The objective of this study is to investigate the value of these community-based research projects for the students who participated. We want to understand the value of these projects for the graduate students who completed the course, and to identify any challenges they may have experienced or ways to improve or augment this experiential learning. We also want to understand the experience of the community facilitator who assisted. Our hope is to share our findings with the wider Computer Science community, so that other Computer Science faculty can conduct similar community-based research projects with graduate students as part of course work. Brenda Stoesz from the Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning will be conducting interviews on UM-licensed Zoom, to gather participants’ thoughts and reflections on these course projects.

Study interviews will take place on UM-licensed Zoom. The interview swill take place at a time that is convenient to participants and should last no more than 30 minutes. Brenda Stoesz will then review, correct, and anonymize the Zoom-generated transcription of the interview (within 2 weeks of the interview taking place). Dr. Latulipe will not have any access to identifying data. Brenda Stoesz will be conducting the interviews alone and manually transcribing and anonymizing the audio files for subsequent analysis. It is possible that direct quotes will be included in the final report. No names or identifiers will accompany direct quotes. As a thank-you, participants will be sent $20 via e-transfer.

Risks & Benefits

After completing these investigations, we will write a report on our findings that will help our department, and potentially others. We hope to discover the value in offering such community-based research experiences as part of Computer Science graduate course work and to determine how to improve such projects going forward to create a more valuable experience for our students and for participating community members.

There are no direct benefits to participants. Indirect benefits to participants include the opportunity to reflect on the research study they took part in and to be a voice in shaping such studies for future students and community members.

Risks to participating in this study are no greater than in everyday life.

Dissemination

We will submit the research as an experience report to the CACE (Canadian Association of Computing Educators) conference or to a similar conference.

A summary report of the research will be available on this page once the study and analysis is complete. Participants can also opt-in to receiving a copy of the study summary sent to them by email.

Approval

This research has been approved by the University of Manitoba Research Ethics Board. If you have any concerns or complaints about this project you may contact any of the above-named persons or the Human Ethics Coordinator at 204-474-7122 or humanethics@umanitoba.ca.

If you have questions or need more information, please contact:

Brenda Stoesz (brenda.stoesz@umanitoba.ca)

Note: to maintain confidentiality, please do not contact Dr. Latulipe if you have questions about the study.