Multimodal methodological approach for participatory design of Full-Body Interaction Learning Environments

Abstract

Over the past years an increasing number of digital learning environments based on Full-Body Interaction have been developed. Research in this field is often based on Designer-Driven approaches and is only recently employing Participatory Design techniques. However, these participatory approaches have reported relevant challenges related to including users in the design of spatial and bodily qualities of interaction. These shortcomings require extending research methods to effectively focus on embodied resources in the essential design and evaluation processes. To address this issue, we propose a methodological approach that combines multimodal analysis with Participatory Design techniques to include embodied resources in the participatory design processes for Full-Body Interaction. The proposed approach is applied to the iterative design of two Full-Body Interaction Learning Environments. Through the analysis of the outcomes of these case studies, we discuss the affordances multimodal analysis can offer to inform and guide the design process for embodied interaction.