Higher education opens doors to job enhancement and economic benefits to adult learners. Despite facing multiple barriers such as life-work-school time conflicts and financial constraints, adult learners continue to seek higher education and certifications. Rural employers also benefit from supporting degree completion or job-specific…

One of the key goals of any academic program is to ensure that skills taught in the classroom apply to post-graduate employment. Failure to do so can impact an academic department's recruitment and retention efforts, strain relations with alumni and damage the institution's reputation. Using interviews conducted during a faculty externship at a…

The purposes of this multiple case study were to determine if manufacturing and services sector employers found value in the use of an ePortfolio in the hiring process, and to develop a suggested template for an ePortfolio format to be used within career and technical education. Electronic portfolios "allow students to showcase their…

Responding employers from two business samples (286 of 2,700 and 67 of 400) perceived a lack of desired competencies in entry workers. High school graduates rated no higher than 3.07 and college graduates 3.89 on a 7-point scale. Social competencies (sociability, responsibility, self-management, integrity, self-esteem) were thought in need of most…

A project was initiated (1) to improve internal communications among various vocational education providers within the River Hills Region (Indiana), (2) to improve external communication among providers and users of products of vocational education, and (3) to incorporate vocational education information into regional planning efforts. Local…