ERIC Number: ED382289
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1994-Dec
Pages: 65
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Study of Former Students of the Word Processing Program. Volume XXIII, No. 5.
Lucas, John A.; Zilkowski, Robert R.
As part of the program evaluation and review process at William Rainey Harper College (WRHC) in Illinois, a follow-up study was conducted of students who had enrolled in the college's Word Processing Program between summer 1989 and spring 1994. A survey was mailed to 500 former students, receiving a response rate of 37.6%. Study findings included the following: (1) 95% of Word Processing students were female; (2) their average age was 31.3, and 70% were over 21; (3) 38% were attempting to secure a new job, while 19% were improving their current job skills; (4) students' grade point average at WRHC was 2.99, and they had earned an average of 23 credit hours; (5) 78% had been enrolled for 2 or more years, and 42% had been enrolled at least 5 years; (6) 73% had taken advanced WordPerfect 5.1 and 51% had already taken DeskTop Publishing with WordPerfect 5.1; (7) students showed interest in future courses including Advanced WordPerfect 6.0 for Windows, Advanced WordPerfect 6.0 DOS, DeskTop Publishing with WordPerfect 6.0, and Advanced Microsoft Word for Windows; (8) two-thirds of the former students were employed full time, 19% were employed part time, and 4% were unemployed; (9) students' first full-time jobs paid an average of about $21,000 per year and first part-time jobs paid an average of $8.90 per hour; (10) mean salaries of current full-time jobs was $27,700, while the mean wage rate for current part-time jobs was $9.38 per hour; and (11) students rated the word processing courses as of high value and felt well prepared for their jobs. The survey instrument is included. (KP)
Descriptors: College Graduates, Community Colleges, Education Work Relationship, Graduate Surveys, Managerial Occupations, Outcomes of Education, Participant Satisfaction, Program Evaluation, Questionnaires, Self Evaluation (Groups), Student Attitudes, Student Behavior, Student Characteristics, Two Year Colleges, Vocational Followup, Word Processing
Publication Type: Reports - Research; Tests/Questionnaires
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: William Rainey Harper Coll., Palatine, IL. Office of Planning and Research.
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A