Invitation to Participate in Research Project

What is the purpose of this Research?

This is an invitation for you to participate in a research project being conducted by staff at the University of New England, Australia. The purpose of this research is to investigate how students understand and perceive the collection of educational data that is linked to their use of learning technologies

Who are the Researchers?

Please contact any of the following researchers, should you have any questions about this study.

Dr. Stoo Sepp
Lecturer, ICT Education
School of Education
stoo.sepp@une.edu.au
+61 2 6773 1643 

Is my Participation Voluntary?

Your involvement in this study is completely voluntary and it is your right to stop participating in the study at any time without consequence and without needing to provide an explanation, however, once you begin the survey your anonymous data which you have already provided cannot be withdrawn. Participation will in no way impact your marks or results in this unit.

What am I expected to do if I volunteer to participate? 

If you volunteer to be included in this study, you’ll be asked to participate in a short survey that should take you no longer than 20 minutes. As part of this survey, you’ll be presented with different types of information about how and why educational data related to you is collected, then you’ll be asked some questions about your understanding of this information and what you think about these practices. The questions you’ll be asked will not be of a sensitive nature: rather they are general, and will enable the researchers to understand more about student perception and understanding of educational data collection and learning analytics practices.

What are the benefits of participating in this Research?

As the use of different technologies becomes more commonplace, the collection of data related to an individual’s engagement with these technologies also increases. Currently, little is known about how students in universities understand or feel about the collection of this data within their educational institutions. Your contribution to this study will help to inform ethical and transparent practices at universities both in Australia and abroad.

What are the possible risks, inconveniences and discomforts if I volunteer to participate?

It is unlikely that this research will raise any personal or upsetting issues but if it does, you may wish to contact your local Community Health Centre (add the phone number here) or Lifeline on 13 11 14. As a student you may also contact UNE’s Wellness Centre at (02) 6773 2897 or studentcounselling@une.edu.au.

How will my contributions to this study be used?

Results in the form of anonymised and de-identified data may be used in published academic journal articles, conference presentations or book chapters after the researcher has concluded their research. The researcher also plans to publish an open data set so that other researchers may explore the results and learn from them. 

How is my Privacy Protected?

All personal details gathered in the course of the study will remain confidential. No individual will be identified by name in any publication of the results. At all times, the researcher will safeguard your identity by presenting the information in a way that will not allow you to be identified.

If any member of the research team listed above is a part of your instructional staff this term, their access to your responses to the survey will be locked until after all marks and results for this unit have been submitted. This will ensure that your marks for each assignment and your final results will in no way be affected by your choice to participate in this study or the responses you provide in the course of your participation. 

Ethics review and complaints

Should you have any complaints concerning the manner in which this research is conducted, please contact the Ethics Officer, Research Services, University of New England on (02) 6773 3715 or email humanethics@une.edu.au.

Data Storage and Disposal

The researchers will keep all hardcopy notes related to this study in a locked cabinet in their office at the University of New England’s School of Education. Any electronic data will be kept on cloud.une.edu.au, UNE’s centrally managed cloud server managed by the research team. It will also be kept on a password protected computer in the same location.  Only the research team will have access to the data.

All the data collected in this research will be kept for a minimum of five years after successful submission of my thesis, after which it will be disposed of by deleting relevant computer files, and destroying or shredding hardcopy materials.

If you would like to participate, please click the button below to begin.

Thank you for your interest in this study.