Young children engage with digital technologies from a very young age. Often this is considered detrimental to their social development as it is seen as a socially isolating experience. This paper presents the findings of an Australian Research Council funded research project that focused on what characterises infants and toddlers peer-to-peer…

Background: Language development is critical for children's life chances. Promoting parent-child interactions is suggested as one mechanism to support language development in the early years. However, limited evidence exists for a causal effect of parent-child interactions on children's language development. Methods: Data from the Language in…

Although autistic adults may establish better dyadic rapport with autistic relative to non-autistic partners, it is unclear whether this extends to group settings. The current study examined whether rapport differs between autistic groups, non-autistic groups, and mixed groups of autistic and non-autistic adults, and whether differing…

In early education, reading difficulties can lead to negative outcomes. Augmented reality (AR) storybooks combine the benefits of e-books and print books, significantly aiding children's reading skills and gaining recognition from scholars and educators. However, the existing AR storybooks often overlook the design of interactive features, which…

Background: The impact of having a disabled brother or sister on siblings' psychological well-being and sibling relationships has been the subject of several research studies. However, research which focuses on the relationship between siblings and their autistic brother or sister with an intellectual disability and complex care needs is rare. We…

Societal expectations for social-emotional behavior differ across sexes; however, diagnostic definitions of autism do not account for this when delineating "typical" versus "atypical." This study examines sex differences in autism in one behavior associated with strong gender biases: smiling. Computer vision was used to…

High dropout rates and low pass rates are prevalent problems encountered by online learning platforms, which greatly hinder the development of online education. Drawing upon the theory of attention allocation, this study aimed to investigate the factors influencing the effectiveness of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), as well as the potential…

Research finds that engaging students in online deliberations requires three components: (1) designing a space specifically for deliberations, (2) a structured pattern that requires consistent interactions, and (3) a process guided by academically guided outcomes. Using these three components, deliberations become a routine where students share…

This article examines what happens when first grade students (age six) interact and talk with each other while writing individual texts. The data for the study comprises observations and video-recordings from 26 writing lessons in two different first grade classrooms in Norway. The study builds on sociocultural theories of writing that argue that…

This research addresses the critical need for robust usability evaluation tools in Wearable Virtual Reality Educational Applications. We developed a comprehensive set of Wearable Virtual Reality Educational Applications usability heuristics through a multi-stage process. Initial heuristics were established through a literature review. Validation…

This study aims to examine the processes experienced during the interaction between teacher leaders and their peers. Applying the grounded theory, we present a theoretical model that describes this interactive process in a month-long professional development (PD) program designed for teachers. As a part of the PD program, a total of 150 teachers…

The evolution of individual and global learning preferences is influenced by correlation factors. This study introduces a novel evolutionary modeling approach to observe and analyze factors that affect the evolution of learning preferences. The influencing factors considered in this study are closely interwoven with the underlying personality of…

Academic librarians do not engage with all disciplinary departments equally. Despite equal or even greater efforts, some departments are less responsive to librarian outreach. One such department is mathematics. To understand mathematics departments' relationships with their academic librarians, three mathematics librarians created a 20-question…

Online courses and innovative teaching models have become increasingly important for China's higher education reform and innovation. However, their true effectiveness remains a subject of debate. This study analyzes the teaching outcomes of online courses and explores the impact of innovative teaching models on students' academic performance in…

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often face significant challenges in social reciprocity, which involves the mutual exchange of social cues and interactions. This study investigates the potential of using a child-height assistive robot named Rudolf to enhance the social reciprocity skills of children with ASD. The research focused…