WCC Colleges offer an alternative to more traditional liberal arts colleges. WCC students graduate with multiple transferrable skill sets and are workforce-ready, so it’s important to track indicators that reflect the added value of an education at our Member Colleges and are in accord with the WCC mission. These assessments help us to track progress and determine best practices to share with others involved in higher education.

Over the past ten years the Work Colleges have collaboratively engaged in several research and outreach projects, listed below. Please note that individual institutions are also readily engaged in their own institutional research and present on a wide range of topics to a variety of audiences.

In the fall of 2010, the Consortium conducted a survey of alumni (1993-2007) across our seven institutions. The data and information is currently being analyzed and reviewed and will be released later this year. For a preview, click here.

Research and Commentary

Consortium Collaborative Research and Outreach:

• 2009 Symposium on Work and Learning in Higher Education in the 21st Century  
  •  Education That Works, Roger Fenton, Blackburn College
    
  • Liberal Education as Preparation for a Life of Work, Steven Weisler, Jesica Payne, Carol Trosset, Hampshire College; Gail Wolford, Berea College; Chris Carlson, Becki Elkins Nesheim, Cornell College; Stacie Hagenbaugh, Maureen Mahoney, Smith College; Don Ray, Ian Robertson, Warren Wilson College; Natalie Mello, Rick Vaz, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
  •  Work College: Purpose, Models, and Operations , Ian Roberston, Warren Wilson College

  • Assessing Curricular and Co-Curricular Student Outcomes, Jeff Aper and Sam Meredith, Blackburn College
    

  • What We Know About Work Colleges Outcomes and How We Know It, Elizabeth Perry Thomas, Sterling College, Don Ray Warren Wilson College, Judith Weckman, Berea College

  • Learning Objectives, Evaluation and Record of Work Performance, Chris Larsen and David K. Tipton, Berea College

• 2007 Wingspread Conference:  Examining Learning Outcomes at Work Colleges

• NSSE (National Survey of Student Engagement), 2003/2007
  
• Work, Learning and Belonging at Six U.S. Work Colleges, 2002-2005 (Funded by the Lumina Foundation)
  • Lumina Study
• Appalachian Colleges Region Alumni Outcomes Survey, 2000-2001

COMMENTARY

In Defense of the Liberal Arts, Jeff Aper, Blackburn College