College of Health

and Medicine

Information about participating in Understanding Traumatic Brain

Injury (TBI) MOOC Research for participants in the Understanding
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) MOOC

Full Title of the Research Project: Measuring the impact of the Understanding
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) MOOC
Short title: Understanding Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) MOOC Research

Research Team: Dr. Jenna Ziebell, Dr. Nicole Bye, Dr Christine Padgett, Dr.
Kathleen Doherty, Dr. Maree Farrow, Mr. Aidan Bindoff, Mr. Tim Saunder, Mr. Alex
Kitsos, Prof James Vickers, Dr. Hoang Nguyen, Ms Minette Janse van Rensburg,
Ms Marielle Prazak Wicking Dementia research and Education Centre, University of
Tasmania
Contact email: understanding.tbi@utas.edu.au

1. Invitation
You are invited to participate in research about the Understanding Traumatic Brain
Injury (TBI) Massive Open Online Course (TBI MOOC). We believe that continuous
and ongoing information from participants is necessary to ensure that the course is
well designed, the content is relevant, the learning environment is easy to navigate
and the method of teaching works for participants. Our commitment to providing a
high-quality course means we would like to analyse a range of information generated
during the course, including enrolment information, surveys, quizzes, discussion
forum posts and your feedback to us on the course via survey, discussion forum or
email.

2. What is the purpose of this research?

The purpose of the study is to give us the information we need to make sure the
design of the course is supportive of all participants. We would also like to use the
answers we collect from participants for educational research purposes, to
investigate the effectiveness of the course design and its impact on participants’
practice. Finally, we would like to use the information for traumatic brain injury (TBI)
research purposes, to gain an international perspective on TBI and TBI care.

3. How is the study being funded?

This study is part of the funding provided to the Wicking centre by the JO and JR
Wicking Trust to support the research and development of our dementia massive
open online courses.

Updated: 25/03/2022
3. Why have I been invited to participate?

You have been invited to participate because you have enrolled in the
Understanding Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) MOOC. The information gained from
participants undertaking this course will be an important measure of the
effectiveness of this learning system and our educational approach. The results will
guide future directions of online teaching.

4. What will I be asked to do?

If you choose to consent, the data you generate during the course will be
used for the research purposes outlined in this document. Data sources
include Enrolment information,
Your Background Survey, the TBI Knowledge Assessment Scale, Discussion
forums,
Feedback Survey, Email feedback and your progress through the course.
If you choose ‘No’, your data will not be used for research, except the statistical data
generated as part of normal participation in the learning environment (for example,
data on total participant numbers).

If you consent to participate in the research, your information will be allocated a

unique code. This will allow us to connect the different kinds of data you allow us to
use, without you being personally identifiable.

Whether you consent to participate in the research or not, your participation in this
course will form the basis of non-identifiable statistical data relating to, for example,
numbers of participants in the course, types of questions that participants had
difficulty with etc. This information will assist us to, for example, work out how many
MOOC participants complete the course, and which questions we might need to
revise to assist with learning.

5. Are there any possible benefits from participation in this study?

Systematic gathering of evidence, and making changes to courses based on that
evidence, is part of the principle of 'evidence-based practice' (collecting evidence to
change practice) that we believe is important for a well-designed course. This
principle also applies to improving perspectives on dementia. The teaching and
research team for the Understanding Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) MOOC will use
the information gathered during the course to evaluate the design of the course and
to make improvements. Longer term, we will use the data to evaluate the
effectiveness of the course.

Updated: 25/03/2022
6. Are there any possible risks from participation in this study?
We do not anticipate any possible risks from participation in this study.

7. What if I change my mind during or after the study?

Your participation in this research is completely voluntary. There is no advantage in
consenting and no disadvantage in not consenting to participate in this research.
You change your mind about your consent at any time during the course, or up to
one month following the closure of the course you can contact the Understanding
Traumatic Brain Injury Administration (understanding.tbi@utas.edu.au) and your
choice will be changed accordingly. It is possible, if consent is withdrawn after the
closure of the course, that data will have already been included in analysis and
communications. This data will in no way be identifiable. However, data will be
withdrawn from any future analysis.

8. What will happen to the information when this study is over?

To enable longitudinal comparisons of impact and effectiveness of the TBI MOOC
over time, data will be maintained in the secure UTAS databases for at least 10
years. All research data will have personal identifiers removed and kept securely on
the University of Tasmania server or on a password protected folder on a University
server for five years from the publication of the final study results, and will then be
destroyed. The Chief Investigator will be responsible for ensuring data will only be
accessed by project team members for research purposes.

9. How will the results of the study be published?

The Chief Investigator and the project team will identify peer-reviewed, academic
journals in which to disseminate the findings of the research to the broader learning
and teaching community. You will not be identifiable in any publication. We will
publish summaries of the research in Wicking Centre News on the Wicking website
(https://www.utas.edu.au/wicking) including links to original research.

10. What if I have questions about this study?

Contact the Chief investigator,
Dr Jenna Ziebell, Email: understanding.tbi@utas.edu.au
This study has been approved by the University of Tasmania Human Research
Ethics Committee. If you have concerns or complaints about the conduct of this
study, you can contact the Executive Officer of the HREC on (03) 6226 6254 or
email human.ethics@utas.edu.au. The Executive Officer is the person nominated
to receive complaints from research participants. You will need to quote H0024140.

Updated: 25/03/2022
11. What now?
This information sheet is for you to keep. After reading this document, you will be
directed to make a selection as to whether or not you consent to participate in this
research program.
Please select ‘Yes’ if you wish to participate in the Understanding TBI MOOC
Research, or ‘No’ if you do not wish to participate in the research.

Updated: 25/03/2022