PA ACT 153 Clearances
The Pennsylvania Child Protective Services Law requires certain employees, volunteers and other individuals who interact with minors to obtain background certification clearances. The 2014 PA Act 153 (The Sandusky Act) altered the criminal background check requirements for employees of institutions of higher education who interact with minors. Carnegie Mellon University Human Resources is available to assist students in applying for Act 153 certifications. To apply for Act 153 certifications through Carnegie Mellon Human Resources, students should schedule an appointment with Madeleine Cossell ([email protected]), the University's Employment Background Check Coordinator. Human Resources will walk the individual through the process of submitting applications for certifications, submitting fingerprints for the FBI check and completing a Disclosure Statement and any other forms necessary for provisional employment. Carnegie Mellon University has business accounts set up with these certification sites and will pay for all 3 certification application fees when you complete the certification in person with HR. **Act 153 Clearance Group Sessions, 10:00AM Mondays - Thursdays @Whitfield Hall Signup required (Limit 14 per session) or schedule an appointment Madeleine Cossell Background Clearance Coordinator Carnegie Mellon University Phone: 412-268-3210 E-mail: [email protected] http://www.cmu.edu/hr/act-153/index.html Simonsen J. & Frieberg, K. (2014) Collective Analysis of Qualitative Data. In Situated Design Methods. Cambridge: MIT Press p. 99-118
-Conduct User Study 1 Contextual Interviews about portfolios with CMU students UPCOMING DUE DATES 10/4 Review User Study 1: User Profile Insight Boards in class 10/6 User Study 1: Findings and Model Due **Start planning your user study 3, meet with me for ideas about where and with who to conduct the research. 9/ 29 Assignments A. Reading Reflection Simonsen & Frieberg (2004) Collective Analysis of Qualitative Data. In Situated Design Methods. Cambridge: MIT Press p. 99-118 B. Pilot and conduct your interviews 10/5 User Profile Insight Boards Due 10/7 User Study 1 Findings & Work Model Due Reading Reflection | Due 9/27 Hugh Beyer & Karen Holtzblatt. "Contextual Design." interactions 6, no. 1 (1999): 32-42. Reflection Question Prompt: How would you adapt the Contextual Design process and language in this article, which draws on workplace examples, for student-centered learning activities (e.g portfolio practices) in a classroom context? Focus your translation on the design directives in the Contextual Inquiry section and Work Model examples (flow, cultural and physical) for a learning context. Feel free to challenge or problematize assumptions built into the authors' Contextual Design approach that may unravel in a learning context. NB: For User Study 1 - each team will need to create a “work model” for student portfolio practices based on your user study data, so pay attention to the different ways work models are represented in this reading. Another good summary of Contextual Design online https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/book/the-encyclopedia-of-human-computer-interaction-2nd-ed/contextual-design Design Research Method: Directed Storytelling
Data Analysis Technique: Focused Listening Design insights captured during the conversation with Nina Barbuto about with questions and storytelling framed around needs, opportunities, challenges and tools/methods for documentation and digital portfolio creation in informal learning contexts like ASSEMBLE. A user study protocol is essential for organizing a research team and the study design. Use the template below as a starting point. Also read the Beyer & Holtzblatt Contextual Design reading and review the blog post notes on method tips. On Tuesday in class, Irene and I will work with each of the groups on the user study planning and protocol draft. DUE: 9/27 User Study Planning Template
Issues: List the questions you want to be able to answer after this study. (e.g. Motivations, goals, tools used, workflows, challenges, portfolio practices and processes) Objectives: How do you want to use the findings from your study? What part of the design problem will this study provide insights and perspectives on? Method Selection: What design research technique or methods will best address your questions? Which will be the most time effective, and generate the needed level of detail? Participants: Describe the participants you are intending to recruit, your rationale, and how you will sample. Who will lead the interactions with the participant? Who will take notes and record the data on your team (min. 2)? What questions will you ask and what prompts will you use? Will you have the user review their current portfolio, recount and show a specific past project and documentation process, or speak prospectively about a current project plans to document going forward? Logistics: Where will you conduct the study? What is the availability of team members and your participants? Who will do the recruiting and scheduling, and prepare an email introduction and request. Arrange for data recording equipment (audio, video, still camera, software apps (e.g. screen-capture), note –taking pads, observation sheet. Leave time to pilot the protocol with a friend or each other, revise as needed. Data Analysis & Reporting List the data analysis techniques you plan to use for each type of data collected during your study. Give plans for presenting the data, be as creative and visual as possible. ************** Develop User Study Protocol A user studies protocol should given enough detail that someone could repeat your study. Section 1: Study Purpose Include problem/issues statement, the objective of the study, and how it intends to shed light on the problem identified. Section 2: Study Design: How will you conduct this study? Summarize the study methods and data collection techniques used. If using a published method, cite it. In the appendix, add sample instruments (e.g. interview questions, survey form drafts, photos of tool kits, probes). A Materials Needed Checklist can be useful Section 3: Analysis Plan How will the raw data be prepared and processed for analysis? What techniques will you use to make sense of the data? A well-conducted contextual inquiry can yield immense amounts of data for analysis. Technique for analyzing and presenting this data can be broken down into variety methods and techniques of varying complexity and depth. Simple methods such posting photographs of user work environments, user profiles with brief narratives about users and their work, or simple lists of insights and issues can provide design teams with valuable direction. More complex design issues require more in-depth analysis techniques such as affinity diagramming, user-task matrices, flowcharts, scenarios, or coding discourse, task and artifacts. Each of these methods addresses a different question or aspect of the design. For example, a team may organize several rounds of affinity clustering: first to identify noteworthy statements and observations or single out outliers; conduct a second round of clustering to find related statements and observations, or identify by thematic correspondences, or organize by chronology or in hierarchical associations; and then finally complete a third round to distill the grouped particulars into general observations with implications for design. Determine best the portfolio practices model to represent your findings, or develop a new one. Look online The Beyer & Hotzblatt reading outlines five work modeling approaches which can be adapted for a portfolio process:
Contextual Inquiry
Field Research Method A situated ethnographic research method using observation and think-aloud interviewing techniques to document and reveal for analysis the underlying contextual goals, tasks, resources, and processes involved in work and learning. For User Study 1 we will use a contextual inquiry user research method to explore current CMU student portfolios practices by observing, listening, and asking questions in the context of the participant's work space or learning setting. The aim is to gain insights into students' portfolio creation goals, tasks and workflow processes in order to help envision, integrate or improve a portfolio system design. Each team will need to do one contextual interview per person. Decide how to divvy up the user study data collection and start recruiting participants early. Try to recruit students from a range of disciplinary backgrounds with varying levels of "portfolio expertise." Small teams of two are less intimidating, so split observation and interviewing responsibilities per protocol suggestions below.
PART ONE – CONTEXTUAL INTERVIEWS RESEARCHER 1 Observing Users Objectives: Understanding users goals, tasks, work process and practices Observing user gestures, actions, and interactions Documenting tools and resource use Equipment/Materials [ ] Field Note Sheets [ ] Audio/ video recorder or screen capture application [ ] Camera + batteries Tips:
References
RESEARCHER 2 Interviewing Users Objectives: Understanding users underlying motivations needs and work flows Asking the users to think aloud about their process and practices Expanding your understanding of the design situation from others’ perspectives Equipment/Materials [ ] Semi-structured question list – aimed at getting users to talk about issues of interest [ ] IRB consent and media use form Tips:
References Hackos, J.T. and Redish, J.C. (1998). Chapter 10 – Conducting Site Visits: Honing your Interviewing Skills, In User and task analysis for interface design, John Wiley and Sons: New York.
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