Capturing Student Voices, Teaching Them to Listen: Effective Strategies for Conducting Focus Groups on Campus
Please join us for our April SEA webinar
Thursday,April9th, 11:30am -12:30pm ET
Description: When we face questions about why decisions are made or how processes work, well-defined focus groups may provide answers. This webinar will cover fundamental elements in creating and conducting focus groups.
The presenters will share sample protocols, provide tips for training facilitators, and provide examples from several focus groups conducted at the college. Most recent focus group engaged students, faculty, and employers to better understand student perspectives and experiences related to internships. Other examples will be drawn from focus groups conducted by student facilitator to document student perceptions and experiences related to issues of student engagement and success at a two-year college.
Speakers:
Laura Blasi,Ph.D.,is the Director ofInstitutional Assessment at Valencia College
Laura has over twenty years of experience in higher education including five years as a fulltime faculty member teaching assessment and research methods to graduate students at the University of Central Florida (UCF.) She began her work in higher education developing and managing on programs within the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) focused on diversity and democracy. Her experience as a program evaluator includes work with the U.S. Department of Education and with NASA, and through her work in assessment and institutional research she has supported the ten-year SACS review processes at two different institutions. Laura assists with analysis and reporting from national survey data; the design and implementation of surveys of focus groups focused on learning; and she guides and facilitates the annual cycle of program learning outcomes assessment college-wide at Valencia. Her most recent publication (March, 2015) is online with the National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA) titled: Growing a Shared Understanding and Collaborative Process using Qualitative Research Methods
Nicole Jackson is the Assistant Director for Learning Assessment at Valencia College
Nichole has 8 years of experience in higher education including several in the classroom as a full-time Humanities Instructor at Valencia. Prior to that she also taught Quantitative Reasoning at Rollins College and worked with their TRIO grant programs teaching rising first-generation college students through Upward Bound. She worked for several years as a faculty member supporting the Developmental Education Initiative at Valencia focusing on college success skills. Her own research interests include classical and postmodern philosophies of education and justice, as well as cross-cultural learning.
Registration: This webinar is FREE to SEA members; $15 for non-members. RSVP to SEA Coordinator () and submit your program fee via the SEA website or mail. The SEA Coordinator will provide you with details for attending the webinar.
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