Available Research Tools

Basic Demographic Survey (BDS)

The BDS is integral to the GREx dashboard.

• located in the GREx Dashboard
• collects demographic data that are used across all surveys accessible through the GREx dashboard
• based on common StatsCan demographic survey questions and can therefore be considered a standard demographic set
• is important to complete this survey before completing the others on the GREx survey page
• as is standard with all surveys hosted on GREx, the BDS can be customized using LimeSurvey and the results of the survey inputs are displayed in the  GREx Submissions tab

The use of the unmodified version of BDS is pre-approved by the Research Ethics Board under SOP#001.

If interested in the BDS, a trial version is available in the EILab Pilot Test group on GREx (https://grex.eilab.ca).

Digital Competency Profiler (DCP)

• is located in the GREx Dashboard
• is a free tool providing users with a snapshot of how they use digital technology in life, and how confident users feel about using technology
• is based on a model of Human-Computer-Human Interaction framework developed by Dr. F. Desjardins
• responses to the questions in the survey are automatically analyzed to generate a personal visual profile of the relative competence and use of technology in four basic orders: Technical, Social, Informational, and Computational or Epistemological
• competence scores in each of the orders are accompanied by suggestions assisting users in raising their scores. See https://eilab.ca/general-technology-competency-use/

Fully Online Learning Community Survey (FOLCS)

• is based on the Fully Online Learning Community (FOLC) Model, developed by vanOostveen, Childs and Barber (2018)
• provides users with insight, particularly when used with the DCP, regarding users’ readiness to participate in fully online learning communities
• questions in this survey are analyzed to generate a personal visual profile of the relative readiness of users according to the four basic theoretical constructs in the Fully Online Learning Community Model: Social Presence, Cognitive Presence, Collaboration, and Online Space. See https://eilab.ca/fully-online-learning-community/

Other Tools such as Cultural Dimensions and Cultural Values Surveys

EILab researchers are beginning to explore the relationship between technology skills/competencies and cultural characteristics. The major idea derives from an observation made by a grad student that the use of digital technology in an eastern European country was very different from how they are used here in Canada. One hypothesis that we would like to investigate is the values and dimensions of the culture in a country or group of people who identify as a group influences the way they see the world, including the digital world. See Digital Flourishing: Culture, Inclusion, and Democracy.