Scaffolding - Design issues in single and collaborative virtual environments for social skills learning

Virtual Environments (VE's) are seen as having great potential for teaching people with autism. This paper looks at research being carried out as part of the AS Interactive project to teach social skills to adults with Asperger's Syndrome. Design issues for VE's are discussed, in particular the scaffolding required to help ensure learning objectives are met both in single user(SVE) and collaborative environments (CVE). While no firm guidelines as to when it is appropriate to move from a SVE to a CVE are offered, the factors involved in the transition from one to the other are discussed.

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