A Letter from Community Fellow Don Trapp, Multnomah County Adult Community Justice

Simulating the workplace environment

In this Capstone, I attempted to recreate the workplace environment. That is, the students, representing a work unit, were responsible for a work product. In this case, the examination of the impact of contracted services on recidivism. Students received background information on the department’s mission and philosophy, reviewed current literature on best practices in the field, and had an overview on research methodology. From that point forward, the students were responsible for all phases of the research.

Students were evaluated on two criteria

The students were evaluated on two criteria: the product (research paper) and the process. Regarding the former, the students were advised that producing the final report would be an iterative process. Students would submit drafts of the report for review by their peers. Suggested revisions would be incorporated into the next draft. Regarding the latter, students received a cursory review of group process techniques, supplemented by exercises, e.g., developing a mission statement for the course, and critically reviewing a paper.

Assessing student progress was a multidimensional process, including:

• Evaluating work products with regard to inclusion of principles/procedures from lectures
• Observations of students participation and practice of group process techniques
• Regular progress reports from work groups
• Student journals detailing personal perspectives, critical decisions that had been made, issues or questions regarding the course
• Student evaluation of self and course on issues of: accomplishment (to what extend were the students challenged in purposeful and creative ways), self-determination (to what extend did the students have reasonable autonomy over the course-and to what extent was this positive or negative), and self-actualization (to what extent were there opportunities for creative expression and personal growth)
• Work products and application of principles/procedures from lectures

Applied research in a real-world laboratory

The final report and presentations evidenced that the students incorporated information received through the lectures. Throughout the process however, it became evident that the students prior exposure to research methods, report writing, and statistical analysis was limited, as evidenced by comments such as,

"this [criminal justice and research] was a foreign subject to me"

" I have never been involved in a research project like this".

To other students, however, it was an opportunity to

"foster problem solving skills and [it] allowed us to draw upon our research experience".