Preparing High School Students with Autism for the Future of Remote Software Development Work

吸引不同的年轻人从事计算机科学专业对我们的国家利益和提供经济机会都很重要。该项目将邀请患有自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）的高中生参加远程视频游戏设计和软件开发夏令营。透过团队合作活动，参与活动的青少年不但可以发展和练习沟通和协作的技巧，同时也可以增加他们的专业知识和技能，为将来从事计算机科学工作做好准备。为了支持团队合作和社交技能的发展，项目团队将开发一个名为协作站（Collaboration Station）的软件程序，为学习者提供一个在线的、虚拟的协作编程环境。将学生的学习嵌入到虚拟夏令营环境中，为参与的高中生提供了发展远程工作知识和技能的机会，这在计算机科学职业中越来越普遍。这个项目的一个显著特点是它关注ASD学习者带来的属性，以支持他们对计算机科学的准备和兴趣。由于所有项目活动都将在线/远程进行，团队将使用研究方法，适当有效地使用多媒体记录和参与者在虚拟环境中参与的数据库证据。该团队将主要采用定性分析，分析营地活动的录音，并使用音频文本进行主题分析，通过使用开放和轴向编码对数据进行迭代，解释性传递。该项目的设计和开发过程将由一个特殊的咨询委员会指导，该委员会由来自社区的自闭症自我倡导者组成。这些项目合作者将提供必要的专业知识和经验，以告知项目的方向、设计和实施。该项目的成果包括一个夏令营体验的概念和操作模型，以支持自闭症学生发展他们的计算机科学知识和团队合作技能。夏令营模式及其成果将通过学术研究和教育技术会议、公共播客系列和公共博客传播给学术、教育和ASD倡导社区。匿名的项目数据将通过基于网络的附录共享，供其他研究人员使用。该项目由“面向学生和教师的创新技术体验”（ITEST）项目共同资助，该项目支持有助于提高学生对科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）以及信息和通信技术（ICT）职业的知识和兴趣的实践、项目要素、背景和过程的理解。该项目也由CS for All: Research和RPPs项目共同资助。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Attracting diverse youth to computer science professions is important to our national interests and to provide economic opportunity. This project will engage high school students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in a remote video game design and software development summer camp. Through teamwork activities, participating youth will develop and practice communication and collaboration skills while growing their professional knowledge and skills to prepare them for potential careers in computer science. To support teaming and social skills development, the project team will develop a software program, Collaboration Station, that provides learners with an online, virtual environment for collaborative programming. Embedding student learning in a virtual summer camp environment provides participating high schoolers with the opportunity to develop knowledge and skills for remote work, which is increasingly common in computer science careers. A distinct feature of this project is its focus on the attributes that learners with ASD bring to support their preparation for and interest in computer science.As all project activities will take place online/remotely, the team will use research methods that attend to the appropriate and effective use of multimedia recordings and database evidence of participant engagement in the virtual environment. Employing primarily qualitative analysis, the team will analyze recordings of camp activities and use audio transcripts for thematic analysis through iterative, interpretive passes on the data using open and axial coding. The project’s design and development process will be guided by a special kind of advisory board, composed of autistic self-advocates from the community. These project collaborators will provide essential expertise and experience to inform the project’s direction, design, and implementation. Outcomes of this project include a conceptual and operational model for a summer camp experience that supports students with ASD in the development of their computer science knowledge and teaming skills. The summer camp model and its outcomes will be disseminated to academic, educational, and ASD advocacy communities through academic research and educational technology conferences, a public podcast series, and a public blog. Anonymized project data will be shared through a web-based appendix for other researchers’ use. This project is co-funded by the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program, which supports projects that build understandings of practices, program elements, contexts and processes contributing to increasing students' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers. This project is also co-funded by the CS for All: Research and RPPs program.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.