Grant Objective:
Objective: Design, implement, and scale an adaptable but systematic approach to elevating the student voice. We will develop methods for deriving trustworthy, focus group-centered findings that can be translated into solutions that support student success.
Participating Institutions: MSU, Purdue, GSU, UCR, ASU, NC A&T, Utah
Listening with Empathy: Leveraging Student Voice in Innovation
In 2022, the University Innovation Alliance (UIA) launched the Listening Lab for Higher Education Transformation. Building on nearly a decade of experience identifying opportunities to serve students and close gaps in student outcomes, UIA campuses realized they needed better ways to listen to their local experts—their students. Multiple UIA campuses had begun exploring focus group methods as a way of learning from students beyond quantitative methods and the questions leaders knew to ask. The desire to find better ways of listening to students gained particular urgency as UIA campuses launched their student-centered redesign work, which foregrounded identity-conscious approaches to student success.
With empathy at its core, Listening Lab sought to design, implement, and scale an adaptable and systematic approach to elevating the student voice. We developed methods for creating generative conversations and deriving trustworthy findings, with attention to translating those findings into policy and program solutions supporting student success.
Seven UIA member campuses participated in the full implementation of Listening Lab focus groups with their students: Arizona State University, Georgia State University, Michigan State University, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, Purdue University, University of California, Riverside, and University of Utah. Across these seven universities, we conducted 143 focus groups and ultimately listened to 448 students. Participating campuses selected a range of student identities and experiences to center in their focus groups, choosing student populations that leaders knew they needed to listen to in order to advance their student success efforts.