Notes on Research and Planning: An Action Research Project to Raise Awareness and Increase the Usage of Career Planning and Job Placement Services at BCC.
- Jeff Craig
My Personal Wikispace
My CCT Blog
Page Contents
Project Overview
Constituency Building
My Assignments
Bibliography
Other Resources
Project Overview
A 2007 survey of BCC students concluded that only 7% of BCC students used job placement services and 17% were satisfied with them. At the same time, 63% felt that these services are important to them. The report also concluded that only 18% of students used career counseling services and 33% were satisfied. Seventy-two percent, however, felt that career counseling is an important service. The usage and satisfaction values for both of these areas were flagged as below average and, therefore, raised some concerns. The Coordinator of Career Planning (my boss) and the Coordinator of Job Placement (myself) are perplexed by these numbers because we meet with many students and most – if not all – seem to be quite satisfied with the services the receive.
Based on the above findings, my "Governing Question" has evolved to be: "In what ways can we increase the usage of career planning and job placement services at BCC?"
Constituency-Building
I have been very fortunate in securing a solid base of support for this project. My boss, in particular, has joined with me to such a degree that I feel it is now a mission to “get to the bottom” of this problem. So far, we have met with the several key players, including the Director of Counseling, the Director of College Communications, the Coordinator of the Graphic and Media Arts program, and a graphic design studio arts class. In the future, we intend to meet with the Vice President of Research, Planning & Assessment, as well as a select group of faculty. What strikes me is the level of cooperation I have witnessed. All of these “stakeholders” seem to share our desire to solve this problem. Each of them has brought a different perspective to the table, which has helped to shape and define not only the problem, but the solution as well. One lesson I’ve learned so far, in terms of constituency-building, is that you have to be open to hearing lots of ideas. You may not agree with everything, but there always seems to be something to take away.
Assignments
Click here to view my assignments.
Bibliography
Beatty-Guenter, P. (1992, January 15). Sorting, Supporting, Connecting, and Transforming: Student Retention Strategies at Community Colleges. . (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED342425) Retrieved April 6, 2008, from ERIC database.
Community College Retention Hits Its Stride. (2005, December 1). National On-Campus Report, Retrieved April 6, 2008, from Academic Search Premier database.
Frankenburger, L. (1999, January 1). Contacting Students To Raise Retention Rates. Action Research Monograph. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED440223) Retrieved April 11, 2008, from ERIC database.
Lau, L. (2003, Fall). Institutional Factors Affecting Student Retention. Education, 124(1), 126-136. Retrieved April 6, 2008, from MasterFILE Premier database.
McArthur, R. (2005, Spring). Faculty -- Based Advising: An Important Factor in Community College Retention. Community College Review, 32(4), 1-19. Retrieved April 6, 2008, from Academic Search Premier database.
Opp, R., Colby, A., & ERIC Clearinghouse for Junior Colleges, L. (1986, August 1). Improving Student Retention in Community Colleges. ERIC Digest. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED276493) Retrieved April 6, 2008, from ERIC database.
Perez, L. (1998, Summer). Sorting, supporting, connecting, and transforming: Intervention strategies for students at risk.
Community College Review,
26(1), 63. Retrieved April 30, 2008, from MasterFILE Premiere database.
Ruel, M. (2007). Understanding Action Research. Center for Collaborative Action
Research. Available at http://cadres.pepperdine.edu/ccar/define.html.</span>
Schmuck, R. (2006). Practical Action Research for Change. Thousand Oaks CA: Corwin Press.
Taylor, P. (2003). Cycles and Epicycles of Action Research for Educational, Organizational, Professional and Personal Change.
Other Resources
Action Research Models (Acquired from various websites):
AR Models.pdf
I tend to be a visual learner; therefore, models such as these help me put AR information into perspective.
Center for Collaborative Action Research - Great material on Action Research. There's a section called, "
Recognizing Weak Action Research Questions" that's very helpful.
It also describes how to organize your material and write an Action Research report and provides a very helpful article about how to write an AR report. It helps you break it down into several categories: Introduction,The Context, The Literature Review, The Research, Reports of Cycles of Research, Cycle Research Question, Evidence Used to Evaluate the Action, Evaluation, Reflection, Final Reflection, and References.
National Association of Colleges and Educators (NACE) - This site offers
lots of information about how to market career center services to students and strategies to engage faculty in the process. Their statement of services reads, "NACE is the leading source of information on the employment of the college educated. The professional association connects more than 5,200 college career services professionals at nearly 2,000 college and universities nationwide, and more than 3,000 HR/staffing professionals focused on college relations and recruiting. NACE forecasts trends in the job market; tracks legal issues in employment, the job search, and hiring practices; and provides college and employer professionals with benchmarks for their work. NACE provides research and information to its professional members through NACEWeb, quarterly surveys of starting salary offers to new college graduates, a quarterly journal, a biweekly newsletter, and surveys of employer and college members."
