Transitioning Towards a Smart Learning Ecosystem: Designing for Intersubjective Interactions between Cognitively Impaired Adolescents

People with cognitive impairments have limited social abilities, and their social relations often rely on other people people taking initiative. Therefore, they need social learning to be able to socially engage with others. This project accommodates this need by promoting social interactions in a smart learning ecosystem for cognitively impaired adolescents at a rehabilitation centre in Denmark. In collaboration with the staff and residents at the facility, we developed together with staff and residents a music game prototype. The basic functionality includes two users playing virtual music instruments by using gestures and body movement. To support criteria established from the users, the game is designed to induce physical, cognitive and social learning in a diffused learning space. The study measured the intersubjective interactions between the residents when playing the game and found that verbal encouragements from the system affected their interactions. The staff members reported that the game has strong motivational properties for the residents in doing physical movements and interacting with each other.