Blog
Post #2
Subject: Matthew Smith –
Week 3 – Student Honor Code Office
Activities:
·
Pull article supporting proposed education
module in development.
·
Begin extracting information from various
on-campus offices to include in education module.
Reflection on Practice:
Much of my work this past
week has been focused on working with others in the office in developing an
education module to be given to students who are found in violation of the
Honor Code. They’ve had me focusing on gleaning information from resources on
campus readily available for students. Some of these I focused on this week
included: Health & Wellness, Student Counseling Services, and Student
Support Services (among others). The goal is to help these students become
aware of these services, with the hope they’ll seek them out if they need them.
In addition to this, I
had the opportunity to speak for a bit one-on-one with Mr. Bill Broyles, the Interim
VP of Student Affairs. He was quite kind and spent time checking in with me on
the project. He also asked about my long-term goals in student affairs and
higher education and how I plan to achieve them. Being able to bounce some of
my ideas off him and receive both encouragement and suggestions from him gave
me some additional insight into my goals, as well as totally making my day!
Reflection on Theory:
When I first saw the
topic in chapter 5 of the book for this week’s reading, I was quite excited. In
my practicum, there is much collaboration with the faculty in many of the
conduct hearings. Additionally, my assistantship this past year has been one
where I deal almost exclusively with faculty. Reading about the efforts to work
collaboratively (be it on projects, research, committees, or any number of
suggestions offered in the book) has encouraged me immensely. There have been
times I’ve felt less connected to Student Affairs than my peers, and hearing
others discuss in detail the work to collaborate with Faculty and Academic
Affairs confirmed to me the work I am doing is a valuable contribution to the
field. This also dovetails with some of the advanced points in the ACPA &
NASPA competencies regarding assessment, evaluation, and research (2010). In
particular, there is a repeated focus on collaboration in these points. Keeping
in mind that we cannot do all of this alone is in my opinion critical to us
keeping the focus on the students and helping them achieve success in their endeavors
pursuing higher education. I look forward to further exploring this in my
practicum and beyond.
References:
ACPA & NASPA. (2010).
Professional Competency Areas for Student Affairs Practitioners
Amey, M. J., &
Reesor, L. M. (2009). Beginning your journey: A guide for new professional in
student affairs. Washington, D.C.: NASPA – Student Affairs Administrators in
Higher Education
Hey Matt!
ReplyDeleteGood post. I chose to comment on your post because I am interested in the collaboration you are doing with other offices on campus. Collaboration is such a commonly used tool in student affairs, and it is interesting to see the different ways in which collaboration occurs in our field. My office commonly collaborates with other similar offices at other institutions, but it seems like yours is more focused on connecting with other offices at Mississippi State.
Before reading your post, I did not think about how the Student Honor Code Office might collaborate internally; rather, I thought your office would be likely to work with offices at other institutions. It is interesting to see how your office is focused on internal collaboration while they develop the education model.
My questions for you:
1. What limitations or challenges do you think you could face as you work on the education module?
2. Could you see yourself working in an honor code office in the future?
-Jessi
Matt,
ReplyDeleteI think that it's interesting that we are having some similar experiences in our practicum placements. I think that I could see either one of us ultimately in the areas that we are currently in.
Regarding your reflection upon theory, I agree with Jessi about the collaboration and the Honor Code Office. I didn't really think of them collaborating with other offices, but it makes sense after reading your post. I think that collaboration is the cornerstone of what we do and if we fail to do so we risk being ineffective for our students.
The questions that I would pose to you would be:
1. Are there any offices that the Honor Code Office has a more established and continual working relationship with?
2. Which area do you think you will ultimately call home, student affairs or academic affairs?
Ryan