Butler Resources - Study Case #4 'Failing Classes'

One thing the student could do is see a counselor. There are three counselors at Butler that I know of and that is Linda Clarke, who is located in the West Dorms on the El Dorado campus, Margaret Hageman, who is in Andover, and Eddie Tejeda, who is at McConnell. They can be emailed at Linda Clarke: lclarke@butlercc.edu Margaret Hageman: mhageman@butlercc.edu Eddie Tejeda: etejeda@butlercc.edu. Another thing the student will need to do and I would highly recommend, is to confess everything to his parents. They will eventually find out, so better he tell them straight up than wait until they find out from someone or somewhere else. Of course for the grades, he can get a tutor and that information is on the butler’s website http://www.butlercc.edu/aac/peertut.cfm. There are books, articles, and pamphlets the student can find on the following sites http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3752/is_199809/ai_n8815840 http://www.ericdigests.org/pre-926/stress.htm and http://www.geneseo.edu/CMS/display.php?page=3774&dpt=health. College students can also post their situations on a forum at this site http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/graduate-school/143645-pass-fail-classes.html

Academic Honesty

I think academic honesty is not used enough. Students are continuously copying other peoples work without giving them credit, which would be considered plagiarism. A lot of the times, students don’t even know they are doing it. There are the ones who copy work straight out of a website and ones who copy bits and pieces from many websites. There are also students who take the sentences and just mix the words around a bit or replace some of the words, and a lot of time this is done without any credit given to the original resource. I think that in a research paper you should, let me put this in a simple way, research on the subject, and then with the information that you have read and your own, put it into your own words along with cite credits. Of course, working with other students on homework or sharing ideas should not be considered being academically dishonest. There are sometimes, however, students will procrastinate too long on their assignments and they think they wont be able to do it, but need it with only a little time to spare. How do they usually do this? They resort to plagiarism. Not all the time, but it happens a lot more than you would think. Students should report other students they find doing each others work or students who have plagiarized. I also think students need to be educated on what true academic honesty is, because they may be honestly plagiarizing. Meaning, they may think they are academically honest, but have been plagiarizing without knowing it.
http://www.umanitoba.ca/student/advocacy/academic_honesty_quiz.shtml
http://depts.washington.edu/grading/issue1/honesty.htm
http://www.sfu.ca/policies/teaching/t10-02.htm
http://www.mlaforum.org/volumeV/issue2/article1.html
http://www.virtualsalt.com/antiplag.htm

Academic Plan

In the beginning, I wanted to have a college degree before I settle down and have a family so that I would have something to fall back on later on in my life. I then decided that I should go into something I have always enjoyed and am good at understanding, which is psychology. Well, I am enjoying learning new things so more and more I have been thinking about continuing on past an associate’s degree. I am still indecisive as to whether I will continue on or not, but I think I will see when I get closer to the end of my associates degree. I have been doing so well in school and if I continue doing well I will probably be able to have scholarships that I can apply for to continue my education, which would be a big bonus. The more I learn, the more ideas I have and the more I think about different career choices. Some of the things that I thought I might enjoy is to be a marriage councilor, or be a therapist for a business, which is becoming more and more popular. I don’t really care for the abnormalities and drug abuse parts of psychology and will probably stay away from that. The work of being a social worker for child care and the such is also not very pleasing to me and would seem like a depressing job when it comes to seeing some of the things children go through and taking them from home to home. Who knows, I am still thinking and finding out more each day, but I will probably continue on with my education and learning.

http://www.psywww.com/careers/index.htm
http://www.apa.org/students/student1.html
http://psychology.about.com/od/careersinpsychology/Careers_in_Psychology.htm http://psyccareers.apa.org/
http://www.psychology.org/links/Career/

Community Service

Helping the homeless; it’s talked about everywhere. Everyone has given something to help the homeless. Usually this consists of giving money, canned goods, as well as coats and clothes. There’s just one problem I don’t think people actually think about. How is it going to help them in the long run? We keep giving, but the numbers keep rising. They are stuck in a vicious cycle, most likely due to lack of motivation. We are teaching them to rely on us to provide them with their needs. Instead, I think we should not only give them their physical needs, but also give them what they need to develop as an independent person. The majority of the homeless feel hopeless; it kind of goes hand in hand. We should encourage them to be confident and help them get a job. Not only that, but show them how to take care of themselves and teach them what it takes to be successful. One way we can set this up is by creating a free program, in which they will have to commit to. This program should have group classes, support, and individual attention for the homeless to acquire their achievements. Another way an individual can help the homeless is by being involved with a homeless person. First by evaluating where the person is at, what they have done in their life, and what they need to get out of the rut they may be in. Then helping the person with these needs and supporting him/her emotionally in their getting on their own two feet.
http://www.nationalhomeless.org/publications/facts/Whois.pdf
http://www.homeless.org.au/
http://www.mungos.org/facts.shtml
http://www.doe.state.in.us/alted/whyhomeless.html
The following link has a similar program that I found interesting:
http://www.doe.org/help/?utm_source=google_nat&utm_medium=ppc&utm_term=homeless

Time Management

Most of my time is committed to work, school, and boyfriend. I work and go to school from eight to five, Monday through Friday. On Monday and Tuesday evenings after work, I go to belly dance class on the west side of Wichita. Then I go to my boyfriend’s house and he usually makes dinner for me or we cook together. After dinner, I devote my time to homework, the same as I do the other evenings. Of course I leave myself time to shower and prepare for the next day. On the weekends I usually spend my time with my boyfriend, running sound for different events, along with church on Sunday morning and evening. Every Thursday and Friday I tell myself that I have all weekend to catch up on homework, but once it gets there, I tend to procrastinate. I think procrastination is the number one problem students struggle with in their academic studies. Making a list of the things you need to do helps a lot in setting your daily goals and promoting motivation. I have found, however, that when the list has fewer items, the more likely you leave yourself open to disappointment. The reason for this, is because things don’t always go the way we want them to, therefore, when we don’t get the items scratched off, it feels as if you didn’t achieve anything. When you put even the smallest items and make your lists big, it feels like you have done a lot, thus motivating you to achieve more goals. I used to do this before and I think I need to start making my lists again. They help me prioritize my time and organize everything that I need to do.
http://www.d.umn.edu/kmc/student/loon/acad/strat/time_man_princ.html
http://www.yorku.ca/cdc/lsp/tmonline/time.htm
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~acskills/success/time.html
http://www.timethoughts.com/timemanagement/time-management-college-students.htm
http://www.princetonreview.com/college/research/articles/life/studentAthletes1.asp