Midterm Practicum Reflection

Midterm Practicum Reflection

Testing Services Department
Denise Stewart
Georgia Southern University

Higher Education Practicum

Professor Ralphel Smith
March 8, 2016

The Office of Testing Services at Atlanta Metropolitan State College (AMSC) is

located on the 2nd floor of the Academic Building 500 (Room 217). Testing

Midterm Practicum Reflection

services shares the building with The Department of Public Safety, Financial
Aid, Disability Services and various classrooms and faculty offices. The
Academic Building has undergone a recent renovation and some final
touches are being performed in certain areas.
The following is the list of the staff members in Testing Services:
Robin Knight, Interim Director
Email: rknight@atlm.edu
Tamese Strong, Testing Assistant
Email: tstrong@atlm.edu
Frankesha James, Testing Assistant
Email: fjames@atlm.edu
Interim Director Robin Knight is my mentor. She has done a great job making
me fell welcomed.
The staff members are informative and always helpful to me as I inquired
about department functions, their duties, the website and testing services
processes. I am so thankful to have a practicum that is operational until
7:00pm, Monday Thursday as well as 10:00am -2:00pm on Saturday with
normal business hours on Friday. The hours of operation gives more
flexibility with my work schedule, which increases my ability to complete the
required hours for this course. Asking questions about common business
practices, policy, procedures and shadowing the staff to learn how they
performed each task and interacted with clients has helped orientate me and
gain acceptance. On a scale of 0 5 with 0 = poor and 5 = outstanding, I
would rank my practicum experience at 4.
It is very beneficial to gain knowledge about other vital units of the college
through hands on experiences. AMSC is considered an access institution,
admitting a high volume of high school graduates, as well as students with
college experience, but have less than thirty transferable credits. Although
AMSC is an access institution, students must meet certain admissions
requirements that determine their ability or inability to take college level
courses and/or admissibility. As a result, a large number of applicants have to
take the Compass which is administered in the Testing Service department.
Proctoring a test can be very time consuming. The time it takes to administer
a test can vary greatly. The biggest eye-opener is the demand for testing
being met by such a small number of individuals. The staff does a good job
with the available resources maintaining a schedule that allows a lot of
flexibility to clients interested in taking various test types.
The Contemporary College student course is one component of my portfolio.
Learning what influences students, why they attend college, experiences that
contributed to students cognitive skills and intellectual growth helps me to
relate to students from various demographics. This understanding helps me

Midterm Practicum Reflection

to determine which type of materials to recommend for test preparation. It

allows me to break the ice for those anxious testers. Also, helps to recognize
those students who may perform better with a shorter testing period. In this
case, I would recommend they take a section of the test at a time. Applying
the information I learned in my Contemporary Student course has allowed
me the opportunity help students test successfully and to be effective with
my practicum.
My mentor and I have the same administrative philosophies as it relates to
customer service being a priority, going the extra mile, and advocating for
students as well as our staff members. Like myself, my mentor stays late
quite a bit to ensure tasks are complete. Also, she makes sure the students
are well armed with information regarding testing and how their results will
impact admissions and/or their ability to take college level courses. I truly
respect her hands on approach with each student instead of just referring
them to read the documentation or delegating all the responsibilities.
Overall, we both are focused on performing administrative duties with
integrity while complying with national standards, Board of Regents (BOR)
and institution policy to make decisions that help students rather than hurt
them. For safety reasons she advocated for reinstallation of locks that were
improperly installed during renovation and the carpet being secured properly
in doorways to prevent tripping. Working with a person that is committed to
providing the best possible experience for the student has resulted in a very
enjoyable practicum experience. Thus far, we have no administrative
philosophies that differ.
My years of experience working in a forever changing environment of
admissions, has prepared me well for any working environment. Having the
skills to enter data with speed and accuracy, paying attention to detail,
multi-tasking, managing time well, memorize passing scores and
determining if applicants meet qualifications based upon a sometimes
complex set of requirements can be worthwhile in many other areas.
However, having systems integration knowledge would be very beneficial
within my practicum experience. System integration would allow me to
seamlessly integrate the various test type scheduling sources with one
testing calendar. The system needs to have the ability to block certain test
types during certain dates, a communication tool to send reminders to
confirm scheduled test dates and a pre-check-in procedure for peak testing
times that allows clients to send a picture while checking online before
arriving. Having this knowledge would definitely help me make a positive
impact within my practicum experience.