COVID-19’s Impact on Music Student Engagement: An Examination of Two Co-

Curricular Music Programs Community for Creativity Focus Group Interview Protocol

Date: 

Time:

Location:

Interviewer:

Interviewee Focus Group Identifier: 

Introductory Protocol

To facilitate our note-taking, we would like to audio tape our conversations today. For your
information, only researchers on the project will be privy to the recordings, which will be
eventually destroyed after they are transcribed. In addition, your parents must sign a form
devised to meet our human subject requirements. Essentially, this document states that: (1) all
information will be held confidential, (2) your participation is voluntary and you may stop at any
time if you feel uncomfortable, and (3) we do not intend to inflict any harm. Thank you for
agreeing to participate. 

The purpose of this study is to explore how students’ level of engagement differed from original
face-to-face creative experiences to digitized creative experiences and the sociological
implications due to this shift. 
 
First of all, thank you all for taking part in this study. We are pleased to be able to count on you.
We are interested in the differences between in-person and virtual learning, how the transition
was, and how you dealt with it. But before that, let’s talk about how your involvement with
Community for Creativity began.

Questions and Probes

1. How did you get involved with the Community for Creativity? 

2. How would you describe your day at Community for Creativity? What can a new student
coming to Rising Starr expect from taking part in CFC? 

3. We are interested here in the differences between in-person and virtual learning. What
was the transition like for you, going from in-person learning to virtual learning? How
are you dealing with it? What do you like or dislike about it?

4. How well did you adapt to the virtual environment? How different is it to be a student
during COVID-19, compared to how it used to be in a regular classroom? 
5. Were there any benefits or challenges due to the shift to the online environment?

6. Were there a loss of resources. If so, how did you manage the lack of resources? 

7. Did you find any benefits to working from home as opposed to in school? Could you give
me examples?

8. Were there any problems that you had to solve with or because of the COVID-19
distance learning shift? If yes, what was a specific problem that you solved and how you
solved it or handled it in a good way?

9. In what ways, if any, have Community for Creativity helped you deal with the online
learning transition?

10. How do you think the changes you have been going through due to COVID-19 as a
performer, artist, or songwriter, help you engage or not in school work? 

11. How well did your teachers adapt to the virtual/new learning environment? How different
were their teaching styles during COVID-19 compared to how it used to be in person?
Was it helpful?

12. And how did you respond to their change of ways? Did you few more engaged or less
engaged through online learning? Can you give examples?

13. What do you think teachers could do to improve virtual learning in the future? What
suggestions would you have if teachers need to continue virtual in spring? What do you
think they should work on or improve for next semester?

14. What has this experience been like for you, from a social standpoint or an emotional
standpoint? How have you handled it?

15. When listening to your interviews before COVID-19, I noticed a sense of excitement,
being creative and part of a group, and planning your Capstone projects, either in music,
art, or computer design. How can your creative projects engage other students, now that
you miss being together with your friends? Now that we can’t be in the same room with
more than eight people, or now that we have to stay 6 feet apart from each other? Now
that you know, more than ever, how important it is to live with one another.