Community programs and surveys
I am personally very active in the professional organization attending all board meetings, regular meetings, and serve as chapter representative at the state meetings. Since the school is very small, I urge students to participate in the professional organization and their community outreach programs. During the Hurricane Katrina, members signed up to do the transcription of the hospitals that were disabled by the hurricane.
Recently the association participated in the Susan Komen Walk for the Cure for breast cancer.
I do a graduate survey in addition to the TWC form to determine if the books and supplies the students are using are relevant. I ask the graduates to give the strengths and weaknesses of the program.
As time permits, I will also begin to survey the students who did not finish the course for other than academic reasons to evaluate how to enhance the enrollment procedures and course information so hopefully retention will be enhanced.
This course also presented the idea of alumni survey which I think is a great idea! It lets the school know what the students are doing and keeps them in touch with the school.
Wow Janet. What you are doing is incredible. You are collecting enough information for a dissertation! You are demonstrating the information is essential in order to make decisions and there are many ways to gather and use the data. You didn't mention surveying employers. Employers can help you forecast what new programs to offer. Just ask them what a work-ready graduate needs to know now and in the future. Then design your programs to meet the needs of today and tomorrow. Best wishes, Susan
We did an extensive survey of employers prior to rolling out two new programs. This gave us a very good idea of what they expected from our graduates, so that we could tailor our curricula to meet employers' specific needs.
HI Steven
Great idea to work with employers in developing a new program. It's usually effective to train work ready people who can immediately be effective in the workplace upon graduation. It makes great marketing copy too. The goal is also to work with employers to forecast what new kinds of jobs will be created and how you can start to plan for training programs to offer before your competition. best wishes, Susan
We have used the Adopt a Highway program. The state puts up a sign with your school name on each stetch of road you adopt in exchange for us periodically cleaning up the trash on the side of the road. We enlist the local boys club and our own staff. At the end of each project we have pizza.
This is so great Guy. This one simple activity has so much opportunity and results. You are doing something great for your community. You are involving your students. The more students are involved with each other and the school, the more likely they will stay. And you generate a great deal of publicity opportunities. Very good. Susan
