TITLE OF STUDY
COVID and teaching pedagogy impacts for career readiness
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
Deborah Cockerham
Discovery Park Building G175
Deborah.Cockerham@unt.edu
(940) 565-4470
Zain Ali, one of the investigators for this study, built the AL360 platform as part of
his PhD education at UNT. There is a probability that the successful application of Zain
Ali’s dissertation could lead to future financial gain. Zain can be reached at
Zainali.my.unt.ed
PURPOSE OF STUDY
You are being asked to participate in a research study. Taking part in this study is
voluntary. The investigators will explain the study to you and will answer any questions
you might have. It is your choice whether you take part in this study. If you agree to
participate and then choose to withdraw from the study, that is your right, and your
decision will not be held against you.
Research shows that many employers want “college graduates who have soft skills” but
they have difficulty finding such candidates (Bauer-Wolf, 2019) while the consensus is
that these skills should have been developed in college. You are being asked to take
part
in a research study about career readiness of students based on the 8 competencies that
employers desire the most from college graduates.
Your participation in this research study involves completing a career readiness
assessment on self as well as asking your faculty, manager, peers, direct reports, and
others as appropriate to complete the same career readiness assessment on you. You
might want to participate in this study if you would like to receive a multi-rater
career
readiness assessment that allows you to reflect on the career readiness feedback
received. This will help you develop a personal development plan to be better prepared
for your career upon graduation. However, you might not want to participate in this
study if you do not have time to complete an assessment on yourself or would not like to
solicit multi-rater feedback from others since it takes about 10 to 15 minutes to
complete an assessment.
You may also choose to participate in this research study if you are interested in
getting
feedback to improve the competencies that employers seek in students upon
graduation.
The reasonably foreseeable risks or discomforts to you if you choose to take part is
that
you might not agree or like the feedback that you receive from the raters which is
anonymous except for manager and faculty. Whenever there is participation there are
always privacy/confidentiality risks, however small they might be. You will not receive
compensation for participation.
DETAILED INFORMATION ABOUT THIS RESEARCH STUDY:
The following is more detailed
information about this study, in addition to the information listed above.
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY:
Research studies suggest that higher education is not
preparing students to be career ready with the soft skills or competencies that
employers seek. In a recent study many employers want “college graduates who have
soft skills” but they have difficulty finding such candidates (Bauer-Wolf, 2019).
COVID-19 has created additional challenges on employment especially the hiring of new
graduate students upon graduation.
The purpose of this study is to collect quantitative and qualitative data on self and
multi-rater assessment in the eight competencies identified by employers as the
competencies that they seek in new graduates. These eight competencies are Teamwork,
Problem Solving, Professionalism, Leadership, Digital Application, Communications,
Intercultural Fluency and Career Management.
Students will be able to use the Career Ready AL360 report that will provide them
with personalized results of the data collected on them to create a personal development
plan which will help them be better prepared for their careers upon graduation.
Researchers will be able to analyze the data gathered to identify areas for improvement
in
our teaching pedagogies as well as the competencies that higher education and students
need to focus on for career readiness upon graduation.
TIME COMMITMENT:
The total duration for this study to be completed is anticipated to
be from one to four weeks. Your initial personal time commitment would be
approximately 10 to 15 minutes to complete a Career Readiness self-assessment and
another 10 to 15 minutes to identify and request your raters to provide your feedback.
You might also have to review and periodically remind your raters on a weekly basis to
complete your assessment which could be about 10 minutes / week.
STUDY PROCEDURES
The faculty for your class has chosen to be part of this study or use the assessment as
part
of their grade in the class or for bonus points. You can take part in this assessment
and
choose to not be part of the research study. If you choose to be part of the study, you
will
have to opt in by selecting the checkbox on the sign in page of AL360 application to
participate on a volunteer basis. In either instance, you will be able to collect
multi-rater
feedback on the eight competencies identified by National Association of Colleges and
Employers (NACE) which can be used to develop your personal development plan for
career readiness.
After you have created an account in AL360 application to complete your
assessment as well as identify multi-raters that will provide feedback on you. You and
your raters will receive an email for completing the Career Ready AL360
assessment.
The multi-rater categories are Faculty, Manager, Peers, Direct Reports and Others. You
should select the raters from each category that is applicable, for example you might
not
have direct reports, or you might have raters that are family in the other category.
Since the data is anonymous in the categories of peers, direct reports, and others hence
you need a minimum of 2 raters in these categories for the for the data to be visible
for
review. Your faculty and manager feedback are not anonymous, and you need just one
rater in these categories to complete your assessment.
Additional data will be collected with follow-up interviews of select students to allow
input on the process of collecting multi-rater feedback, input on the quality of
questions
being asked on career readiness and the user experience of using the AL360 system.
Before participating in an interview, the investigator will carefully explain the risks
and
benefits along with assurances regarding confidentiality. Follow-up interviews will be
on
a volunteer basis limited to approximately 20% of total participants.
AUDIO/VIDEO:
For students that are interested in providing additional data on the
feedback on their experience with follow-up interviews are also agreeing to be audio /
video recorded during the research study for the interview.
The audio / video recording waiver only applies to those students that are part of the
20%
of study participants that agree to interview. There will be no audio / video recording
of
the students that participate in the assessment study that are not part of the interview
process.
The recording will be immediately destroyed after transcription
BENEFITS
The results of this study will demonstrate the competencies that the students need to
focus on for career readiness upon graduation. This is especially important due to the
challenge of remote and online learning for students.
The results of this study will also help researchers to identify focus areas for
university
faculty and staff to help students be career ready upon graduation.
POSSIBLE RISKS/DISCOMFORTS:
Participation in this online survey involves risks to
confidentiality like a person’s everyday use of the internet and that there is always a
risk
of breach of confidentiality. There is a possibility that participants will feel
discomfort
while participating in research activity. You may decline to answer any or all questions
and you may terminate your involvement at any time if you choose.
Participating in research may involve a loss of privacy and the potential for a breach
in
confidentiality. Study data will be physically and electronically secured by the
research
team. As with any use of electronic means to store data, there is a risk of breach of
data
security.
Participation in the study might also cause stress if the multi-rater quantitative
feedback
from the raters is below the expected levels or the comments provided are below the
standards expected.
If you experience excessive discomfort when completing the research activity, you may
choose to stop participating at any time without penalty. The researchers will try to
prevent any problem that could happen, but the study may involve risks to the
participant, which are currently unforeseeable. UNT does not provide medical services,
or financial assistance for emotional distress or injuries that might happen from
participating in this research. If you need to discuss your discomfort further, please
contact a mental health provider, or you may contact the researcher who will refer you
to appropriate services. If your need is urgent, please contact UNT Mental Health
Emergency line at 940-565-2741.
COMPENSATION:
There is no monetary compensation that will be provided to
participate in the study. If you choose to participate in the study, you [may/will]
receive
extra credit determined by your course instructor as a compensation for your
participation. In order to receive extra credit, you will be asked to provide your name
and
course information. This information will not be linked to your survey responses. If you
do not wish to participate in the study, a non-research alternative way to earn the
extra
credit points that is equivalent to the same amount of time and effort as participating
in
the study will also be provided by the instructor. Please directly contact your course
instructor regarding your questions related to extra credit and alternative assignment
that
may be available.
CONFIDENTIALITY
Efforts will be made by the research team to keep your personal information private,
including research study and medical records, and disclosure will be limited to people
who have a need to review this information. All paper and electronic data collected from
this study will be stored in a secure location on the UNT campus and or UNT provided
Microsoft One Drive with password protection for at least three (3) years past the end
of
this research. Research records will be labeled with a code and the master key linking
names with codes will be maintained in a separate and secure location.
Participation in this online survey involves the potential for the loss of
confidentiality like
a person’s everyday use of the internet.
The results of this study may be published and/or presented without naming you as a
participant. The data collected about you for this study may / will be used for future
research studies that are not described in this consent form. If that occurs, an IRB
will
first evaluate the use of any information that is identifiable to you, and
confidentiality
protection would be maintained.
While absolute confidentiality cannot be guaranteed, the research team will make every
effort to protect the confidentiality of your records, as described here and to the
extent
permitted by law. In addition to the research team, the following entities may have
access to your records, but only on a need-to-know basis: the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services, the FDA (federal regulating agencies), the reviewing IRB,
and sponsors of the study.
This research uses the third-party software called AL360 and Zoom and is subject
to the privacy policies of these softwares noted here:
https://al360.com
https://zoom.us/privacy
