Study Information Sheet and Consent Form for Research Participants
IRB Reference number: IRB-2022-051
Study Title: A Multimodal Learning Analytics Approach Towards Learner Dashboard Designs for Better Engagement and Metacognitive Regulation (LADDER)
Principal Investigator & Contact Details:
Dr. Elizabeth Koh
National Institute of Education (NIE), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), e-mail: elizabeth.koh@nie.edu.sg; telephone: 67903733 (office)
Introduction
You are invited to join our research study. Please read and understand this information sheet carefully. We will explain the study, answer your questions, and provide a Consent Form to sign when you are ready. You will receive a copy to take home.
You are invited because this research study focuses on Secondary 1 to Secondary 3 students (age range 13-16) from local secondary schools.
This research aims to develop a multimodal learning analytics measure for engagement as well as an online learning dashboard that gives students feedback about their learning online. It aims to help teachers to use technology to help you learn the subject content and 21st Century skills.
We plan to recruit 1000 participants from secondary schools over a period of 3 years (December 2022 to December 2025).
Procedures
If you decide to join our study, you will be asked to participate in a learning scenario). Your participation will last approximately 1-2 hours. The study will involve 1 to 2 visits.
If you participate, this is what will happen:
This study consists of three phases. In all three phases, students will participate in a learning scenario. During the learning scenario, students will be video-recorded, and their interaction with the learning system such as eye-gaze and mouse clicks will be tracked. Students will be asked to complete 1-2 quizzes as part of the learning scenario, and respond to surveys at key junctions during the study. Students will also complete a post-activity questionnaire. They will be invited to participate in 1 focus group discussion or interview (about 1 hour) to share about their experience with the learning scenario and it will be video/audio-recorded with the participants' consent. These procedures may be conducted in person at suitable venues or online. The above applies to all the phases of the study.
• Phase 1: Half of the students will go through the tasks in one sequence and the other half in the other. The tasks will be completed at suitable venues.
• Phase 2: Using the experimental research design, three dashboard conditions will be presented, varying in key design principles that can affect learner dashboard engagement: reference frame, information representation, metacognitive prompts. Students will either be at home or at other suitable venues.
• Phase 3: We intend to work with about 12 teachers in their lessons in English and Science to co-design lessons in which their learning outcomes can be enhanced with the use of the web-based application. This might be in blended or home-based learning. Students will be invited to participate as part of their curriculum lessons. We will take video recordings, voice recordings, and photographs of selected lessons at the class-level and at the individual level where possible and allowed. Participants who do not agree to be recorded will be placed in a position that cannot be seen on the recordings or will be asked to turn off their video, and their names will be masked. The procedures for students are as described above. Teachers will be interviewed to understand how teachers’ instructions/facilitation affects students’ use of dashboards, and its relation with engagement, metacognitive regulation and learning.
Voluntary Participation and Participant’s Rights
Your participation in this study is entirely voluntary. You can withdraw at any time without giving a reason. Your decision to withdraw or not participate will not affect any benefits you are otherwise entitled to. If you choose to stop participating, please inform the researchers. Research data collected until the time of your withdrawal will be kept and analysed to enable a comprehensive evaluation of the study.
If you withdraw, you will be required to inform the researchers of your withdrawal.
The investigators may stop your participation at any time if it is in your best interests, or if you do not follow the study instructions.
If any new information arises (including but not limited to serious adverse events, or changes in research plans) that may affect your willingness to continue participation, the Principal Investigator (or their representative) will promptly inform you (or your Legally Acceptable Representative, if relevant) and seek further consent if required.
If minors reach 21 years old during the study, they will be contacted for further consent to continue participation.
Risks and Discomforts
There is a small risk that students may be identified through video data. However, the risk is minimal as they are participating in their typical role as a student and it is part of their normal schooling activities. The data will be securely maintained using NIE/NTU's secure data infrastructure, all identifiable data will be password-protected, and identifying information will not be used in file names. If unintended scenes in the background are captured when students are participating from a home setting, the scene will not be shared. Video data will be pixelated/masked before final storage/transfer, unless participants have indicated otherwise.
Benefits
There may be improvements in teachers’ understanding of student engagement and students may benefit in terms of improvements in engagement and metacognitive regulation through this study.
Compensation
For participants in Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the study, you will be compensated for your time, effort, and/or transportation costs as follows:
• If you complete the study, you will receive a token of appreciation ($10 voucher) by the end of the session. The token of appreciation will be given only to participants who complete all the research activities for the session.
• Your transportation cost will be reimbursed if you are invited to complete the learning task in NIE/NTU or other suitable venues that are not your home or school.
Confidentiality of Data
Your participation in this study will involve the collection, use and disclosure of data in an individually-identifiable form (or “Personal Data”). “Personal Data” means data about you / your child / your ward, which makes you / your child / your ward identifiable from (i) such data, and/or from (ii) other information which we have or likely have access to. This includes written, visual, video, and audio data/recordings.
All data that is collected will be anonymized for dissemination including being placed in shared repositories. Video data will be pixelated/masked before final storage/transfer. Participants will be given the option to release their unmasked video recordings for presentations and publications of this project as well as future research and shared repositories to maximize the impact of their contribution. Participants will need to provide their names and contact information for us to be able to track their progress during the course of the study.
Personal Data and data collected for this study will be kept confidential and stored for a minimum of 10 years in a secure environment within NIE/NTU, on the project database, on our project team’s secured computers and external hard disks which are password-protected, and/or in locked cabinets. Access will be restricted to the Principal Investigator, study team members (including appointed database administrators), and NIE/NTU University Administrators. Copies of the data may be transferred out of NIE/NTU for sharing with overseas collaborators on a need-to-know basis. When we share our research results, we will not reveal any identifying information about you unless you have given consent to do so. Your records, to the extent of the applicable laws and regulations, will not be made publicly available, in accordance with the NTU Privacy Statement and NIE and NTU policies and PDPA requirements.
However, government ministries, or regulatory agencies and the NTU Institutional Review Board will be granted direct access to your Personal Data to check study procedures and data, without making any of your information public. Your Personal Data may be shared with government bodies when acquisitioned by law or when ordered to do so by a court or legislations.
By signing the Informed Consent Form attached, you (or your Legally Acceptable Representative, if relevant) agree and consent to the: (i) collection, access to, use and storage of your Personal Data and research data, and (ii) disclosure to, and use and storage by, authorised service providers and relevant third parties, whether located in Singapore or overseas, for the purposes of this study or future research studies, including other similar research studies conducted by NIE/NTU.
Additionally, you give consent to the disclosure of your Personal Data by NTU to the Ministry of Education (“MOE”) for MOE’s research purposes (including aggregated analyses) or other purposes permitted by law.
Data collected are the property of NIE/NTU. In the event of any publication regarding this study, only de-identified research data will be used. Such de-identified research data may also be deposited in a publicly-accessible data repository (such as the Digital Repository of NTU).
Your research data containing your Personal Data will be transferred out of Singapore to overseas collaborators, Justin Dauwels (TU Delft, Netherlands) and Edwin Chng (Harvard Graduate School of Education, USA) in an identifiable form for the purposes described in this Study Information Sheet and Consent Form. The respective institutions will take appropriate steps to ensure it complies with the data protection requirements in the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) while your Personal Data to be transferred remains in its possession or under its control.
At the completion of the study, identifiable and anonymized data will continue to be analyzed to support additional research, management, and educational activities for up to 10 years. Identifiable data will only be used where necessary or when release is given (e.g., data cannot be anonymized; identifiers needed to match participants across different studies). Otherwise, only anonymized data will be used for secondary analyses. These data, both identifiable and anonymized, may be used by researchers and may be shared with external scholars within or outside Singapore for the purpose of secondary analysis. Research arising in the future will be subject to review by the relevant institutional review board.
Your Personal Data collected in this study will be used in an individually-identifiable form for future research only if explicit consent has been provided by you in the accompanying Consent Form and approval has been obtained from the Institutional Review Board or local ethics committee.
Whom to Contact if You Have Questions
If you have any questions, complaints, or feedback about this research, or in the event of any injuries during the study, please contact the Principal Investigator, Dr. Elizabeth Koh
E-mail: elizabeth.koh@nie.edu.sg; Tel: 67903733 (office)
The study has undergone ethics approval by the NTU Institutional Review Board. If you want an independent opinion to address concerns, questions, complaints, or feedback; or require information regarding your rights as a research participant, please contact:
NTU Institutional Review Board
Research Integrity and Ethics Office
Blk N1.2, B1-02A
62 Nanyang Drive
Singapore 637459
Email: irb@ntu.edu.sg, Tel: 6904 1293