Fostering Self-Authorship in the Student Conduct Environment

Abstract

The Learning Partnerships Model (LPM) (Baxter Magolda and King, 2004) is a framework for promoting self-authorship. Self-authorship is a holistic development theory that employs three dimensions (epistemological, intrapersonal, interpersonal). The LPM can be tailored to a variety of academic tasks, including course design and curriculum development. The model has also been used in co-curricular settings to design community-standards programs, internship programs, and to improve academic advising.

An exhaustive review of the literature on one particular co-curricular setting, the student conduct office, revealed studies about the conduct process and student outcomes achieved through that process but no research on student conduct and self-authorship. I explored how the principles of the LPM are evident in student conduct environments where learning is occurring. The sample consisted of student conduct environments at three institutions where students involved in the conduct process achieve learning outcomes that exceed the learning outcomes achieved by like students at other institutions based on a national quantitative assessment (NASCAP). I spent three days on each campus, observing office operations that included 21 conduct hearings. I interviewed every hearing officer in the three student conduct offices (n=8).

I found that the principles of the LPM were evident in these environments. Hearing officers created conditions for learning and development to occur. Specifically hearing officers' engaged in four key behaviors that support the principles of the LPM. They created a connection with the student, sought to understand the conduct incident, provided encouragement, and promoted learning and autonomy. Hearing officers purposefully built a welcoming environment in order to solicit information that would enable them to understand students' lived experiences and developmental capacities. They partnered with students to create expectations for future behavior that encouraged student autonomy and accountability. These actions by hearing officers created conditions intentionally to promote learning and development.

The findings provide tangible strategies that can be used in the student conduct process to promote self-authorship.