New article offers widespread exposure for Elon’s Visual Transcript

An article written by members of a team in Elon’s Office of the University Registrar and recently published in the National Association of Colleges and Employers Journal is bringing widespread attention to Elon’s innovation with the traditional transcript.

​In fall 2016, sophomore research assistant Jack Fryer collaborated with Elon University Registrar Rodney Parks and Assistant Registrar Jesse Parrish to develop a study to gauge third-party perceptions of Elon’s Visual Experiential Transcript (Visual EXP). Their goal was to collect information that could be used to close the gap between students’ and employers’ expectations with respect to knowledge, skills, and professional priorities, as well as refine future iterations of the Visual EXP.

Fryer worked with Elon’s Student Professional Development Center to acquire contact information for members of Elon’s employer and graduate school network, and distributed a survey with a variety of questions. In addition to Likert scale questions about clarity and utility, the survey prompted employers to rank the importance of Elon’s five experiences as well as the importance of the traditional features of the hiring process.

The results of the study were elucidating, as participants offered valuable feedback about their hiring needs, preferences and requests for future transcript inclusions such as leadership position descriptions. After compiling and analyzing the results, the research team summarized their findings in an article that was published by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) in the February edition of its journal.

Though the Visual EXP has been praised by a number of organizations affiliated with higher education, the NACE Journal is perhaps the most widely circulated publication that has featured Elon’s work. In the few days since the article was released, the Office of the University Registrar has been contacted by several other institutions, alumni and peers on campus applauding their efforts.

In addition to their research on employers, Fryer and the Registrar team developed a complementary study to assess Elon students’ perceptions of the Visual EXP. The results of the two studies will be combined to provide a comprehensive perspective of the relationship between institutions, employers, and students. These studies are sure to inform continuing conversations among institutions across the nation and help Elon continue to lead the way in the field of experiential learning.