Report of the 1997 Survey of Citizen Perceptions of Tourism in Bellingham and Whatcom County

At the request of the Bellingham•Whatcom County Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Western Washington University Office of Survey Research (OSR) surveyed residents of Whatcom County concerning their perceptions of tourism locally. The OSR conducted 606 telephone interviews during the period April 2 through April 22, 1997. The Convention and Visitors Bureau wished to measure citizen perceptions and knowledge of tourism and to assess what factors lead citizens to be more or less favorable toward tourism. The study is, in this sense, a baseline study of Spring, 1997 perceptions that may change over time. The particular questions asked in this survey were drawn from conversations with the board of the Bellingham•Whatcom County Convention and Visitors Bureau and from previously published research into residents\u27 perceptions of tourism. The definition of tourism given to each respondent at the outset of the interview is anyone who travels more than 50 miles, for business or pleasure, and stays overnight. That definition focuses findings on classically defined tourists, as opposed to visitors who stay only a short time to shop. This report presents the findings of the 1997 Bellingham•Whatcom County Tourism survey. It begins with residents\u27 knowledge about tourism, perceptions of positive or negative impacts of tourism, and attitudes toward tourism. It then presents residents\u27 perception of the relative value of several possible uses for economic development funds, including support for the expansion of tourism. The report then presents selected demographic background and other characteristics of the sample and summarizes the ways in which each characteristic is or is not linked to perceptions of tourism. Finally, the report presents the result of multivariate analysis of the key predictors of support for tourism, addressing the question of what factors lead residents to more favorable or unfavorable attitudes toward tourism

The Western Washington University Student Survey Series (Volume One: Western Washington University Students)

Results from three early assessment surveys are combined into a 3-volume series. Volume one has information on students\u27 backgrounds, reasons for choosing majors, and educational careers

The Western Washington University Student Survey Series (Volume Three: Western Washington University Students Five Years Later)

Results from an early assessment study combining three surveys. Volume three looks as alumni and students who left before graduating. Issues include satisfaction with WWU, employment and job quality

1997 Survey of Former Students

Questionnaire: 1997 survey of former students (non-returning students): reasons why students left Western; problems experienced while at Western; dissatisfaction; Changes students would make

Ten Years of Fall-to-Fall Retention, Western Washington University

Executive Summary: Analysis of Fall-to-Fall retention at Western over the period 1987-1997 reveals modest improvement in retention rates, some traditional patterns, and some surprises. Particular groups are identified by the analysis as highest priority for university attention aimed at increasing retention. Western\u27s overall Fall-to-Fall retention rate increased steadily from 1987 through 1992, then leveled off, to remain stable or decline very slightly since then. In particular, the retention of entering freshmen rose markedly from \u2787 through \u2792 and has declined significantly since 1992, although remaining well above its earlier rate. While the early rise in retention may be attributed to increasing selectivity and improved freshman orientation, the subsequent reduction in retention is more• difficult to interpret. What we can say is that Western\u27s freshman retention, while higher than nearly all our peer institutions, could be higher, given the composition of our freshman class. For entering transfers, however, no improvement in retention has been observed over the ten year period. In fact, retention of new transfers is markedly lower than of new freshmen, despite the fact that most transfers are in their junior years--a time when retention tends to be high. Further, over half of new transfer non-retention involves leaving prior to Spring of the first year, rather than after one full year, which suggests that experiences during Fall are especially powerful for transfers. Retention among African-American students has increased dramatically, by a total of nearly fifteen percentage points, over the past ten years. Retention for this group is now at a par with the majority group. However, retention among Native Americans and the small group of foreign nationals who matriculate here remains considerably lower than for the majority. Two surprise findings are that students who enter Western in quarters other than Fall, especially in spring, have lower than average retention rates and that students who have freshman standing in Fall quarter but are not entering in that Fall have lower retention rates than newly entering freshmen. Among the small group for whom these two factors overlap, retention is extremely low

Western Washington University Student Survey Series: Western Washington University Students Volume One

Preface to the WWU Student Survey Reports, Volumes One to Five The Surveys During Summer, 1986, Western\u27s Vice President for Academic Affairs requested that the Office of Survey Research, located in the Sociology Department conduct three inter-related surveys: A five year follow-up of 632 1982 Western graduates. A five year follow-up of 364 Individuals who attended Western but left In 1982 without graduating and remained out of Western for at least one year. A survey of 1280 seniors enrolled during Spring, 1987, who had completed at least 155 credits. A discussion of samples and research methods is included in Volume One of the reports based on these surveys. The purposes of these surveys are to provide information to faculty and staff concerning students\u27 background and orientations, to provide feedback about the relative quality and success of a Western education by asking about students\u27 experiences while at Western and their evaluations of Western, and to describe the quality of former students\u27 occupational and personal lives five years later. These issues are discussed for Western students as a whole, and, where appropriate, for students in each collegiate unit within Western, as well as for transfer versus natives, man versus women, and other background differences. The Organization of Reports The reports are divided into five brief volumes. Each of the first three focuses on one sat of measures. The fourth reviews the comments offered by students in response to open-ended questions about their experiences at Western. The fifth is a summary of the first four, written with the larger off-campus audience in mind. Each volume moves segment-ally from one topic to the next, keeping each section as free-standing as possible so that the reader can locate the issues of greatest concern and focus on the appropriate sections

Reframing resources in engineering teaching and learning

Abstract: The notion of ‘resources’ is often framed in an economic sense: money, time, equipment and the like. We reconceptualise this notion, situating resources as embedded in curricular frameworks, teacher practice and student experience. This leads us to define resources as the potential to participate in socio-cultural action. We illustrate this through a series of reflections on the part of the authors, all within the context of engineering education. First, we demonstrate that curriculum can be productively thought of as a route marker for the development of resources that students need in order to enact their role as professional engineers. Thereafter, we show that lecturers bring tacit resources of trust, care, creativity and credibility to the teaching and learning space, and that these are necessary to overcome the inertia that often resists the transformation of teaching and learning practice. Finally, we reflect on how students’ prior learning experiences can be harnessed as a resource for teaching and learning. In so doing, we present resources as tied to sociocultural practices and personal and institutional histories, and encourage others to take up these ideas so as to consider how resources, viewed in our sense, are valued within (engineering) education

Community Service Activity by Western Washington University Students: Its Extent, Nature, and Impact on the Surrounding Community

Executive Summary: At the request of President Morse and the Student Employment Center\u27s Community Service/Volunteer Program, Western\u27s 1994 alumni survey documented the extent and nature of community service activity by Western students, both as part of their course work and as non-course-based volunteer activities. We refer to these activities as service learning. We also measured students\u27 impressions concerning the value of their service experiences and estimated the impact of students\u27 community service activities on the Bellingham and Whatcom County communities. Findings are based on responses by 1513 of the 2219 graduates in the Class of \u2793. Asked whether they had ever participated in any community service activities.. .either as part of a course, part of a group, or individually.. .that assisted the public or a non-profit organization.... almost half (48.9%) responded in the affirmative. Just over one-fourth (25.8%) report one or more internship experiences included under the service learning heading. Slightly more (27.0%) report one or more service learning experiences that were course projects or assignments. On the non-academic side, 23.6% participated at least once via their roles as students, with a student group or organization, but not for credit. About one-third (32.6%) report volunteering at least once in any other (non-campus) community service during their time at Western. Some students are extremely active volunteers. The great majority (88.1%) of students who report any service learning report at least two episodes. Fully 14.2% of the sample (29.0% of those who engaged in any service learning) report five or more separate episodes. On the other hand, we estimate that in any one year, only one in eight Western students participates in any form of service learning, academic or non-academic in origin. The most common service learning activities are in the social, health, and mental health services, where 54.7% of those with any service learning experience volunteered at least once. Those services included work for programs that serve the sexually abused or battered, the aged, children, those in crisis, those with disabilities, the homeless and hungry, as well as work in ethnicity-related programs, family planning , health-related, and mental-health related services. Another 23.8% worked at least once in children\u27s educational settings such as volunteering at schools or at camps, tutoring, and coaching. One in seven (14.4%) volunteered on campus. Another 13.4% volunteered at least once to work for environmental goals. Others volunteered for religious organizations, community events, literacy, the arts, the legal system, and political causes. A list of the specific organizations for which the Class of \u2793 volunteered is included in the full report. Extrapolating from survey responses, we estimate conservatively that during a typical school year, Western students engage in about 4,600 episodes of volunteer service learning activity. Just under half is based in courses, either as internships or as projects within a course. The report analyzes which students volunteer most often. Findings include the following conclusions: most variation in rates of course-based service learning is explained by the different opportunities provided by different major fields; students who volunteer often are perhaps slightly more serious about their education and are more oriented to learning than to credentialling; that women engage in more service learning; that those whose goals emphasize service to the society volunteer more often, and that those whose goals emphasize income levels volunteer less often. Asked how valuable their service learning activities were, graduates respond extremely positively. Four dimensions of possible value were specified. For two, providing new awareness and improving you as a person, nearly three-fifths (58.4% and 58.3%) answered very valuable, one of the most positive set of responses to any question our surveys ask about Western. Asked about the possible value of providing career-related skills, 44.0% said very, while 15.5% said not at all. For course-based service learning activities only, the percent who say very rises to 47.2%. This finding is worthy of special note because students consistently give low ratings to departments\u27 advising concerning careers. Finally, 41.7% say their service learning activities were very valuable at improving your educational experience at Western, overall. The more service learning activities each graduate reports having participated in, the more value s/he ascribes to the experience. In addition, the great majority of service learning participants say Western should definitely (64.7%) or probably (29.1%) ...increase opportunities to combine community service activities with course work. Among students who did not participate in any service learning activities while at Western, a smaller majority support expanded opportunities, with 38.8% saying definitely and 46.4% saying probably