SILS Logo INLS 299 ( www.ils.unc.edu/field )

FIELD EXPERIENCE SEMINARS

Spring 2003

Three seminar options are offered this summer. Two are sets of three face to face meetings in Manning Hall Room 215. These are tentatively scheduled as follows:

These meetings will follow the seminar agenda given in http://www.ils.unc.edu/field/appx3.htm.

The third seminar option (the only one for those at a distance and perhaps the preferable one for anyone who have already completed most of their time on site) is an online discussion. The forum is provided as part of a Blackboard course management system. Those choosing the online option will be enrolled in the course. It will be accessible by Onyen and password.

Below are some guidelines primarily for the online seminar group (Seminar 3). The topics are the same as the seminar topics for the face to face groups so these guidelines may be useful for all the seminar groups.

The first topic for discussion is Description and Issues. Please follow the guidelines given in the seminar agenda and describe your site and the functions of the agenda. Describe your responsibilities during the fieldwork and provide a profile of the site -- who are the staff, who are the clientele, what resources are available, what services are offered by the agency and how the services are delivered. Describe one or two aspects of the site that you think are particularly interesting. Identify any issues (real or potential) that you observe having to do with personnel, resources, technology, services, impending change, new policies, or the like. For the online discussion, your first entry will be relatively long (the equivalent of speaking for 5 or 6 minutes) so it will be good to break it up into short paragraphs and even to use organizing phrases. Read the entries that others have made and respond to them looking for similarities or striking differences and in particular trying to identify issues that may form the basis for a theory/reality comparison in the second seminar. Please make a minimum of three entries by June 24.

The second discussion topic is entitled Theory and Reality. Here you are asked to relate one of the issues you have identified to the literature of the field. Please find and post a few (4-5) relevant citations along with a short summary of what the readings were about. Choose readings that are substantive and research-based. After a brief summary of what each reading is about, contrast the author's ideas with what you observed on site. You may want to make several brief entries with one or two readings each or one longer one incorporating all your readings. As above, please comments on the entries of one or two of your colleagues in the seminar. All entries for this forum should be completed by July 3 . Note: The topic you choose will probably also be the topic for the field experience paper that you will submit to your advisor.

The third and last discussion topic is Management Issues and Conclusions. For your initial entry on this forum, assume that you have become the manager or director (that is, assumed the position of your site supervisor), describe what things you would do the same way and what you would do differently. Tell us why. Describe your suggestions for improving the work flow or the services at your site. Read and comment on what your colleagues have said. End with a statement about what you learned about yourself and your career goals as a result of the field experience. All entries for this forum should be completed by July 22.. I look forward to hearing about your rich and wonderful experiences.

Page revised 6/10/2003.
Evelyn Daniel. Fieldwork Coordinator, 2002-2003