Broadening Participation Research Project: Exploring Computing Careers through a Virtual Career Fair Using Embodied Conversational Agents

莫尔豪斯学院将开展一项研究项目，以揭示有关文化相关的职业探索资源对高中生职业兴趣的影响的新见解。研究人员提出了一种混合方法的研究设计，使用定量和定性数据，以检查使用体现会话代理（ECA）在虚拟职业探索集市与农村和城市高中生的影响。基于先前的研究表明，当用于指导有兴趣攻读研究生的本科生时，ECA与人类一样有效，研究人员将探讨该研究是否扩展到考虑计算机职业的高中生，并在“可能的自我”和“社会认知职业理论（SCCT）”框架的指导下研究人员将在每次职业探索会之前和之后检查学生对计算和计算职业的看法，注意问题和答案（Q& A）、讲故事和文化相关的讲故事的效果和影响。ECA将代表真正的计算专业中的少数人。具体的研究问题是：（1）学生的职业兴趣和观念在使用ECA的虚拟职业探索展览会后发生了哪些变化？2)文化相关的ECA如何根据学生的看法和身份而有所不同？3）性别、种族、民族、年级和地理位置（农村/城市）在学生职业认同中起什么作用？调查数据将进行分析，以确定相对影响的虚拟职业探索公平的学生自我效能感，在计算机科学职业的兴趣，和预测因素的SCCT？该项目为激励城市和农村高需求学区探索计算机职业提供了一个潜在的可持续解决方案。收集到的学生态度、兴趣和自我效能的数据将有助于指导对ECA的改进，并确保它们广泛适用于未来的使用。

Morehouse College will conduct a research project to uncover new insights regarding the effect of culturally relevant career exploration resources on high school students' career interests. The researchers propose a mixed-methods research design using quantitative and qualitative data to examine the effects of using embodied conversational agents (ECAs) in virtual career exploration fairs with rural and urban high school students. Building on previous research that shows that ECAs are as effective as humans when used to mentor undergraduate students interested in pursuing graduate school, the researchers will explore whether the research extends to high school students considering computing careers.Guided by the "possible selves" and "social cognitive career theory (SCCT)" frameworks, researchers will examine students' perceptions of computing and computing careers before and after each career exploration fair, noting the effect and impact of questions and answers (Q&A), storytelling, and culturally relevant storytelling. The ECAs will represent minority individuals in authentic computing professions. The specific research questions are: 1) In what ways do students' career interests and perceptions change following virtual career exploration fairs using ECAs? 2) How do culturally relevant ECAs differ based on student perceptions and identities? and 3) What roles do gender, race, ethnicity, grade level, and location (rural/urban) play in students' career identities? Survey data will be analyzed to determine the relative impact of the virtual career exploration fair on student self-efficacy, interest in computer science careers, and predictive factors of the SCCT?The project presents a potentially sustainable solution for motivating urban and rural high-need school districts to explore computing careers. Data collected on student attitudes, interests, and self-efficacy will help guide improvements to the ECAs and ensure they are broadly applicable for future uses.