Author: Heather Gernenz
Title: Student Perceptions of Parkland College
About the Author: I am a first year student at Parkland college.
Keywords: community college; perceptions; media
Abstract: What are students’ initial perceptions of Parkland College before attending? What influenced these perceptions of Parkland? Did these perceptions influence the student’s decision to attend Parkland?
I used surveys, observations and interviews for my ethnographic data. I had great success with my survey responses because I sent them out to so many people. I found that a majority of students had a negative perception of parkland college and that their perceptions came from the media, family and friends.
Initial Exercises: Research Summary for IRB
Research Topic: Parkland Students
Purpose Statement:
The purpose of this research is to discover whether the perceptions parkland students had of attending Parkland College are positive or negative and what factors influenced these ideas in order to understand why students decided to attend Parkland.
Main Research Questions:
What are students’ initial perceptions of Parkland College before attending? What influenced these perceptions of Parkland? Did these perceptions influence the student’s decision to attend Parkland?
Summary of Research Plan (including how you will contact potential participants and what you will ask them to do):
I intend to survey 20 students at Parkland College about their college experience. I will survey students in my classes as well as among my friends that attend Parkland. I will then interview three or four students after the surveys.
Possible Interview/Survey Questions
What was your initial impression of Parkland College before you attended?

What influenced these ideas?
Did these perceptions influence your decision to attend Parkland
College?
If not, what influenced you to attend the college?
Have your perceptions matched up to your experiences at Parkland?
Annotated Bibliography
Bourke, Brian, Claire Major, and Michael Harris. "Images of Fictional
Community College Students." Community College Journal of
Research & Practice 33.1 (2009): 55-69. Academic Search
Complete . Web. 11 Mar. 2011. This article is about how community college students are portrayed in fictional works and how their portrayal affects perceptions. The article then goes on to discuss how these findings can be used in community college research. This article will be very helpful to me when I discuss the negative image that the media creates of community colleges.
Caporrimo, Rosaria. "Community College Students: Perceptions and
Paradoxes." Community College Journal of Research & Practice
32.1 (2008): 25-37. Academic Search Complete . Web. 11 Mar.
2011. I found this article to be very useful to me. It discusses the

perceptions of community college students of themselves and presents some of the challenges that community college students face that makes them different that students in a senior college. I am critical however of the condescending tone the author uses when she describes community college students. I feel that despite her research she still finds the students to be sub-par compared to those in a four-year university.
Gardner, Phillip. "Our Perception of the College Experience." IDEALS .
University of Illinois, 12 Dec. 2010. Web. 13 Mar. 2011. This article is what inspired my research. The author also looked at student perceptions of Parkland. He focuses more on the social aspects whereas I plan to focus more on the reasons and causes for the perceptions as well as the role perceptions played in choosing Parkland. I think some of his research will be very useful to me.
Hastings, Janel Henricksen. "Community Colleges and the Media:
Defining Identity." New Directions For Community Colleges
2000.110 (2000): 5-7. Academic Search Complete . Web. 13
Mar. 2011. This article discusses the role of media in shaping perceptions of community colleges. It gives examples of how the community colleges can use this to their advantage. I think this

is a good article for my media section.
Kelly-Kleese, Christine. "Words of Power, Not Pain." Community
College Week 12.3 (1999): 4. Academic Search Complete . Web.
13 Mar. 2011. This article discusses the perceptions of community colleges and how college professionals can work to change perceptions. I think this article uses strong words and says things very nicely but it doesn't give a lot of facts. I'm not sure that I will use this article despite how closely it relates to my research.
Kintzer, Frederick, and Donald Bryant. "Global Perceptions of the
Community College." Community College Review 26.3 (1998):
35+. Academic Search Complete . Web. 11 Mar. 2011. This article discusses how the community college began and the global perceptions of it. It also discusses how the lines between community colleges and senior colleges may be blurring. While
I think this source is too outdated to be used for current information, it will be useful for my background information.
Lum, Lydia. "Not Your Father's Community College." Black Issues in
Higher Education 21.9 (2004): 54-58. Academic Search
Complete . Web. 13 Mar. 2011. This article talks about how community colleges and the changes they have been making

recently such as the addition of bachelor programs. The author questions whether community college students are getting a lesser education. I think that this article will be good for my background paragraph.
Mitkos, Yvonne M., and Debra Bragg. "Perceptions of the Community
College of High School Counselors and Advisors." Community
College Journal of Research & Practice 32.4-6 (2008): 375-90.
Academic Search Complete . Web. 11 Mar. 2011. I found this article very interesting. It discusses how high school counselors may have a bias towards community colleges and that they project this bias onto students. If I find out from my research that students feel their high school influenced their decision to attend
Parkland, then I might pursue this idea more and see if the counselors had an impact.
Question: My refined research question: What are students’ initial perceptions of
Parkland College before attending? What influenced these perceptions of Parkland?
I think that I will find that students have a negative perception of
Parkland college and that this is largely due to how community colleges are portrayed in the media.
Plan: I plan to survey 25 students that attend parkland college. They will be students within my class and other students that I know.
I am going to interview one student that has a positive perception of parkland for my counter argument and refutation section.

I also have some observations to add to my ethnographic data.
Discuss: Please refer to the attached document for my final paper
EUI
References/Tagging:
I was inspired to do this research paper by Phillip Gardner's research paper "Our Perception of the College Experience". My project is very relevant compared to his. I merely expanded on his ideas and focused more on students’ perception of Parkland as a community college. My arguments confirm some of his research and provide additional information.
Reflect: It was an interesting experience during the research process. I had great success with surveys, observations and interviews. Working in compliance with the IRB was difficult when I kept changing my questions. I only resubmitted once, but it was a very different experience to be accountable to the IRB. I will archive my work because
I hope that it will inspire future students who are trying to decide what direction they will go with their research.
Recommendations: I think that Parkland should consider adding a student center to the school and make attempts provide more outlets for socialization for students.