Assessment
Supervisors, departments, and the Work College Program use two evaluation tools, the Work-Learning Evaluation (WLE) and the Work-Learning Experience Evaluation (WLEE), to assess educational performance and program effectiveness, and to make improvements based on the findings.
The WLE is accessible to the individual student, their supervisor, and the Work College Program Office. Department administrators do not have access to individual WLE results.
The WLEE is typically completed by students in the spring. Data from the previous year's WLEE is shared back with departments the following fall, made available to department leadership and supervisors. All data is de-identified.
The Work College Program maintains this data and produces department-level WLEE reports, which are distributed to department leadership and supervisors. In collaboration with Institutional Research, the Program helps departments analyze their reports and uses the data to evaluate educational performance at both the institutional and departmental levels.
Work-Learning Evaluation (WLE): An Online Tool in NEOED
The Work-Learning Evaluation (WLE) process supports a student's personal and professional development in the workplace by establishing performance standards consistent with the Berea College Workplace Expectations, assessing how well those standards are met, and identifying ways a student and their supervisor can work together to enhance the student's learning opportunities. Completing this evaluation regularly creates a documented work-learning performance history for each student and helps Berea College meet institutional and federal compliance requirements. The WLE is completed online through NEOED.
As part of this process, students should expect a mid-year evaluation at the midpoint of their position's contract period, and a final evaluation at its conclusion, as defined by the Status Form. Each WLE begins with the student completing a self-evaluation and reflection, which is then reviewed and completed by the supervisor. Supervisors are also encouraged to have periodic conversations with students about their performance, offering suggestions and opportunities for ongoing reflection and growth, beyond the formal evaluation itself.
Rating Scale
Each core question is rated using one of the following:
- Exceeds Expectations
- Meets Expectations
- Needs Improvement
- Does Not Meet Expectations
Core Questions
- The student is reliable and dependable (for example, arrives prepared to work, completes tasks in a timely manner, and meets deadlines).
- The student takes accountability for their actions.
- The student's work meets expectations for the tasks and projects assigned.
- The student takes initiative to seek answers to their own questions (for example, looking up resources in a handbook, asking a fellow student colleague, or requesting help from a supervisor).
- The student shows interest in learning more about current or future work-learning opportunities.
- The student communicates clearly when sharing ideas or asking questions.
Skill Development
Students list any skills they have learned in their current position. Supervisors list any skills they believe the student has learned in their current position.
Workplace Expectations
- Strengths: Examples of strengths the student displays in relation to the Workplace Expectations.
- Growth Opportunities: Examples of growth opportunities for the student in relation to the Workplace Expectations.
Faculty, staff, and students make up one community at Berea, and all are expected to uphold the Workplace Expectations. See Workplace Expectations under Goals and Purposes for the full list.
WLE results are a central part of the WLS Transcript, documenting a student's performance for each position held in a term or summer period. Because these results can provide an advantage in future career opportunities, students should strive to perform at a high level in every position they hold at Berea.
Customized Evaluations
Some departments supplement the WLE with a departmental tool addressing items specific to their own workplace. This can be especially useful for departments where the work requires a high degree of skill or specialization, involves additional compliance or safety factors, has a unique organizational structure, or involves a new program or new personnel.
A custom evaluation can also be developed to address a work topic rather than an individual's performance. If a department has concerns about productivity, workflow, organizational structure, or service, a custom evaluation tool can help identify areas for improvement. The Work College Program can help a department think through these additional forms of assessment to strengthen their evaluation process.
Departments interested in a customized evaluation should reach out to the Work College Program within the first month of the new term to begin establishing it.
Work-Learning Experience Evaluation (WLEE: An Online, Web-Based Tool
The Work-Learning Experience Evaluation (WLEE) is an assessment tool designed to provide student feedback to those responsible for Work College Program effectiveness at the supervisor, department, and program levels. Student responses to the WLEE are one of many sources of information used by the Program personnel in their efforts to improve the educational quality of the student work experience at Berea College.
The evaluation allows students to reflect upon their overall labor experience while at Berea College. This survey allows students to evaluate back to us their labor experiences in five key areas:
- Learning through work experiences
- The relationships between work and academics
- Four core general educational goals
- Evaluation of the local work area
- Evaluation of the Work College Program
Students are required towards the end of the academic year to evaluate and reflect on their labor experience through the evaluation. Students are asked to complete the evaluation based on the current primary position but certainly other positions should be considered when thinking about the overall experience. Departments should set aside time to allow the student to complete this evaluation during work time. The majority of the departments will utilize the weekly Tuesday 4-5 PM meeting time to allow their students to complete this web based on-line evaluation.
Two-Way Feedback
Beyond the WLE and WLEE, supervisors are encouraged to regularly engage students in two-way feedback conversations. In this kind of exchange, both the supervisor and the student experience giving and receiving constructive feedback, rather than feedback flowing only one direction.
The content of a two-way feedback conversation is shaped by the questions both people ask and answer in turn, such as "What are we each doing that is working and should continue?" or "What needs to change or adapt?" This kind of dialogue comes with real challenges: finding time for reflection within a busy work schedule, the discomfort of receiving difficult feedback, and moving past the assumption that a supervisor has nothing to learn from a student. Even so, the benefits generally outweigh these challenges.
Feedback is a core part of any learning environment. It allows a student to process an experience, receive positive reinforcement, and be challenged to try new approaches. Through two-way feedback, a supervisor also becomes a learner, listening carefully, receiving constructive criticism openly, and remaining willing to adjust their own approach. In this exchange, the supervisor becomes a recipient of feedback, not only the one giving it.
Two-way feedback works best in an oral, one-on-one setting, though supervisors may also use written tools or small-group conversations when time is limited. The following questions can help guide a two-way feedback conversation:
- During my position, I have observed my supervisor or student colleague learn and grow in the following ways.
- How does my working style complement that of my supervisor or student colleague?
- What might I do differently to contribute more to my own success and to the success of our workplace?
- Are we using our meeting time productively? What should change or stay the same?
- What would I like my supervisor or student colleague to keep doing?
- What would I like to see my supervisor or student colleague do differently?
- How would I like my supervisor or student colleague to communicate with me, whether offering support, raising a conflict or concern, or sharing an idea?
- How successful have we been in meeting expectations? What still needs work?
- How can we continue building on the positive things happening in our work?
- How can I better support my supervisor or student colleague?