Sena Beste Ercan stay in Amsterdam

Part of the project Fostering Prosocial Behaviors in Children with Autism through Mixed Reality

During my three-month research stay at DiLab at the University of Amsterdam, I had the
opportunity to collaborate closely with the Human-Computer Interaction research team on
rethinking the DragonIce full-body interactive game. The focus of my stay was to explore new
design strategies that sustain synchronization over time while fostering engagement, with the
broader aim of examining whether such systems can promote prosocial behavior in children on
the autism spectrum.

As part of this work, I conducted two re-design workshops with researchers from the
department. The first workshop, held across four sessions, centered on critically reflecting on
the current design and co-creating new directions for interaction mechanics and game
dynamics. These sessions generated fresh perspectives on how structured synchrony can be
maintained while making the experience more engaging and playful. The second workshop,
spread over three sessions, focused on designing playful interactions that could help us assess
the prosocial behavior of four co-players after engaging in the synchronous activity.

This stay also gave me valuable insights into speculative design approaches and opened new
avenues for future collaboration between our groups. Overall, it was a productive and inspiring
period of exchange that enriched both the DragonIce project and my PhD research.