TPC-Journal-V2-Issue1

81 Class Meeting Schedules in Relation to Students’ Grades and Evaluations of Teaching Robert C. Reardon Stephen J. Leierer Donghyuck Lee A six-year retrospective study of a university career course evaluated the effect of four different class schedule formats on students’ earned grades, expected grades and evaluations of teaching. Some formats exhibited significant differences in earned and expected grades, but significant differences were not observed in student evaluations of instruction. Career services providers, including curriculum designers, administrators and instructors, will find the results of this study helpful in the delivery of services, especially with high-risk freshman students. Keywords: career, teaching, course, instruction, evaluation, grades The Professional Counselor Volume 2, Issue 1 | Pages 81–89 © 2012 NBCC and Affiliates www.nbcc.org http://tpcjournal.nbcc.org doi:10.15241/rcr.2.1.81 While individual counseling has been shown to be effective in helping students develop career decision-making skills (Brown & Ryan Krane, 2000; Reese & Miller, 2006; Whiston & Oliver, 2005; Whiston, Sexton, & Lasoff, 1998), undergraduate career courses also can be effective interventions (Folsom & Reardon, 2003; Reardon, Folsom, Lee, & Clark, 2011; Whiston et al., 1998). Although college career courses have been shown to offer substantial benefits (Brown & Ryan Krane, 2000; Osborn, Howard, & Leierer, 2007; Reed, Reardon, Lenz, & Leierer, 2001; Reese & Miller, 2006; Whiston & Oliver, 2005; Whiston et al., 1998), the content and format of such courses vary greatly (Folsom & Reardon, 2003). The present study sought to focus on one aspect of such career course variability: alternative class schedule formats. Effective career classes can be characterized by these features: (a) structured course approaches appear to be more effective than unstructured approaches (Smith, 1981); (b) individual career exploration should be a cornerstone of the course (Blustein, 1989); and (c) five components (written exercises, individualized interpretations and feedback, in- session occupational exploration, modeling, and building support for choices within one’s social network) (Brown & Ryan Krane, 2000; Brown et al., 2003). What is the effect that class schedule might have on course effectiveness? Only one study (Vernick, Reardon, & Sampson, 2004) has examined this issue, and the results showed that such courses should be designed to meet more than once a week and avoid over-exposure to materials and activities so as not to overwhelm the student. Extending this concept, we hypothesized that certain course schedule formats (weekly meeting frequency and term length) could make a difference in student learning and evaluation of teaching. Alternative Career Class Schedules This study focused on a course based on cognitive information processing theory incorporated into the course textbook, Career Planning and Development: A Comprehensive Approach (Reardon, Lenz, Sampson, & Peterson, 2000). All sections of the course followed a prescribed curriculum comprising a mixture of lectures, panel presentations, small and large group instructional activities, personal research, and field work; however, the classes differed in terms of the class meeting schedule (class duration, number of weekly meetings, and number of weeks a class met during an academic term). Robert C. Reardon, NCC, NCCC, is Professor Emeritus at the Career Center at Florida State University. Stephen J. Leierer is an Associate Professor at East Carolina University. Donghyuck Lee is an Assistant Professor at Konkuk University in Seoul, Korea. Correspondence can be addressed to Robert C. Reardon, Career Center, Florida State University, 100 S. Woodward St., Tallahassee, FL 32306-4162, rreardon@admin.fsu.edu .