·
Completed draft of education module and
questions
·
Met with various offices around campus to
confirm information in education module
·
Made corrections/changes to the module
after meeting with the various offices around campus.
·
Sat in on and observed Student Honor Code
violation hearings
Reflection on Practice:
These past couple of
weeks have been quite intense for me in my practicum. After finishing up the
education module, Blaire Wilson (the coordinator for the Student Honor Code
office) and I went to multiple offices throughout campus to verify the
information in the module pertaining to their office, as well as to receive any
feedback from them. These offices included (but are not limited to: Longest
Student Health Center, Student Counseling Services, the Writing Center, and the
Learning Center. In each of the cases, everyone was quite satisfied with the work
we had done representing them to the students in this module. They all had some
comments regarding their specific section in order to clarify some small
details or such. It was so rewarding to get the positive feedback from all of
them after working diligently to get the module up to this point.
In addition to my work on
the module, I had the opportunity to sit in on some Student Honor Code conduct
hearings. They typically do not have many cases over the summer (due to the
much smaller number of students on campus during that time), but the office let
me know when these cases came up and allowed me to observe the hearings. It was
quite eye-opening to me to watch how the office heard the cases, balanced the
testimonies of those involved (students, faculty, and/or staff depending on the
case), and examined everything in the context of the Student Honor Code in
order to determine what is the fairest decision for the student given their
specific circumstances. It also was quite emotional being there. I could feel and
see the raw emotions expressed by the students (and at times by the faculty)
during the cases. It really drove home to me the point that even with though we
focus on policies and practices and such, at the end of the day there are
people directly (and sometimes drastically) impacted by our actions as student
affairs practitioners. What might be “another day at the office” for us could
be a critical moment in the life of a student. Keeping their perspective in
mind is something I hope to constantly strive for given my experiences these
past few weeks.
Reflection on Theory:
Given the opportunity to
sit in and observe some Student Honor Code conduct cases recently, I opted to
focus my attention on the theory (or theories) that are applicable there. I
considered several different theories, ranging from the ACPA & NASPA
Professional Competency Areas, to Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development, to
Chickering & Reissner’s Theory of Identity Development. After much thought,
the prevailing theory which comes to my mind is the “Student Learning &
Development” subsection of the ACPA & NASPA Professional Competency Areas
(2010). Specifically, this section states we as professional should “design
programs and service to promote student learning and development” (ACPA &
NASPA, 2010, p 26). Being able to see how the module I’ve been working on will
tie in with cases similar to the ones I observed really drove home the
importance of designing
Additionally, this fits
in well with the material discussed in chapter 11 of Amey & Reesor’s Beginning Your Journey (2009),
specifically the “Maintain Perspective” subsection of the chapter (p 208-209). Seeing
the whole spectrum of work done by the Student Honor Code Office really helped
me keep a balanced perspective as I have worked here throughout the practicum.
That vision has been crystalized and clarified as I have learned and explored,
and I certainly feel like I would enjoy working in an office like this in the
future should the opportunity present itself.
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
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