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，以发现与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来检验在农村和城市高中学生的虚拟职业探索会上使用具身会话代理（eca）的效果。先前的研究表明，eca在指导有兴趣攻读研究生的本科生时与人类一样有效，研究人员将探索这项研究是否延伸到考虑从事计算机职业的高中生。在“可能自我”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展之前和之后检查学生对计算机和计算机职业的看法，注意问答（Q&amp；A），讲故事和文化相关讲故事的效果和影响。eca将代表真正的计算机行业中的少数人。具体的研究问题是：1)在使用eca的虚拟职业探索会上，学生的职业兴趣和观念是如何变化的？2)文化相关的eca如何根据学生的认知和身份而有所不同？3)性别、种族、民族、年级水平和地理位置（农村/城市）在学生的职业认同中起什么作用？对调查数据进行分析，以确定虚拟职业探索博览会对学生自我效能感、对计算机科学职业的兴趣以及SCCT的预测因素的相对影响。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。收集的关于学生态度、兴趣和自我效能的数据将有助于指导eca的改进，并确保它们在未来广泛适用。

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.