NSF Awards: 2029363, 80NSSC18K0979
2021 (see original presentation & discussion)
Undergraduate
This is an immersive gamified learning experience where individuals can acquire and apply data skills, 21st Century skills and corporate culture competencies in order to level-up in their career. As the player advances in their skill sets within the simulated workforce, they also advance in their levels (level-up) within the gamified experience. This creates a safe, non-judgmental environment where no prerequisite data skills are required and players are encouraged to solve problems and overcome challenges in order to win the game. Ultimately with this just-in-time training, the player wins in their preparation for the data economy workforce.
JANICE HUNTER
Great job Ms. McCall, you have my vote!
Junell McCall
Associate Director of Career Services
Thank you kindly.
Craig Robinson
Great Job!
I pray that the next steps towards bringing this into fruition blessed as well.
Junell McCall
Associate Director of Career Services
Thank you kindly.
Blessings
Shawna Brooks
This is amazing Ms. McCall. Great Work!
Junell McCall
Associate Director of Career Services
Thank you very much.
Corliss Fingers
This is wonderful! Great job Ms. McCall!
Junell McCall
Associate Director of Career Services
Thank you so much.
Candace House
Wow! This is wonderful. You have my vote.
Junell McCall
Associate Director of Career Services
Thank you kindly.
John Coleman
Great to see a project that aims to prepare our young people for “a seat at the table.” Exercises that build problem-solving skills really got my attention. I’d love to stay in touch to see the results, as this area is of great interest to me.
Junell McCall
Associate Director of Career Services
Good afternoon,
Thank you for your kind words.
mccallj@cookman.edu
Chelsea LeNoble
Thank you for sharing this innovative approach to developing relevant skills for the future workforce! I love the gamification of career competencies that you describe. I agree with the other commenters that this is really awesome!
I'm curious about the way this learning experience is offered, like whether it's done over time in a course setting, if it's computer-based, how many students can be involved in the game at once, etc. Would you be able to share some more of the details of how the game operates?
Junell McCall
Associate Director of Career Services
Good afternoon,
Thank you for your kind words. The learning experience has has been offered as informal learning and is poised to become part of the curriculum at a later time. I have had as few as 6 participants to as many as 30.
It is computer based and uses several game-like elements to capture and sustain students attention. Students must advance through 7 levels to achieve mastery of the three core skills.
Please email me at mccallj@cookman.edu for additional information.
Yolanda Abel
Chelsea LeNoble
Dr. McCoy
So proud of you and this timely innovation!
Connie Mitchell
Great work in a portion of STEM Education that is often overlooked. Would this be appropriate for high school students as well? Thank you and #HailWildcats
Junell McCall
Associate Director of Career Services
Thank you kindly. Yes, this would be appropriate for high school students. Please email me at mccallj@cookman.edu for a possible collaboration.
Emily Edwards
Such as innovative approach for students with "focus" challenges. You have my vote.
Davita Bonner
Great work and truly innovative! Thanks for sharing the importance of workforce development to the masses!
I am so pleased and proud of you and your accomplishments.
You certainly have my vote.
Junell McCall
Associate Director of Career Services
Thank you kindly.
Raymond Smith II
Great work Ms. McCall!
Gerhard Salinger
Former Program Officer (NSF)
This project addresses a very important and oft neglected part of students' education. Could you describe a typical unit so that we can see how it works in practice? How have you measured the change in student behavior in subsequent courses as a result of this course? Has this intervention been taught long enough to have data on its impact on job placement and job performance?
Junell McCall
Associate Director of Career Services
Yes, and thank you for your interest in the project. A typical unit has 7 stages through which a student must advance in order to win the game. They include onboarding, acquiring skills and applying skills, wagering points to articulate skills, conducting a data investigation, engaging in a mock interview, interviewing with an employer, and presenting findings of data investigation using visualizations with a team utilizing box plots.
The change in student behavior for self-efficacy has been measured using video analysis to determine “aha” moments; incidences when students wagered points to answer questions demonstrating their confidence in their ability to answer the question; incidences of students volunteering to answer questions, and their ability to articulate their skills during the skills gap analysis of learning occupations, etc. The change in student behavior for the skills was measured via pre- and post-tests.
This intervention has been taught since December of 2020 with 4 iterations in informal learning settings.
While it has not been taught long enough to demonstrate impact on job performance, data has been collected to show impact on job placement. We invited companies to interview our students and we have raving reviews from companies about students’ demonstration of their skills. As a result of my team’s and my educational interventions, students were offered internship opportunities, personal invitations to participate in hack-a-thons and an invitation to become a data scholar.
Dennis Mills
Keep up hard work as you all ways do.
Junell McCall
Associate Director of Career Services
Thank you kindly.
Dr. McCoy
So proud of you and this timely innovation!
Leigh Peake
Congratulations on a great program, Junell. Your observations about the future of work, and the data economy workforce, are critical for the rest of us to attend to. I'm so pleased you're part of our Gordon Research Conference community and am lookin forward to hearing more about the work as soon as we're able to be together again. Well done!
Junell McCall
Associate Director of Career Services
Thank you so much. I am looking forward to returning to the Gordon Research Conference.
Cheryl Archer
Dr. McCoy
Junell McCall I am very very proud of you and this timely innovation!
Junell McCall
Associate Director of Career Services
Thank you kindly.
Myron Wiley
Jacobs/NASA have voted for Ms. McCall.
Junell McCall
Associate Director of Career Services
Thank you kindly.
Joselina Cheng
Professor
Bravo on incorporating corporate culture and equipping young learners with data skills. Simulation and gamification can provide young learners with a “safe” environment for problem solving and decision making. I am curious if you would consider incorporating AI and machine learning to further develop student analytical skills? Thanks in advance for sharing.
Yolanda Abel
Junell McCall
Associate Director of Career Services
Thank you. Yes, my team and I are am interested in incorporating AI and machine learning into our educational interventions. We welcome collaborations. (mccallj@cookman.edu)
Junell McCall
Associate Director of Career Services
Problem solving with AI and machine learning can be integrated. We have and continue to seek academic and industry collaborations to prepare students with competencies to work effectively with complex data sets including unstructured textual datasets.
Jennifer Borland
I truly enjoyed learning more about your project, and the work you are doing to empower young people to bring their own beliefs to the table as part of the data analysis process. I also appreciate the story-based and gamified approach that you've incorporated into this instructional experience. Based on the comments above it looks like you've also seen some promising learning outcomes. I hope that you have the opportunity to continue studying the long-term impacts this experience has as students transition into the workforce - but congratulations on the amazing work and accomplishments thus far!
Junell McCall
Associate Director of Career Services
Thank you kindly.
Susan Warshaw
I totally agree with the point that data literacy will be a core skill for the future workforce.
Junell McCall
Associate Director of Career Services
Thank you. I am happy that students are able to learn the skills just-in-time (JIT).
Lindsay Palmer
Your work is so thought-provoking and your approach is brilliant! I really enjoyed your video and learning about your project.
Junell McCall
Associate Director of Career Services
Thank you kindly.
Judy Brown
Could you share what instrument you used to assess self efficacy?
Junell McCall
Associate Director of Career Services
I used emperical data through video analysis. My team and I recorded instances of "aha" moments, incidences where students voluteered to answer questions, assisted others in answering questins and wagering their points to answer questions before they saw what the specific question was. It was similar to Jeopardy because they saw the category, but not the specific question. If they confident that they were knowledgeable about the subject matter, they would wager points.
Yolanda Abel
Associate Professor
Junell, this seems like a wonderful opportunity to build on students' prior knowledge and experience while they expand their schemas related to your three key areas and the feasibility of how they fit into the world and using those types of skills sets.
Junell McCall
Associate Director of Career Services
Thank you viewing the video and for your support. I have found that if students experience a crisis of confidence, they begin any new journey multiple steps behind others. Belief in one's self levels the playing field to embarking upon new territory.
Gerhard Salinger
Former Program Officer (NSF)
The ATE-funded Convergence Technology Center at Collin College (TX), helps student develop successful resumes on LinkedIn. This increases that possibility of students getting interviews. They have guidelines for avoiding mistakes. This may be useful to your program.
Junell McCall
Associate Director of Career Services
Thank you kindly for the resource. My team and I will incorporate it into our program.
Asia Anuwa
Great job. Please keep it up. You have my vote.
Junell McCall
Associate Director of Career Services
Thank you kindly.
Sai Kappari
Great work. Wishing you best .
Junell McCall
Associate Director of Career Services
Thank you kindly.
Frank Parker
Great job. More like this.
Junell McCall
Associate Director of Career Services
Thank you kindly.
John Coleman
This is certainly a very popular presentation and I certainly enjoyed it. Keep up the good work. Self-efficacy is key in most things when positive results are your goal. Thank you for your project.
Junell McCall
Associate Director of Career Services
Thank you. I enjoyed your project as well.
Dr. Jones
Excellent video!! Very informative and enlightening...definitely key in increasing self-efficacy for students with managing and analyzing data. Nice work!!
Junell McCall
Associate Director of Career Services
Thank you kindly.
VISHWA TRIVEDI
A perfect initiative to outline that data literacy will be a core skill for the future workforce
Junell McCall
Associate Director of Career Services
Thank you.
Further posting is closed as the event has ended.