The Gallery

Study Information for Participants

About this Study and Online Consent

This application is part of a research study conducted by Daragh Byrne at Carnegie Mellon University.

The purpose of the research is to explore how online portfolio and project documentation tools can support students in IDeATe’s and the Integrated Innovation Institute's interdisciplinary courses. The Gallery platform will allow students to document their projects as it develops, give feedback and promote discussion and sharing between peers in interdisciplinary classrooms. This research will evaluate the use and utility of this online platform in supporting interdisciplinary hands-on and applied learning experiences.

Procedures

The study will involve the interacting with the online Gallery application. This application invites the contribution of project documentation of both detailed outcome descriptions and periodic status updates on milestones and process; the contribution of feedback and commentary on projects at various stages; and social interaction with this content. Usage information and interaction with the content through commentary, liking, and quality ratings is monitored. If you agree to participate, you will use the online application at your discretion and/or as directed by instructors within your course. Periodically we will contact you and ask you to complete surveys on your perception and use of the online environment. This will take no more than 10-15 minutes to complete. For all questionnaires, you have the right to not participate or answer any questions. Your participation in this study is voluntary. If you choose not to participate or to withdraw from the study at any time, there will be no penalty.

Participant Requirements

Participation in this study is limited to individuals age 18 and older. If you contribute content to the platform, you must have the authority to do so. You must be the original creator of the material or have permission/rights to use the text or media content. If contributing on behalf of an institution, you must be an authorized to contribute/prepare materials for them.

Risks

The risks and discomfort associated with participation in this study are no greater than those ordinarily encountered in daily life or during other online activities.

Benefits

The platform will allow you to more easily document your creative and collaborative coursework, projects and outcomes within your program at CMU. It may also allow you to more seamlessly conduct assigned teamwork and get feedback on your creative projects. In addition, possible benefits of participation in the research are involvement in the development of new technology that may assist you or others in interdisciplinary, hands-on and applied learning scenarios.

Compensation & Costs

There is no compensation for participation in this study. There will be no cost to you if you participate in this study.

Confidentiality

The Gallery is meant to be a social application. Depending on the information you provide as part of your profile within this application, you may be personally identified within the online environment. If this is the case, your participation will be known to other study participants. The number of comments, the content of this commentary and other social actions (liking, content rating) you undertake as part of your use of this application may also be visible to other users. Beyond this, no other data will be made available to others. You are not required to send any information about a task that you are uncomfortable with sharing. You will also have the ability to control the visibility of your projects and course outcomes.

Completed survey information will be linked to your activity in the online platform. Before we analyze the data, we will permanently remove all identifiers that personally associate you with any of the data. In other words, we will anonymize the data before analyzing it. This anonymized data will be kept for a period of 4 years at which point it will be destroyed. In order to prevent unauthorized use of this data outside of this study, only study investigators will have direct access it.

By participating in this research, you understand and agree that Carnegie Mellon may be required to disclose your consent form, data and other personally identifiable information as required by law, regulation, subpoena or court order. Otherwise, your confidentiality will be maintained in the following manner.

Your data and consent form will be kept separate. Your consent form will be stored in a locked server on Carnegie Mellon property and will not be disclosed to third parties. By participating, you understand and agree that the data and information gathered during this study may be used by Carnegie Mellon and published and/or disclosed by Carnegie Mellon to others outside of Carnegie Mellon. However, your name, address, contact information and other direct personal identifiers in your consent form will not be mentioned in any such publication or dissemination of the research data and/or results by Carnegie Mellon.

Right to Ask Questions & Contact Information

If you have any questions about this study, you should feel free to ask them by contacting the Principal Investigator now at [Daragh Byrne, Hunt Library, Office #246, Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, Ph: 412-268-7928. Email:daraghb@andrew.cmu.edu]. If you have questions later, desire additional information, or wish to withdraw your participation please contact the Principal Investigator by mail, phone or e-mail in accordance with the contact information listed above.

If you have questions pertaining to your rights as a research participant; or to report objections to this study, you should contact the Office of Research integrity and Compliance at Carnegie Mellon University. Email: irb-review@andrew.cmu.edu . Phone: 412-268-1901 or 412-268-5460.

Voluntary Participation

Your participation in this research is voluntary. You may discontinue participation at any time during the research activity.