Focus Groups for Emergency Higher Education Administration
Dr. Tamaro Green DS
The pandemic has developed new challenges for sustainable education systems during a crisis. This article focuses on higher education and how crisis education may present new opportunities for education administration. Educational institutions were able to successful adjust to the changes necessary to meet the needs of both health officials and educators. However, educational institutions lacked a coordinated taskforce strategy to accommodate many of the changes required. Crisis education may be a potential research area for improving collaboration on a response in case the need rises again.
A crisis education focus group may provide insight into how education administration professionals may implement protocols in a coordinated strategy during an emergency. A focus group can work as a group to identify common risks to implementing emergency education. A focus group of various personnel in education administration can identify risk areas potentially impeding the facilitation of normal education. The focus group may then review, simulate, and model responses to an emergency.
The focus group can present organizational practices on how to disseminate strategies to administrators and educators. The focus group may also coordinate efforts with other policy makers to ensure that solutions meet the potency of potential crises. A focus group may include educators, administrators and students to discuss how these strategies may be successful.
The disruption in education institutions may also be evaluated to determine the toll the pandemic has had on learning. Allowing for insight into understanding the possibility of new policies in education administration may lead to new considerations for policy makers. The pandemic affected education systems differently by location and an iterative study may reveal how education has been affected over time. Analyzing data from multiple locations may provide more informed observations for improvements to emergency education.
Observing the effects of the pandemic on education systems and preparing for upcoming emergencies may make education institutions more resilient to these occurrences. The pandemic demonstrated the need for task or focus groups to guide research to support administrators, educators, and students. An assessment of emergency processes may highlight successful strategies for a coordinated response.
