Tyerman, & L. Jain (Eds.), Recent Advances in Technologies of Inclusive Well-Being: Virtual patients, gamification and simulation. (3). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59608-8

Abstract. Participatory design (PD) refers to the involvement of users in the design and development process. Those who may be identified as eventual users of such technology are often involved in the development process as testers or as informants.... Read More about Participatory technology design for autism and cognitive disabilities: a narrative overview of issues and techniques..

The possibility and importance of immersive technologies during COVID-19 for autistic people (2020)
Journal Article
Newbutt, N., Schmidt, M. M., Riva, G., & Schmidt, C. (2020). The possibility and importance of immersive technologies during COVID-19 for autistic people. Journal of Enabling Technologies, 14(3), 187-199. https://doi.org/10.1108/JET-07-2020-0028

© 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited. Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify three key areas where autistic people may find themselves impacted through COVID-19, namely, education; employment; and anxiety. Design/methodology/approach: This p... Read More about The possibility and importance of immersive technologies during COVID-19 for autistic people.

Assisting people with Autism Spectrum Disorder through technology (2020)
Book Chapter
Newbutt, N. (2018). Assisting people with Autism Spectrum Disorder through technology. In A. Tatnall (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Education and Information Technologies (1-35). Switzerland: Springer

This chapter seeks to provide a review and overview of technology that has been used to support autistic people. The aim of this chapter is to provide an overview of technology used by autistic groups contextually and historically. Materials covere... Read More about Assisting people with Autism Spectrum Disorder through technology.

Using virtual reality head-mounted displays with autistic children: Views, experiences and future directions (2019)
Journal Article
Newbutt, N., Bradley, R., & Conley, I. (2020). Using virtual reality head-mounted displays with autistic children: Views, experiences and future directions. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 23(1), 23-33. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2019.0206

This article seeks to place children on the autism spectrum at the centre of a study examining the potential of virtual reality head-mounted displays used in classrooms. In doing so we provide data that addresses three important and often overlooked... Read More about Using virtual reality head-mounted displays with autistic children: Views, experiences and future directions.

Design thinking as a pedagogic tool (2019)
Presentation / Conference
Agusita, E., Gillet, M., Palmer, M., & Newbutt, N. (2019, June). Design thinking as a pedagogic tool. Presented at UWE Festival of Learning 2019, UWE, Bristol

This presentation shares the findings of research study that explored ways in which the use of design thinking might contribute to innovations in teaching and learning approaches in a range of different subject areas. Funded by a UWE Pedagogic Projec... Read More about Design thinking as a pedagogic tool.

Using virtual reality with autistic pupils (2018)
Other
Newbutt, N. (2018). Using virtual reality with autistic pupils. https://network.autism.org.uk/knowledge/insight-opinion/using-virtual-reality-autistic-pupils

In the guide Nigel explores the two main options for VR-HMD; HTC Vive and cardboard VR with a smartphone/device. Focussing on the cardboard VR option, he then offers some guidance on using this technology with autistic pupils and recommends some cont... Read More about Using virtual reality with autistic pupils.

Towards a framework for implementation of virtual reality technologies in schools for autistic pupils (2018)
Conference Proceeding
Newbutt, N., & Cobb, S. (2018). Towards a framework for implementation of virtual reality technologies in schools for autistic pupils. In P. Standen, S. Cobb, D. Brown, P. Gamito, & K. Appiah (Eds.),

Virtual reality and associated technologies offer unique potential for learning in special educational contexts. Research studies have demonstrated applications of collaborative VR for encouraging and enabling children with autism to communicate and... Read More about Towards a framework for implementation of virtual reality technologies in schools for autistic pupils.