1. Who should participate in the instructional faculty focus group sessions?
The target audience for instructional faculty sessions includes tenure-track faculty, lecturers, department chairs, visiting faculty and vocational lecturers.
2. Who should participate in the non-instructional faculty focus group sessions?
The target audience for non-instructional faculty sessions includes librarians, coaches and counselors.
3. Why is there only one session for the non-instructional faculty?
The number of sessions is proportional with the number of non-instructional faculty (1,300 approx.) vs. the number of instructional faculty (29,000 approx.) Our intent in setting one session aside for non-instructional faculty is to collect data specific to the perspectives of this cohort as compared to instructional faculty.
4. I am a counselor/coach/librarian, if I am unable to attend the one session for non-instructional faculty, may I participate in one of the other sessions?
It is preferred that you attend the non-instructional faculty cohort, as individuals will have the opportunity to comment on input from their colleagues and the intention is to collect data specific to the perspectives of this cohort. However, if this session doesn't work for your schedule, you may attend any other faculty session.
5. I am a department chair and no longer have instructional responsibilities. Which session should I attend?
The preferred sessions for academic department chairs and instructional faculty without a teaching assignment due to release-time or assigned-time, would be to attend one of the focus groups for the instructional faculty.
6. I am a faculty member and unable to attend a session. Is there another way to provide feedback, perhaps in written form or a survey?
Because the sessions involve online text and artificial intelligence to create real-time questions for participants to comment on themes, there is not a written version of the session.
7. I am an administrator (MPP) and cannot attend that session. May I participate in another session?
The questions in the administrator (MPP) focus group session are specifically designed for administrators. In order for results to be effectively evaluated for administrators separate from faculty, administrators should only attend the session scheduled for administrators.
8. I require accommodations (such as ASL and auto captions) to participate in the focus session. What should I do?
There is no audio component of the digital focus groups, all conversations are in text form (participants will be provided text prompts and have an opportunity to enter responses via keyboard). Also, please note the following:
- The digital focus group software is compatible with browser plug-ins (e.g., talk to text or ASL plug-ins)
- Participants may zoom their browser during their session (e.g., by holding “Control" and “+" at the same time)
9. How will hundreds of people be able to provide feedback in one session?
The Remesh tool that Mercer utilizes allows us to hold a live online chat-based conversation of up to 1000 people. The platform uses artificial intelligence technology to obtain simultaneous feedback, organize the feedback into themes, and give participants the opportunity to respond to the feedback of others in the session.