Conducting Focus Groups as a Follow-Up to the ELI Student/Faculty Questionnaire

Introduction

The ELI Student/Faculty Questionnaire was designed to help your institution assess student expectations of technology-enhanced learning. The faculty version helps you explore faculty experiences and preferences for learning technologies, as well as their perceptions about student learning. Both versions capture the same concepts, but from student and faculty viewpoints. The questionnaire allows institutions to compare faculty and student responses, which may reveal a gap between student expectations and faculty delivery. It also allows institutions to examine the gap between how students like to learn and how faculty think they learn. These results can then catalyze discussions that allow faculty, administrators, and students to discuss differences in expectations.

The ELI Student/Faculty Questionnaire was created to serve as the beginning of a wider dialogue about teaching and learning at your institution. When faculty and students talk about teaching and learning, they gain greater insights into each other's motivations, needs, and goals. This is especially important if your institution has a large gap between student and faculty perceptions. These dialogues are a good place to start discovering the sources of the problem and the possible solutions.

Preparing for the Session

For background, review "Basics of Conducting Focus Groups," by Dr. Carter McNamara, which provides basic steps for conducting a focus group. Suggestions follow on how to adapt those guidelines as a follow-up to the ELI Student/Faculty Questionnaire.

Faculty and student participants should be equally balanced. Consider grouping faculty and students from the same academic unit (specifically, department or college), which provides common ground for courses, experiences, or technology applications. Also consider extracting questionnaire data from the unit, perhaps comparing these results with those of other units. Many of the questions for the focus group can be based on the findings from the questionnaire.

Questions

Begin with broad questions, such as:

It's been suggested that institutions like ours were designed for students who no longer exist. Agree or Disagree?
The Net Generation is said to learn differently than other generations. Agree or Disagree?

Then, consider questions that relate to your questionnaire results, such as:

Why do you think that there was such a large gap between what faculty think they are providing students and what students actually perceive?

Another category of possible questions falls under the "listen to me" label. Remember, you are bringing together two groups that interact but know very little about each other's motivations and needs. The answers may not have anything to do with technology, but they may clarify what each group considers important to successful learning.

To students: Can you identify the most effective learning situation you have experienced here?
To faculty: Can you identify one of the greatest teaching moments of your career?

Be sure to close with a next steps discussion. Consider questions like:

Please make concrete suggestions about how we can improve teaching and learning on our campus.

Capturing the Results

Capturing the discussion is important, both to show the participants that their opinions matter, as well as to build a base for broader discussion and decision making.

Collect the feedback from all of the focus groups and create an overall report. Consider presenting the findings (questionnaire results and focus group feedback) as well as recommendations to faculty, students, and administrators.

ELI Discovery Tool: Student/Faculty Questionnaire Implementation Guide for the ELI Student/Faculty Questionnaire Conducting Focus Groups as a Follow-Up to the ELI Student/Faculty Questionnaire		Conducting Focus Groups as a Follow-Up to the ELI Student/Faculty Questionnaire Introduction The ELI Student/Faculty Questionnaire was designed to help your institution assess student expectations of technology-enhanced learning. The faculty version helps you explore faculty experiences and preferences for learning technologies, as well as their perceptions about student learning. Both versions capture the same concepts, but from student and faculty viewpoints. The questionnaire allows institutions to compare faculty and student responses, which may reveal a gap between student expectations and faculty delivery. It also allows institutions to examine the gap between how students like to learn and how faculty think they learn. These results can then catalyze discussions that allow faculty, administrators, and students to discuss differences in expectations. The ELI Student/Faculty Questionnaire was created to serve as the beginning of a wider dialogue about teaching and learning at your institution. When faculty and students talk about teaching and learning, they gain greater insights into each other's motivations, needs, and goals. This is especially important if your institution has a large gap between student and faculty perceptions. These dialogues are a good place to start discovering the sources of the problem and the possible solutions. Preparing for the Session For background, review "Basics of Conducting Focus Groups," by Dr. Carter McNamara, which provides basic steps for conducting a focus group. Suggestions follow on how to adapt those guidelines as a follow-up to the ELI Student/Faculty Questionnaire. Faculty and student participants should be equally balanced. Consider grouping faculty and students from the same academic unit (specifically, department or college), which provides common ground for courses, experiences, or technology applications. Also consider extracting questionnaire data from the unit, perhaps comparing these results with those of other units. Many of the questions for the focus group can be based on the findings from the questionnaire. Questions Begin with broad questions, such as: It's been suggested that institutions like ours were designed for students who no longer exist. Agree or Disagree? The Net Generation is said to learn differently than other generations. Agree or Disagree? Then, consider questions that relate to your questionnaire results, such as: Why do you think that there was such a large gap between what faculty think they are providing students and what students actually perceive? Another category of possible questions falls under the "listen to me" label. Remember, you are bringing together two groups that interact but know very little about each other's motivations and needs. The answers may not have anything to do with technology, but they may clarify what each group considers important to successful learning. To students: Can you identify the most effective learning situation you have experienced here? To faculty: Can you identify one of the greatest teaching moments of your career? Be sure to close with a next steps discussion. Consider questions like: Please make concrete suggestions about how we can improve teaching and learning on our campus. Capturing the Results Capturing the discussion is important, both to show the participants that their opinions matter, as well as to build a base for broader discussion and decision making. Collect the feedback from all of the focus groups and create an overall report. Consider presenting the findings (questionnaire results and focus group feedback) as well as recommendations to faculty, students, and administrators.
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