Course Views Project Focus Groups
During April 2007 three focus groups will be conducted in support of the Course Views
project which is currently in development by members of the Task Force on Library
Content for the Next-Generation Learning Management System. Staff involved in these
focus groups includes Kim Duckett, Markus Wust, and Jim Ruth. Feedback from the
focus groups will allow the Course Views team to make important decisions about
content and interface development.
The focus group discussions will center on ranking and gaining feedback on functionality
of various content chunks (“widgets”) proposed for inclusion in the Course Views pages.
Feedback from students will allow us to include the content that students find most
helpful and organize it in ways that appeal to them. Examples of widgets include: Finding
Articles, Ask a Librarian, Citation Builder, Librarian Recommended (resources selected
by subject specialists), Computer Availability map, etc.
Objectives
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To gain student feedback on a student-centric set of tools, services, and resources
that the task force has considered for inclusion in Course Views.
To solicit student suggestions about prioritization of Course Views content.
To gain student perspectives on additional content that might be helpful to support
courses and student task completion.
Focus Group Composition and Recruitment
Focus group best practices suggest that groups be fairly homogenous. Three distinct but
homogenous groups of 5 students will be recruited.
1. Juniors/seniors in humanities/social science majors – Course Views are
intended to support courses/coursework that involve research and library
resources. As a result it is important to gain feedback from students in majors
which require students to do research using library resources. This strategy
acknowledges that some courses do not have as much need for library resources.
Recruitment strategy: work with specific faculty in psychology, political science,
and English (Kim’s contacts), flyers in CHASS buildings and Poe Hall.
2. Students in courses that have active use of existing “Library Resources” web
pages in Vista – Course Views are designed for integration into the online
teaching and learning environment. Students will be recruited from several
courses which have a history of heavy use of library resources from within Vista.
This group will consist of students across various majors and years.
Recruitment strategy: work with specific courses in Vista. (Kim’s contacts)
3. Freshman/sophomores in general education courses involving library
resource usage (ex. freshman composition) – The Course Views project intends
to cull the best and most student-centric library resources out of the whole NCSU
Libraries website and present a scaled-down entrance into the library. This group
will provide insight into how students early in their academic careers view this
service.
Recruitment strategy: work with Writing and Speaking Tutorial Services, English
composition courses, and through the Instructional Services Librarian’s contacts.
Conducting the Focus Groups
Recruitment – Kim Duckett
Moderator – Jim Ruth (leads focus group discussions)
Co-moderator – Markus Wust (focus group discussions silent partner/takes notes/records)
Location – Collaboratory or RIS conference room
Dates – tentatively April 9, 10, 11 – 6-7pm
Duration – one hour
Method
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Moderator will introduce the intentions of the Course Views project (without
using the term “Course Views” which is an internal audience label) and the
agenda for the focus group.
Students will be presented with 8-10 different content chunks (“widgets”) and
their functionality (either on paper or as separate, functioning web pages) and will
individually rank them according to usefulness. The moderator will facilitate
conversation about ranking and explore themes.
Students will then be given time to arrange their preferred “widgets” into an
interface design. The moderator will facilitate discussion about how students feel
about interface design preferences.
Students will be given the opportunity to suggest additional “widgets.”
Students will be given the opportunity to provide general feedback on the Course
Views concept and current mockups.
A co-moderator will be present to take notes and record the focus groups.
Compensation
$15/hour
Analysis
The focus group team will analyze the focus groups and present a report to the Course
Views development team (Kim Duckett, Tito Sierra, Nick Mangine) as well as to the Task
Force on Library Content for the Next-Generation Learning Management System and its
Directors Council liaisons. Markus Wust will take the lead in the analysis.
The focus group team will create guidelines for designing and conducting focus groups
that can be shared with all NCSU Libraries staff.