CLASS™ invited four high school students to the research and development offices to view courses and offer feedback on specific features. The format was a focus group. Students were grouped in pairs and a different CLASS™ Instructional Designer (ID) interviewed each pair. The focus group session lasted for about four hours.

Pairs of courses were shown to the students to enable them to compare features of the courses. Two laptops and two projectors were set up and pages were identified ahead of time for comparison of page elements. Each high school student was given a paper copy of the interview questions so they could make notes during the discussions. As the groups progressed through the demonstration pages, the IDs asked questions to probe and clarify what the students meant by their responses. The IDs also took notes on the discussions, as did the IDS who coordinated the focus group.

Student responses added to the larger body of information gathered by CLASS™ research. Details provided further information on student preferences regarding on-line course design.