Cost-effective and user-friendly, mobile phone-assisted methods have remained underutilized in qualitative social science research. The scarce methodological guidance, together with recruitment and ethical challenges, has arguably stifled advancements in this area. COVID-19 exposed the need to better equip researchers with the expertise and tools…

Objective: Children report needle procedures as one of their most feared and painful experiences. Negative blood test experiences can lead to lifelong implications. Xploro is an online health information platform (app) that uses age-appropriate self-directed augmented reality (AR) techniques. This study evaluated the acceptability, feasibility and…

Longitudinal studies on mainstream children and training studies in the dyslexic population suggest that visual attention span (VAS) abilities contribute to reading acquisition. We evaluated to what extent VAS training in beginning readers might enhance later literacy skills. A large cohort of 453 children was followed from the beginning to the…

Fluent word recognition is an essential component of skilled reading, yet most children with reading difficulty have impaired word recognition. We developed and evaluated a web app, WordDriver, delivered via teletherapy, which targets phonological recoding to support orthographic learning and efficient word recognition. Participants were five…

One of the world's most famous pyramids is not located in Egypt but is on a music album cover by the band Pink Floyd. However, not a pyramid but a prism, the iconic image of a beam of light turning into a rainbow is a powerful symbol that captures the complexities of colour perception across cultures and individuals. This study examines how…

Many approaches have been employed in the creation of educational technologies. One of the lesser explored approaches is that of participatory design when it includes children as direct contributors. In such cases, specific strategies for supporting the effective participation of software developers and children are necessary. This article…

The teaching of children with Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in Arabic-speaking countries depends mainly on the traditional techniques which are limited and outdated. On the other hand, smartphone applications (apps) have become an essential part of the current life style. They are literally used to accomplish thousands of different tasks related…

The need for a new measure of social-emotional wellbeing for children 6--12 years emerged in our collaboration with schools and community agencies in a disadvantaged region of Brisbane, Australia. Our search for an age-appropriate medium led us to develop "Clowning Around", a computer game generating data which was assessed for validity…

Embodied Cognition approaches suggest that movements influence the understanding of abstract concepts such as time. It follows that moving the arms as watch hands should boost children's learning to read the clock. In a school setting, we compared three learning conditions: an embodied (movement) condition, an interactive App condition, and a text…

Purpose: Although mobile apps are used extensively by speech-language pathologists, evidence for app-based treatments remains limited in quantity and quality. This study investigated the efficacy of app-based visual-acoustic biofeedback relative to nonbiofeedback treatment using a single-case randomization design. Because of COVID-19, all…

Our research conducted two iterations of a mixed methods design-based research project with 87 youths, to improve learners' collaboration and knowledge-building by using collaboration scripts during learning-on-the-move within a mobile computing intervention. We investigated how the informal mobile augmented reality app influenced children's…

Self-regulated learning (SRL) skills are critical for students of all ages to maximize their learning. Two key processes of SRL are being aware of one's performance (self-evaluation) and believing in one's capabilities to produce given attainments (self-efficacy). To assess and improve these capabilities in young children (5-8), we use a literacy…

Children's literature is increasingly being realized in app format, with its possibilities of combining text, music, sound effects, stills, animated movies, verbal language and, not least, interactivity. This digital and medial literary development calls for new analytical approaches to explore its manifestation in children's literature--its…

Purpose: Oral language skills provide a critical foundation for formal education and especially for the development of children's literacy (reading and spelling) skills. It is therefore important for teachers to be able to assess children's language skills, especially if they are concerned about their learning. We report the development and…

Most research on the media use of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) focuses on media device use and less on content preferences of these children. We interviewed parents (N = 31) of children with ASD to examine parental observations of their children's audiovisual media content preferences. Thematic analysis of the in-depth interviews…