Student Services a 'One Stop Shop'
Will I graduate? Will I find a job? For a generation of
students now, those questions and others have been answered in the College of
Education's "One Stop Shop" of the Student Services Office in both Kayser
Hall and the HPER Building.
At the Office of Student Services, College of Education
students receive help making progress toward graduation and a career.
"My counselor has been very helpful in selecting classes
that will prepare me to be an elementary teacher," says Bethany Dillman, a
junior college transfer who now is a senior. "I know I can also get help with
certification and job seeking or I can go online to access Blackboard, where
there is a lot of information."
The concept of having one location where students can
receive answers to a variety of questions and needs came to fruition in 1986
when the Office of Student Services first opened. John Langan, now COE dean,
then was in charge of the college's student services. Becky Schnabel, present
coordinator of Student Services, was a member of his staff.
It's become one of the college's most successful
endeavors — in each of the last two years more than 3,500 individual student
appointments have been scheduled.
Prior to the development of the "one-stop shop" it was
left to faculty members to work with students on such matters. Having one
location for a student to go now makes assistance available at almost
anytime.
Services include help with recruitment, advisement,
field experiences, certification and graduation. In addition, students
receive information and support in career planning and job seeking.
Students also receive information about available
scholarships and receive assistance applying for those scholarships. In
addition to the focus on helping students, advisers also work closely with
department chairs in the development of class schedules. Advisers provide
valuable information on the number of students who will need certain course
work and other pertinent information.
Personnel in the "One Stop Shop" can be reached by
calling the Office of Student Services in the College of Education at (402)
554-2717, or students with issues relating to programs in HPER (other than
teaching) can call Katie Sup Rezac at (402) 554-3245. Following is a look at
the various services offered by the offices.
Recruitment
Alan Black, Brooke Wiseman Dowse and Katie Sup Rezac are
the staff members most likely to have contact with prospective students. The
trio is present at various high school and college career fairs and at
Maverick Mondays when prospective students are welcomed to campus to learn about
available programs throughout the university.
Specific recruitment events conducted so far include an
open house at UNO Homecoming in September a multicultural open house in
October, and Maverick Mondays in November and December. Additional Maverick
Mondays are scheduled for Feb. 18 and April 7.
An orientation is held for students to inform them about
entrance requirements. Students also learn about the college's conceptual
framework and are informed of the field experience requirements. They are
advised of the need to: obtain a minimum score on the PPST (Pre-Professional
Skills Test); have a satisfactory grade-point average; have taken the
necessary general education courses; provide letters of recommendation; and,
submit an essay on why they wish to become a teacher. Essays are evaluated by
faculty members using a scoring rubric. Students then are advised if they are
accepted into the program or whether their acceptance is deferred until they
satisfactorily meet the expectations for admittance.
Advisement
Peggy Price, Marilyn Curran, Black and Sup Rezac all
serve as student academic advisers and meet on a regular basis each semester
with all students to assist with program planning, troubleshooting class
schedules, wait list monitoring, articulation issues, long-term plan
development, transcript evaluation, and occasional academic or social needs.
Black, Price and Curran work with students preparing to be teachers or
entering the area of library science. Sup Rezac works with all undergraduate
students in HPER majoring in community health, exercise science, athletic
training and recreation.
Field experiences
Dr. Connie Schaffer is coordinator of Field
Experience/Student Teaching for all students planning to become teachers.
These experiences begin with observations that might be carried out
electronically via a Live Link connection to Western Hills and Oak Valley
Elementary Schools. Students also will have several observations scheduled at
local schools.
Intermediate field experiences follow the initial observations.
These experiences include 40 hours of work experience in an academic year —
20 hours spent in a general education classroom, 20 hours in a special
education setting. All of the intermediate experiences take place within an
Omaha Public Schools building to ensure that students receive opportunities
to work with a diverse student population.
Advanced field experiences are developed to meet
individual student needs and majors. Students will have one or more of these
customized opportunities to work directly with students. The experiences are
in a variety of school locations throughout the metropolitan area.
The culminating experience for an aspiring educator is
student teaching. Students who meet the requirements to student teach must
complete an application that includes a resume, transcript and application
form. The student meets with an adviser to have a final program check, then
an interview with Schaffer.
Twenty-five to 30 supervisors are required to work with
the 300 to 350 undergraduate student teachers and another 50 to 60 students
with degrees who wish to student teach for certification or advanced
education purposes.
As a culminating student teacher requirement, students
must give a 10-minute presentation on how they teach a lesson, how they
assess student learning, and how the information affected their instruction.
Presentations are made before a panel of two evaluators — faculty members or
adjunct faculty members who have attended a training session for evaluators.
There are more than 1,600
student field experience/student teaching placements in the area of teacher
education each year. Practicum and internship experiences for non-teaching
majors in HPER are arranged by faculty members who teach in those areas.
Certification
Approximately 750 students annually are assisted in the
certificate process. This includes first-time teacher certification
applicants, individuals renewing previous certificates and those adding
additional endorsements to their current credential.
The certification office in the College of Education
serves as a liaison to the Nebraska Department of Education, is responsible
for maintaining endorsement programs, serves as the recommending official for
all students completing graduate and undergraduate programs for teacher
certification, and is a resource relative to the policies and procedures of
the Department of Education at the college level.
Students who successfully complete the requirements for
teacher certification are assisted in receiving that certification.
Career assistance
Wiseman Dowse assists prospective teachers developing
job-seeking skills and provides them with career information. Faculty members
also integrate such information into their course instruction. Students are
trained in resume and interview preparation. Mock interview experiences are
provided in cooperation with the Educational Administration and Supervision
Department and with graduate students enrolled in classes focusing on
personnel administration.
Students obtain assistance in job searches through
attendance at job fairs, from information provided about available jobs on
the Internet, and via personal and electronic communications. A job fair is
held on campus and students are referred to larger fairs on other nearby
campuses.
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