DigiJag: A participatory design of an e-learning and social platform accessible to users with moderate intellectual disabilities

Sammanfattning: Background: Digital education provides lifelong learning opportunities and acquisition of new skills and the importance of developing flexible e-learning platforms, taking into account the endusers’ needs and experiences, is high. People with intellectual disabilities are the most likely group to encounter challenges related to school while they are underrepresented in studies in web accessibility and digital education. DigiJag project in Sweden aims to the development of an e-learning and social platform accessible to users with moderate intellectual disabilities. Purpose: The purpose of this exploratory research study was to define the user’s needs and identify the key features used in the design of an e-learning and social platform accessible to users with moderate ID. Methods: Participatory methods were used to provide all stakeholders an influence on the final design. Qualitative data was collected from two focus groups with professional experts. Qualitative data was also collected from a series of processes together with students with ID including three voting sessions, individual observation barrier walkthroughs and two cognitive walkthroughs for heuristic evaluation of DigiJag platform’s Hi-Fi interactive prototype. Qualitative content theme analysis was used, and an iterative prototype design process was applied. Results: The study revealed themes related to direct and indirect stakeholders, values that reflect user needs, key features to be supported by the platform and suggestions for data collection methods from students with intellectual disabilities using participatory design processes. Additionally, aesthetic elements, social themes for the platform, information regarding the user experience of students with intellectual disabilities with existing interactive digital tools as well as results from heuristic evaluation of an interactive Hi-Fi prototype were also part of the study’s findings. Discussion: By involving people with intellectual disabilities in different stages of this study, we managed to give them voice in the design process and also to distribute power from designers and experts to users with intellectual disabilities.