In UCLA’s 2012 national survey of college freshmen, 87.9% of respondents named “getting a job” as their top reason for going to college. While the economic climate has increased the pressure on all institutions of higher learning to demonstrate the value of a college degree, liberal arts colleges have been subject to some of the most intense public scrutiny. How might liberal arts colleges work together to address these concerns? Two colleges, Associated Colleges of the South (ACS) members Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, and the University of Richmond in Richmond, Virginia, are exploring this very question. Last year, Rollins and the University of Richmond drew on career programs they already offered and generated blended learning modules designed to develop and hone students’ skills in personal branding, professional networking, and interviewing. This innovative inter-institutional approach to preparing liberal arts students for life beyond graduation leverages the human, intellectual, and technological resources of both institutions. It also represents the first step towards a much larger initiative intended to deliberately and consciously link career and life planning-related resources within an existing network—the sixteen member institutions of the ACS. Currently, institutions within the regional consortium house and operate their own independent career-related service centers. And, while these offices maintain friendly working relationships with one another, there is no formal mechanism for resource-sharing and collaboration. Colleagues at Rollins College and the University of Richmond saw their pre-existing careers courses as a natural starting point for inter-institutional collaboration within the consortium. Their initial goal was to link the courses—and, by extension, the student groups who populated them—through several blended learning modules on professional networking and interview practices. In doing so, they aimed to provide students with the opportunity to engage in career-related activities with peers at a sister institution, thus modeling and preparing them for the kind of collaborative, inter-institutional work they will be doing in their professional careers. Additionally, the institutions sought to create a way for students to expand their professional contacts with individuals at another ACS institution. They anticipated that building these networks would, in turn, help students further develop and hone their networking etiquette as well as significantly broaden the scope of their job searches. Since most ACS institutions currently do not have careers courses, Rollins and University of Richmond also envisioned their project serving as a portable course template that could be easily appropriated by other institutions.

1. Preparing Students for Life After
Graduation: Colleges Collaborate
May 21, 2014 ~ NITLE/ACS Seminar
Presenters:
Beth Chancy, Assistant Director, University of Richmond
Office of Alumni and Career Services
Dr. Jana Mathews, Assistant Professor, Rollins College
English Department
Anne Meehan, Assistant Director, Rollins College
Office of Career Services

2. History of Career & Life Planning
Rollins College
• 1998-2012: INT 1-2 credit Academic and Career
Advising Course co-taught by Career Services Staff
and an academic advisor
• 2008-Present: Discipline-specific career planning
courses taught regularly by faculty and Career
Services Staff (Careers in Biology, Careers in Health
Sciences, Careers in Humanities, Meaningful Life and
Productive Career)

3. History of Career & Life Planning
University of Richmond
• Early 2000s-present: Students must complete two
topics in health education as part of their graduation
requirement. Topics address health and wellness
concerns about: Intellectual, Physical, Social,
Environmental, Financial, Values & Ethics, and
Emotional.
• Career Services offers two courses:
Career Exploration (first years and sophomores)
Life and Careers after UR (juniors and seniors)

4. What is ACS?
The Associated Colleges of the South comprises the following sixteen
private liberal arts colleges and universities:
Birmingham-Southern College
Centenary College of Louisiana
Centre College
Davidson College
Furman University
Hendrix College
Millsaps College
Morehouse College
Rhodes College
Rollins College
Sewanee: The University of the South
Southwestern University
Spelman College
Trinity University
University of Richmond
Washington and Lee University

5. ACS Blended Learning Opportunity
Student Benefits:
• Create Opportunity to Network: Desire to make connections, build
support network, and hone networking skills
• Provide Real Life Interview Practice: Enhance interviewing
skills/confidence and simulate real life Skype style interview
ACS School Benefits:
• Offer partnership opportunity through ACS schools to enhance
career courses being offered
• Develop career course materials and blended learning experiences
to be shared with other ACS schools
• Increase ACS school knowledge, partnerships, and connections
through online activities, LinkedIn ACS Groups and blog page

6. a) create professional LinkedIn profiles
b) critique and offer feedback on their peers’ profiles,
c) learn and hone online networking etiquette by
connecting with students at each other’s respective
institutions,
d) join relevant alumni groups, the ACS Students &
Alumni Network Group, ACS Career Course Group
and other industry groups,
e) take part in a series of ACS Networking Group online
discussions on career-related topics, and
f) compete in team-based LinkedIn scavenger hunts
covering job search and career-related topics.
LinkedIn Assignments

7. LinkedIn Networking Groups
ACS Students & Alumni Network
on LinkedIn

8. ACS LinkedIn Group

9. Mock Interviews

10. InterviewStream

11. InterviewStream

12. Practice Interview Peer Review Form

13. ACS Blended Learning Blog

15. Pre-Post ACS Blended Learning
Assessment Outcomes

16. Pre-Post ACS Blended Learning
Assessment Outcomes

17. Student Feedback – Real deal!
What did you learn as a result of creating your
LinkedIn profile, joining alumni/industry groups
and networking with peers/professionals?
• New ways to connect to people in a
professional way
• Students will have held 5 or more jobs
• How to meet others with similar career
interests

18. Student Feedback – Real deal!
What did you learn as a result of conducting a
pre-recorded mock interview and critiquing your
peers' performance?
• Need to work on confidence
• Need to work on verbal pauses
• Be less repetitive
• Be more personable

19. Student Feedback – Real deal!
What did you gain from conducting the
interactive peer activities with Richmond and
Rollins students?
• More confidence
• Better ability to objectively evaluate myself
• My interview can seem stronger to one person
than to another
• How important it is to make yourself standout

20. Next Steps: Future for ACS Blended
Courses
What We Will Keep
What We Will Change

21. Q & A
Questions and Follow-up:
Beth Chancy, Assistant Director,
University of Richmond ~ Office of Alumni and Career Services
bchancy@richmond.edu
Dr. Jana Mathews, PhD, Assistant Professor
Rollins College ~ English Department
jmathews@rollins.edu
Anne Meehan, Assistant Director
Rollins College ~ Office of Career Services
asmeehan@rollins.edu
Blog Page: http://social.rollins.edu/wpsites/acsblended/