Student Reflections on the Course

Course: Community Justice Interventions

For many students, the Capstone was an opportunity to experience the interaction of theory and practice in criminal justice. For example, one student wrote:

"This Capstone has challenged some of the misinformation and beliefs that I have had about the criminal justice system. The criminal justice Capstone opened my eyes to the complexity of decision making, policy, and supportive data."

Most other students commented that the course was:

"...useful to gain a greater understanding of how the department worked, and to better understand many of the principles behind corrections departments in general."

Group process and autonomy

The most challenging aspect of the course appeared to be the group process and the autonomy the students had to make decisions and direct the course of the work. The structure of the course was clearly a new experience for the students, as evidenced by comments like:

"I have never been involved in a project that gave me so much freedom to choose", and "never before have the students, in any of my classes, been able to have so much influence on the direction that the class takes."

Some students clearly reveled in the autonomy:

"Learning to work in a group setting is something we all need to learn to master, and I am glad I was able to work on that."

"For me, this [the autonomy] becomes a personal challenge that I am willing to take on, and have grown because of it."

While others would have clearly preferred a more traditional course structure. As one student explained:

"I like it better when people tell me what they want me to do and I do it."

Student evaluations of self and course

The following are excerpts from student evaluations on selected dimensions:

Accomplishment

• "I have been challenged to work with a group of people that had a wide range of skill and ability to complete a project that I felt was very important to the community in which I live"
• "In this class, I got a chance to go into the criminal justice field and work with people"
• "I gained a better understanding of the research process from start to finish. I’ve never had that before."
• "The course provided plenty of challenges, some involving the actual workload, some dealing with group members on an interpersonal level. As far as the work is concerned, I purposely chose to work in the quantitative group because I am not good with hard data, numbers, and the analysis therein. I thought this would be a good way for me to step out of my comfort zone a bit and try something different. Much to my surprise, I did enjoy the data collection process and the decision making that our group went through…I also learned a great deal about group dynamics.
• "Throughout the course of studies here at PSU I have worked in groups many times, but with this class I felt there was much more on the line: the credibility of our study, the reputation of the university, the culmination of my four years at the this university, etc."

Self-determination

• "I felt a large degree of autonomy. I think that for some members of our group, this was not the best method of operation"
• "I enjoyed this aspect [the autonomy) of the class. It is hard to get that many people to agree on an issue or an idea, yet we were able to accomplish this."
• "Looking back on the class, I feel that one of the most positive and negative aspects of capstones (in general) is that there is too much autonomy for group work. I enjoy self-direction, am motivated to complete tasks in a timely fashion, and challenge myself to compete against deadlines. With these attributes, this class was wonderful for me."
• "There was a reasonable amount of autonomy. I know that this is something I need to work on. I am so used to having someone tell me what to do. It’s hard to change, but I feel I’m beginning to understand the importance of autonomy."

Self-actualization

• "The thing that I found most satisfying out of this class was watching the project develop over the six months."
• "I’ve never been working with a group of students for that long time, so I guess this is the opportunity for me to experience how one culture different from another. By cultural differences, I meant ways that people solve problem within their group…this has been a very good experience for myself working in group."
• "I felt I learned a lot about myself during my experience in the capstone. Not everything goes as planned and I feel as a person I will use this as a learning device in my near quest for a career."
• "I did feel as though I got to be creative graphically. And when I finally did my graphs correctly, I felt very proud. As far as research is concerned, I feel as though I bettered myself in that area."
• "On a personal and professional level, it [the Capstone] gave me the opportunity to reflect on becoming pro-active in learning more about how my community functions, where my tax dollars go and why, how I might contribute by participating and encouraging volunteer work, and finally how to help pull together a group project in the midst of personal and professional diversity."
• "I…feel more comfortable digesting and drawing conclusions from numbers–something I was not comfortable doing at the beginning of the course."
• "I learned how to utilize a computer program that I previously had not used. Using Excel was a good learning experience for me, as well as a new found skill."