Baccalaureate (Liberal Arts) Colleges I & II

Baccalaureate (Liberal Arts) Colleges are primarily undergraduate colleges with a major emphasis on baccalaureate degree programs, according to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Baccalaureate I institutions award 40 percent or more of their baccalaureate degrees in liberal arts fields and are restrictive in admissions. Baccalaureate II institutions award less than 40 percent of their baccalaureate degrees in liberal arts fields and are less restrictive in admissions.

Baccalaureate institutions were the smallest group of four-year institutions represented in our survey. There were 83 baccalaureate colleges with WWW sites, which is representative of only 13% of all baccalaureate colleges according to the numbers provided by the Carnegie Foundation's 1994 Technical Report on higher education classifications. Of these 83 institutions, 58 were Baccalaureate I and 25 were Baccalaureate II. We found good and poor examples of baccalaureate college WWW sites.

Who created the site?

Although smallest in number, the baccalaureate colleges show similar findings of the other types of institutions. Academic computing (or similar department) was responsible for creating over half of the WWW sites surveyed. It was interesting to note, however, that four of the sites were created by the admissions department and contained information similar to what is found in a college viewbook. While this is a small number, the baccalaureate college accounts for nearly half of the admission-created sites, as there were only nine WWW sites created by admissions department identified in the entire survey. Similar to the overall findings, nearly 64 percent (53 sites out of 83 total) of the sites relied on the campus-wide information server (CWIS) as the primary Webmaster.

What type of information is offered?

The survey documented what type of information was offered at each site. We created eight categories to synthesize and compare this information:

The baccalaureate colleges also relied on general information about the university to fill their site. Nearly 74 percent of the baccalaureate college sites had a section designated for learning more about the institution. Access to the library and general information about academics were also popular sections. Forty-three percent of the baccalaureate college sites provided access to the library, and 42 percent provided general information about academics - from course schedules to grading procedures. Thirty-six percent of the baccalaureate sites had information for prospective students in an admissions section and three colleges offered an online application. Several of these institutions also offered "virtual tours." Similar to the other types of institutions, few baccalaureate college sites had information about available from the offices of alumnae relations or the public affairs/public relations offices.

What directory services are available?

The services identified in the survey included a directory of faculty and students (white pages), a directory of home pages, and a campus map. As a group, about 30 percent of baccalaureate colleges surveyed offered all three services. It was intriguing to find a fairly high percentage (31%) of colleges with directories to home pages, as most students attending these colleges are undergraduates with little formal computer training, whereas at research and doctoral institutions there is a higher percentage of students who study computer science and computer access for these students is more common.

What qualities of hypermedia exist?

The survey used a rating system (1=best) to evaluate the level of hypermedia of each site. We found the majority of baccalaureate colleges to fall in the middle, with only 15 institutions receiving our highest rank. The "mail to" feature and photos were common elements, but few used forms or other types of hypermedia to illustrate their message. Finally, only one institution, as mentioned above, offered students the opportunity to apply to the college online, but our predictions of trends for the future tell us more colleges will be offering this in the future.

[Home] [Survey] [Good/Poor Sites] [Trends] [Issues] [Commercial]

last updated: May 22, 1995