Dr. Schwitzer's Home Page

OLD DOMINION UNIVERSITY
Educational Leadership and Counseling
Instructor: Dr. Alan M. "Woody" Schwitzer
Office: EDUC 165-4 Phone: 683-3251
FAX: 683-5756 E-mail: aschwitz@odu.edu

1. Course Number: COUN 807 Summer Institute Format

2. Course Title: Adult and College Student Development

3. Catalogue Course Description: Exploration of ways adults construct meaning, including intellectual, moral, and personality development. Gender and culture highlighted as they affect knowing. Applications to counseling, college student affairs work, administration, and leadership.

Goal: To develop a working knowledge of the major developmental theories and conceptual approaches associated with college student personnel work and college student counseling.

Objectives:
Understand purposes, roles, uses, and limits of college student development theory in college student affairs, administration, and counseling work
Understand the elements of developmental theory as applied to college students, late adolescents, young adults, and adults
Distinguish among college student development, adjustment, and learning outcomes
Understand the concept of "autonomy" and psychology perspectives on young adult development
Become familiar with the traditional college student development theorists and understand the traditional college student development theories, including: Chickering, Erikson, Kohlberg & Gilligan,Piaget & Perry
Understand recent, current, and evolving college student development theoretical approaches
Understand inclusive models of college student development for specialized campus populations and constituencies
Begin developing skill applying theory to college student practice
Understand major concepts of college adjustment and college student learning for young adults and adults generally, and specialized student populations, including: Academic adjustment, Institutional adjustment, and student learning; Social adjustment; Personal-emotional adjustment
Understand conceptual approaches to identifying, assessing, and intervening with college student adjustment concerns and psychological difficulties

This class presents college student counseling/student affairs work and counselor education from the viewpoint that effective practice is conceptually-based. The course is designed to introduce advanced students in higher educational leadership to the theoretical knowledge-base, attitudes, conceptually-driven skills required for effective college student counseling, student affairs practice, and administration.

Each class meeting will comprise a combination of lecture, discussion, and learning activities such as: instructor and learner demonstration, exercises, activities, and practice with case studies – at times in whole-class, individual, small group, or team formats. The balance of specific class meetings will vary depending on the topic and learning needs. Of course, lecture and discussion will be one key element of each class meeting.

The course includes several broad content areas: (a) general introduction to the developmental perspective and college student development in particular; (b) the psychological view of adolescent, young adult and adult development; ©) major traditional theoretical approaches; (d) recent, current, evolving, and inclusive models of development; (e) models of college student adjustment and learning; and (f) models of college student adjustment concerns and psychological difficulties.

Students are expected to (1) read all assigned readings from course texts in advance of the institute and all additional readings provided each day of the class week in advance of the next class meeting; (2) actively participate in class discussions, demonstrations, practice, and activities; and (3) contribute professional experiences and case material as appropriate during the institute.

All assignments and work must be submitted: according to requirements or detailed guidelines to be provided in class meetings; in professionally appearing form; following APA style guidelines where relevant; and on-time. All students are expected to have access to email, and competency with personal use information and communication technology, including word processing, presentation technology, and electronic searching.

Course Requirements and Grading:
Attendance and Participation 10%
In-class Reflective Writing Assignments 10%
Saturday Summary Exam 20%
Personal Reflection Case Write-up 25%
Major Project: Community College Student
Case Analysis 25%

Attendance and Participation

This summer institute course should be engaging, stimulating, and an enjoyable learning experience! Class attendance and full active participation during the entire class sessions are required. Students are expected to both attend class and actively participate in discussions and activities.

Each class meeting will conclude with a brief in-class reflective writing assignment. Each assignment provides students the opportunity to reflect on and integrate learning during the day’s activities. These assignments will produce informal reflective writing showing integration and will be completed before leaving for the day. Formal writing style, citations, adherence to APA format, etc., will not be required for these short responses.

This will be an assessment of content learning and knowledge development from pre-assigned readings and participation in the weeklong class. The exam will cover material from the texts and other assigned readings, lecture, and class activities. Students are responsible for bringing to class questions about readings and lectures. The exam will focus on a basic understanding of college student and young adult development; adjustment; learning; and difficulties. The exam will be designed appropriately to assess learning from within the institute format.

This will be an opportunity for student learning and application, and instructor assessment of: knowledge, understanding, and ability to apply class concepts and models. Students will prepare a report answering several questions about their own college student development, and several questions reflecting on their own college adjustment. (Students preferring an alternative writing assignment should meet with the instructor.)

The special learning goals, learning benefits, and challenges of conceptualizing experiences of the self will be discussed in class. Specific details and requirements of the assignments will be provide in class during the institute week. Portions of class meetings during the week will be devoted to project development. Students should leave the institute week with a clear outline and foundation, and will have made clear headway toward writing a final version of the paper at home after the institute week.

The major project comprises several parts: Students will: (1) select one topic from the course content (an aspect of development, adjustment, learning, or difficulties), (2) select a community college student population, (3) design and conduct a structured interview related to the selected topic with 1 learner from the selected population , (4) form and collect written assessments related to the topic from the same learner, and (5) prepare a report that introduces the topic, explains the population, gives a brief literature summary introducing the topic, and then provides a summary of findings.

Specific details and requirements of this assignment will be provided in class during the institute week. Portions of class meetings during the week will be devoted to project development. Students should leave the institute week with a clear plan for topic, population, structured interview, and objective assessment and will have made clear headway toward implementing and completing the project at home after the institute week.

6. Accommodating Students with Special Learning Needs: In accordance with university policy, a student who wishes to receive some instructional accommodation, because of a documented sensory and/or learning disability, should meet with the instructor to discuss accommodations.

7. Class attendance is a central part of learning and skill development in this course. Students are expected to arrive on time, attend entire class meetings, contribute to class discussions, and actively participate in activities, exercises, demonstrations, and practice sessions.