Increasing Institutional Effectiveness: A Continuous Effort after Accreditation.
West Virginia University at Parkersburg (WVUP) is a separately accredited campus of the University offering 2 baccalaureate, 10 associate, and 2 certificate programs. In response to concerns raised in a recent accreditation report, WVUP conducted a study examining student attitudes toward facilities, course scheduling, student advising, registration, and tutoring. Questionnaires were distributed to a random sample of students in April 1995, receiving usable responses from 1,149 students representing 34% of the total population. Results of the study indicated the following: (1) about 80% of respondents had met with their advisors, while 857 of these were satisfied with the service; (2) only 77. of students had used WVUP's child-care facilities; (3) 567 of respondents had used the computer labs on campus, but many felt that the facilities should be made more available; (4) the majority of students (56%) preferred a 2-day weekly course schedule, while one-third preferred a 3-day schedule; (5) 527 of students felt that WVUP's baccalaureate programs should be expanded; (6) 527 supported a Saturday registration alternative; (7) 36% felt that some courses that are offered only once a year should be offered in both semesters, 30% felt that some additional courses should be offered during the summer session in addition to the normal academic year, and 18% indicated that many required courses were not offered in the evenings; and (8) students supported adding varsity sports teams (49%), student lockers (38%), off-campus housing (28%), and public transportation (18%). (The survey instrument, student comment summary, and student ranking statistics for facility expansion and recreational programs are appended.) (MAB) *********************************************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * from the original document. * ********************************************************************** Increasing Institutional Effectiveness: A Continuous Effort after Accreditation U S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Cr.ce Flucar-ona Resea., and 1,proverlent EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy HongYu Chen, Ph.D. Director, Institutional Research WVU at Parkersburg Parkersburg, WV 26101 'PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY H. Chen TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERICI:Presented at the Southeastern Association for Community College Research Twenty-fourth Annual Conference Asheville, North Carolina August 6-9, 1995
Differences in Traditional and Nontraditional Students' Preferences for Advising Services and Perceptions of Services Received
When traditional students' perceptions of advising were compared to those of nontraditional students, the traditional students placed more value on developmental advising. Overall, traditional stud...
Student and Self Ratings of Teacher-Advisors.
Faculty members have always been expected to perform various tasks in addition to their primary responsibility of classroom instruction. These tasks have included research activities, publishing, committee work, consulting, serving the community, and advising students about their academic programs. Only through instruction and advising, however, are students the direct recipients of faculty performance. They attend classes day after day and normally are assigned to some faculty member for academic advising. Burns Crookston' argued that in both of these roles the faculty member should facilitate the student's rational processes, environmental and interpersonal interactions, skills in problem-solving, decision-making, and evaluation. Kenneth Feldman' and Theodore Newcomb found that through these faculty contacts students are influenced in their vocational and intellectual development even more so than by their parents. Alexander Astin3 further found that frequent studentfaculty interaction provides more student satisfaction in all aspects of their institutional experience, i.e., intellectual, social, and even administration of the institution. Since teaching and advising have similar functions and important influences on students, this study was conducted to determine how well faculty members perform each of these student-consumer functions. Obviously, not all faculty members perform these tasks equally well; nor do all of them care to, especially that of advising. Too often advising is done in a perfunctory manner and usually with meager or no training and compensation. Teaching on the other hand, is a serious matter requiring much training and is the basis for compensation. This disparity between the acknowledged importance of teaching and (not) of advising has not diminished, however, faculty responsibilities in the latter role. Efforts have been made to use peers and other paraprofessionals as advisors, but most faculty members are still expected to advise. However, John B~rgard,~ Phyllis Horn