Looking for Staff Who Identify as Self-Directed Emerging Leaders to Participate in Dissertation Research

Do you identify as a nonfaculty staff member who is an emerging leader (you are interested in leadership or have less than two years in a leadership role) at the U of A? Do you identify as a self-directed learner who takes ownership in their learning? Do you want to contribute to research that looks at how self-directed emerging leaders experience and make meaning from using an AI tool to develop leadership conversation skills?

If you answered yes to all of these questions, consider participating in Ashley Ingram's dissertation study. Ingram is the senior director of talent development, management and engagement at the U of A, and she is a doctoral candidate in the Human Resource Development (HRD) program in the College of Education and Health Professions.

The purpose of her study is to explore how self-directed emerging leaders in higher education experience and make meaning of their experiential learning with LinkedIn Learning's AI-powered role-play tool. More specifically, it explores how self-directed emerging leaders (nonfaculty staff members who aspire to take on a leadership role or are new - less than two years - in a leadership role, and who voluntarily pursue leadership development opportunities), engage with LinkedIn's AI Role-play tool for the first time to gain practice having workplace conversations as they develop leadership conversational skills.

If you are interested, complete this brief screening survey via Qualtrics to see if you meet the criteria for the study. If selected to participate, you will be asked to sign an informed consent form. Then, you will select three LinkedIn Learning AI-powered role-play scenarios from a list of 15 to complete over a two-week period. Each scenario should take about 10 minutes to complete. Therefore, a total of approximately 30 minutes for the three scenarios in total. Then, within one week of completing the scenarios, there will be a 75-minute interview to learn about your experience. The total time commitment will be approximately 105 minutes, or 1.75 hours, over a three-week period.