Analysis and research

Need statement | Problem | Current learning environment | Learner analysis | Design implications

Before we even started our project, we have conducted in-depth research on the needs and problems of the current ECT orientation experience with the current students and our stakeholders to figure out what college orientation experience on a graduate leel really means to students and stakeholders.

Needs and problem

While orientation practices vary across institutions, it is commonly understood that “students’ expectation of graduate school may be based on their previous undergraduate experience” (Rafael R. Almanzar, Rebecca Hapes, and Gail Rowe, 2018). An undergraduate experience is very different from a graduate one in a lot of ways.

We learned through an interview with ECT Program Director, Maaike Bouwmeester, that “graduate school is usually the first time where students are asked to take responsibility for their own learning” (M. Bouwmeester, personal communication, March 4, 2021). It is key for graduate students to take responsibility of their learning because graduate school has a dual socialization process which includes socialization into graduate study as well as an academic discipline or profession (Poock, M., 2004). Self-directed learning allows students to integrate these two elements effectively. It allows learners to meet their individual learning needs, informed and guided by a critical analysis of prevailing social needs" and build skills for the professional world (Hammond & Collins, 2016, pg. 13). This is a big mindset transition for graduate students from their undergraduate experiences. How can we better prepare and scaffold ECT masters students, from the beginning of their experience, to feel empowered over their professional goals through the dual socialization process? How can we build their confidence and equip them with necessary skills to be successful in graduate school and beyond? The problem is that graduate students aren’t effectively equipped with the skillset to feel confident and prepared from the start of graduate school. Our learning design can help bring clarity for ECT Masters students by helping them keep track of what they need to do to prepare for their first year as a graduate student.

Stakeholders

Our stakeholders are ECT faculty members and staff members who are responsible for the year's orientation session. Usually it would be Maaike Bouwmeester, who is the Program Director, and Jeneva Hall, ECT Operation Administrator who is responsible of scheduling all the relevant events and online and offline communication.

Maaike Bouwmeester

Program Director of ECT

Jeneva Hall

ECT Operation Administrator

Research plan

We conducted a needs/gap analysis to ensure we were clear about what instruction needed to be developed. Our group followed Morrison, Ross and Kemp’s approach of conducting a needs assessment, where we “treated the process almost as if it were a study” (Brown, A. H., & Green, T. D., 2015, pg 49).

Luna is a 27-year-old First-year G4L international student coming to the program in 2021 Fall. She has been a Marketing Assistant for an E-learning company for 2 years, while right now she is seeking for a career transition to Ed Tech as a professional. She earned her bachelor’s degree in the UK and this will be her first time studying in a U.S. university. She is not worried about her English skills, but she is more concerned about her life in New York when she comes - what to do with the visa process, what are things she needs to know ahead of time to perform better in college, and how to make more connections within the program with the faculty and peers…? She has a lot of questions.

Phase 1 Planning

During this phase, we created a research plan with the following questions:

What is current orientation process?
What are the necessary skills to be successful in your first year?
How do we make students [more] aware of ECT events and resources to help them become more integrated in the ECT community?
Who are our learners? What are their characteristics?
How do students navigate orientation resources and information?

Phase 2 Data collection

Conducted two interviews with ECT Program Director and ECT Operations Administrator
Reviewed a series of secondary resources (last years orientation resources, ECT website, research and analysis from last year’s ECT Orientation Design Process for Learning team, resources from Professional Applications of Educational Media and Technology class, and additional external studies conducted by other researchers in the field)
ECT New Student Survey on orientation experiences

Phase 3 Data analysis

We conducted a 5-10 minutes survey for ECT Master students before the design phase. The survey intuitively displays the ECT Masters students’ awareness of existing resources when they were first-year students. They also offered specific expectations of What type of resources they wished they had as a new ECT student. From the survey, we learned :
A total of 17 ECT Master students attended the survey (13 DMDL students, 4 G4L students).
15 full-time students; 2 part-time students.
9 of 17 attended the ECT orientation (52%), 8 of 17 didn’t attend the ECT orientation (47%).
Only 8 students were aware of the "ECT Orientation Guide" when you first joined the program (47%).

Insights

Based on the data we analyzed, we prioritized three key areas of the larger need:

Content

ECT masters students attend a half day orientation that happens at the beginning of the Fall and Spring semester. This orientation is for all three programs within ECT, which include, Digital Media Design for Learning (DMDL), Games for Learning (G4L) and ECT doctoral students. During this time, students are broadly introduced to the department and the program. Students also have access to a lot of resources, including a step by step, “getting acquainted” guide located on the ECT website.

Before Orientation

Students who are entering the fall semester have until mid-August to accept their offer to ECT, and they will receive an influx of resources through their NYU email account once new students accept their offer. Departmental resources include a link to the ECT Orientation Guide and Course Planner., while these resources may get lost in new students' email boxes, even though it's the only current way to send information globally. The ECT website is solely used as a repository of information that students can access and use as a supporting hand when deciding how to begin and manage their graduate journey.

During Orientation

Live orientation is on the week that classes begin. Students are most likely to attend the orientation to ensure that they have all the information they need to get started. Note that ECT had to transform the orientation program into an online format in March 2020 due to the Coronavirus pandemic:

The orientation was in lecture style, and very limited student engagements were spotted. It is for receiving a high-level understanding of what to expect as a new graduate student.
In Fall 2020, ECT held orientation in conjunction with the big department ALT.
In Spring 2021, ECT facilitated their own orientation program for admitted students for intimate conversations concerning a relatively small group of new students.

After Orientation

After orientation, students are encouraged to join the ECT general slack channels, office hours with advisors and Thursday Brownbag events. There is a varying degree of interaction between students and faculty in these forums as the semester begins. Student engagement varies because of the following constraints:

Time zone differences (US/Europe/China)
The influx of information from more than one channel (email/slack/website)
Part-time vs. Full-time students varying time commitments
Uncertainty on how valuable and useful optional interactions will be

Design implication

The current design of orientation is built as a one size fits all solution. The orientation process does not specifically address what should students focus on to start the grad school experience in the right way. The current design has the following implications:

Creates multiple sources of information without reasoning behind structure
Leaves students to filter information on there own
Produces a non-stream line to ask questions and
Administrators are unable to measure impact of online resources

Learner

analysis

After analyzing the demographics of our current ECT students based on their majors, student status (part-time or full-time), work experiences, ed-tech knowledge and expertise, etc., we have defined our target learners and personas that represent some of them.

Target learners

We decided that First year ECT Masters students are our targeted learner group. According to the learners' general characteristics and the specific entry competencies (Brown & Green, 2015), we concluded new students including:

Domestic students vs. International students
Full-time students vs. Part-time students
Students who are new or experienced in the field
Students with working experiences vs. no experience

Learner profiles

Based on the current research produced by previous design teams, interviews with Maaike and Jeneva, and survey, we figured out that our learners are diverse in cultural background, location, age, and prior work experience. The new students are:

Willing to know the specific course schedule before the beginning of the semester to plan effective time management. Students comfortably balance their study, work, life, and entertainment in the new semester.
In need of making/forming/integrating into ECT community virtually intrinsically (Almquist et al., 2020)
Eager to exchange experiences with peers and alumni. Both help prepares for the new semester and provides opportunities to meet like-minded friends from diversified backgrounds.

Oliver

Age: 23
First-year DMDL student
Education: Bachelor degree in Early Child Education
Prior working experience: none

⭐️ Goals: Want to learn more media technology tools and design skills to make science education more fun and accessible to the kids

😨 Concerns: Oliver is confused but excited. He just went out of undergraduate school and he doesn't know what to expect for the incoming graduate school experience. He would like to get connected with his peers so he can find study buddies of similar interests and personalities to learn together. He also knows that there will be an advisor assigned to him, but he wonders how and what to talk to the advisor.

Luna

Age: 27
First-year DMDL international student
Education: Bachelor in Business Administration
Prior working experience: Marketing Assistant for 2 years

⭐️ Goals: Want to work for an educational gaming company like Enuma.

😨 Concerns: Luna is seeking a career transition. She earned her bachelor’s degree in the UK and this will be her first time studying in a US university. She is not worried about her English skills, but she is more concerned about her life in New York when she comes - what to do with the visa process, what are things she needs to know ahead of time to perform better in US college, how does the US job industry look like…? She has a lot of questions. Also, Luna does not have any design skills, she is wondering how she can prepare herself better during the summer that she won’t fall behind once the semester starts.

Rosaline

Age: 32
First-year DMDL student
Education: Master degree in School Counseling
Prior working experience: Education consultant for 5 years

⭐️ Goals: Rosaline wants to earn a Master’s degree in education to competent her as an education consultant

😨 Concerns: Because Rosaline has a full-time job and needs to take care of her 3-year old daughter, she wants to find a way to balance school, work and life. She wants to know more about the course load and the logistics of the program in order to plan well before the course starts. At the same time, she is worried that she is not able to integrate into the ECT community be cause she is super busy with her work and life, however, she does want to know about the peers and meet with those who share similar goals and interests with her on a personal level.

Design implication

Understanding the learners' learning motivation and learning styles is crucial to create a safe space for students to look for learning materials they need and contact the professors in each specialization more efficiently.
Through the communication with faculties and peers to exchange experience, help each other, make full preparation for the new semester.
Creating an active learning community that can make the first-year students feel belonging could be a positive extrinsic motivation for them to engage in our program.

Reference

Bates, T. (2019). Teaching in a Digital Age: Guidelines for Teaching and Learning (2nd ed.) [E-book]. https://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/

Dirksen, J. (2015). Design for How People Learn (Voices That Matter) (2nd ed.) [E-book]. New Riders. https://learning-oreilly-com.proxy.library.nyu.edu/library/view/design-for-how/9780134211510/

Interview with Maaike Bouwmeester, ECT Program Director [Online interview]. (2021, March 4)

Mayer, R. E. (2009). Multimedia learning (2nd ed.). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

Reigeluth, C. M. (1999). The elaboration theory: Guidance for scope and sequence decisions. Instructional design theories and models: A new paradigm of instructional theory, 2, 425-453.

Social Development Theory (Lev Vygotsky). (2018, November 30). InstructionalDesign.Org. http://www.instructionaldesign.org/theories/social-development/

Vygotsky, L. S. (2012). Thought and language. MIT press.