Versions Compared

Old Version 6

changes.mady.by.user Former user

Saved on

compared with

New Version 7

changes.mady.by.user Former user

Saved on

Key

  • This line was added.
  • This line was removed.
  • Formatting was changed.

...

  • Warm-up: getting to know the instructor a little bit better and giving them some simple questions to get them feeling confident.
  • General Questions: learning a little bit more about the goals, attitudes and activities of the instructor with more open-ended questions.
  • Observation: focusing in on a specific activity and having the instructor think aloud, sharing details of why and how they perform tasks that comprise an activity.
  • Follow-up: asking questions to clarify missing, ambiguous or confusing information from observation.
  • Wrap-up: asking questions about the interviewing process, anything they would like to add and if it would be all right to contact them with follow-up questions or the opportunity to give feedback on prototype designs.
Panel
Warm-up
  • How long have you been at <instructor's institution>?
  • What kinds of courses do you teach?
    • Can you tell us more about the course you are currently most involved with? (If there is no definitive course: please tell us about a course you are currently teaching or, if you are not currently teaching, a course you most recently taught.)
      • How many students are there?
      • Are there multiple sections?
      • Do you work with other instructors (including students) to prepare for the course?
        • What do you do together?
      • Do you work with other instructors (including students) to conduct the course?
        • What do you do together?
General Questions
  • Could you please describe a typical day for you at work?
    • What kinds of things do you do regularly?
    • What kinds of things do you do only on occasion?
    • Where do course preparation activities fit in?
    • Where do activities related to conducting a course fit in?
  • What do you enjoy most about your job as an instructor?
    • Why?
    • What activities do you always tackle first?
  • What do you enjoy least about your job as an instructor?
    • Why?
    • What activities currently waste your time?
  • Please think about the course you are currently most involved with (the same course as above). Can you give us an overview of how you prepared for this course?
    • In which activities (i.e. preparing lectures, creating assignments, etc.) do you make use of scholarly resources (i.e. books, journal articles, images, video, etc.)?
      • What are the scholarly resources you make use of in different activities?
      • What made you choose the scholarly resources you did?
  • What are the regular activities you participate in to conduct this course?
    • Do you make use of scholarly resources in any of these activities?
      • How do these scholarly resources add value to the activity they are a part of, if at all?
Observation
  • **
Follow-up

Note-taking

...

In this part of the interview, the interview team acts as apprentices observing as the instructor walks through an activity, interrupting with questions only occasionally. The goal is for the interview team to be able to re-create the work of the instructor. The activity of interest should be one that the instructor has said they perform in preparing or conducting their course and scholarly resources are used in the activity. Try and select the activity that the instructor does most regularly. For example, the instructor may regularly use journal articles as reading assignments when building a syllabus in preparation for a course. Given this example, the interview team may request the instructor give a running description of how they set up a syllabus:

  • We would like to observe as you give us a running description of how you set up the syllabus for your course. Please walk us through this activity just as you performed it last. Think of us as your apprentices: we want to understand how you do your work so that we may re-create it.

There are four kinds of information the interview team should be paying attention to while observing the instructor work (from Observing the User Experience, pp. 171-172):

  • The tools they use. This can be a formal tool, such as a specialized piece of software, or it can be an informal tool, such as a scribbled note. Note whether the tools are being used as they're designed, or if they're being repurposed. How do the tools interact? What are the brands? Are the Post-its on the bezel of the monitor or on the outside flap of the Palm Pilot?
  • The sequences in which actions occur. The order of actions is important in terms of understanding how the participant is thinking about the task. Is there a set order that's dictated by the tools or by office culture? When does the order matter? Are there things that are done in parallel? Is it done continuously, or simultaneously with another task? How do interruptions affect the sequence?
  • Their methods of organization. People cluster some information for convenience and some out of necessity.
    The clustering may be shared between people, or it may be unique to the individual being observed. How does the target audience organize the information elements they use? By importance? If so, how is importance defined? By convenience? Is the order flexible?
  • What kinds of interactions they have. What are the important parties in the transfer of knowledge? Are they people? Are they processes? What kinds of information are shared (what are the inputs and outputs)? What is the nature of the interaction (informational, technical, social, etc.)?

The interview team should interrupt the instructor only in the following circumstances:

  • The instructor is doing a lot of work without speaking about it – Ask the instructor questions about what they are doing and remind them to give a running description of what they are doing so that you, the interview team, may be able to re-create their work.
  • The instructor is giving very general or broad details about an important task or action – Ask the instructor questions about what they are doing and remind them that you are looking for details of their work so that you can re-create it. Remind them that they can recount the details of the last time they went through this activity to make it more concrete.
  • It is unclear what the instructor is talking about – the instructor may use jargon that the interview team is unfamiliar with. As an apprentice, it is important to know what you are dealing with and it is all right to interrupt the instructor to ask a clarifying question when you do not know what they are talking about.
Follow-up

In this part of the interview, the interview team takes time to reflect on the observation:

  • Are there gaps in the process the instructor has described to you? Now is the time to investigate and make sure all the steps involved in completing the activity are recorded. The interview team may end up delving back into observation mode as the instructor remembers something they forgot to mention and begins another description of tasks and actions.
  • Are there other parts of the process that are unclear? Now is the time to clarify.
  • Were there instances where the interviewer or note-taker had a question, but did not ask because it would have adversely interrupted the instructor? Now is the time to ask these questions.
Wrap-up
Panel
  • Give the interviewee a big Thank You!
  • What did you think of this interview?
    • Anything you did not understand?
    • Anything that made you anxious?
  • Is there anything else regarding use of scholarly resources in preparing or conducting your courses that you would like to add?
  • Would you be willing to be contacted with follow-up questions?
  • Would you be willing to be contacted about providing feedback on prototypes we design?

Note-taking

More info coming soon...

Post-interview Debrief

More info coming soon...