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ERIC Number: ED205069
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1981-May
Pages: 18
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Alumni Perceptions: A Test of NCHEMS' Outcomes Structure. AIR Forum 1981 Paper.
McLaughlin, Gerald W.; And Others
A theoretical taxonomy of student outcomes based on the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems' (NCHEMS) structure was investigated using survey responses from 1,833 alumni of a comprehensive state university. The alumni spanned 45 class years and four major curricular types: applied science, business, engineering, and qualitative studies. Alumni were asked to comment on 16 possible educational outcomes extracted from the writings of Oscar Lenning and Howard Bowen. The loadings of the 16 outcomes were subjected to a varimax rotation. The following six factors were retained that supported the work by NCHEMS: personal growth, job skills, cultural awareness, general knowledge, academic skills, and human relations skills. The findings tend to track the taxonomy proposed by Lenning except for the splitting of his category of the social/cultural/personal area into the three dimensions of personal growth, cultural awareness, and human relations. The findings do not support Lenning's more refined four-digit taxonomy that has five dimensions and groups items into two-digit subcategories within each dimension (a procedure similar to the structure of the Higher Education General Information Survey). It was found that outcomes of the university have changed in a smooth continuous fashion over the 40 years. Additionally, different curricula have produced different outcomes, a finding that adds some support to the viewpoint that certain types of people self-select into specific career fields. (SW)
Publication Type: Reports - Research; Speeches/Meeting Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A