B. Comprehensive Placement Process

3. Ways to Manage the Placement Process

(a) How campus infrastructure supports placement process

Students graduate, campus staff move on, and agency personnel get new jobs. As a result, there should be a way to ensure that the services your project offers do not fall to the way side. Community members who rely on these services do not disappear when you do. One of the key reasons to develop the infrastructure for campus-community partnerships is to provide the continuity needed to adapt to new needs and a long-term commitment to reach its goals. As a result, a succession plan (i.e., a recruitment, mentoring, and training strategy) is a necessary component of any program.

See the appendix for a chart of the organizational structure and how it relates to the placement process. In reviewing this chart, note relationship between different levels of student roles.

Campuses should consider creating a Student Project Coordinator position for as many of the student service placements as possible, regardless of where their origin (e.g., Bonner Scholars Program, Federal Work-Study, service-learning courses, Greek or Club service projects, etc.).

(b) Site Supervision: Roles & Responsibilities of....

Below are brief descriptions of how key individuals fit into the placement process outlined above.

(1) Student Project Coordinator

From a practical standpoint, the most cost-effective way to manage a large number of student service placements is to create a student volunteer coordinator position for every service project involving more than a couple of students.

Within the placement process outlined above, the student project coordinator’s role is to ensure that the student and placement supervisor complete their responsibilities. Beginning with the volunteer fair, they assist prospective, first-time student volunteers in understanding what they can expect from the service site, helping them match the student’s interests and skills with the appropriate role within a project. With regular student volunteers, the student project coordinator works with each student to help them reach their learning and service objectives. This process often includes regular meetings with the student volunteers for reflection and additional training. At the same time, the student project coordinator is assisting the placement supervisor in recruiting, matching, supervising, and evaluating the performance of the occasional and regular student volunteers who serve at their site.

NOTE: in student-led service projects, the student project coordinator is, in fact, the placement supervisor, and in that role performs the steps of the placement process outlined for the community partner.
Training and support for these “student project coordinators” is addressed in other sections of this handbook.

(2) Community Partner

To make the comprehensive placement process work, community partners must agree to:

• assist students in the preparation of the Agency Request/Job Descriptions, the Community Learning Agreement (i.e., placement contract) and the evaluation of the student’s overall service and learning goals;
• advise in overall program design and implementation at the participating campuses and community organizations;
• use the results from training and assessment activities as an important part of a continuous strategic planning process for the partner organization;
• take part in the relevant meetings at the campus;
• participate in information sessions, training and workshops either as a trainer or a participant and/or advisor.

(3) Campus Service Staff

The campus service staff should serve as a counselor and a coach for the student project coordinators and for individual students. Because of their experience, campus service staff are often in the best position to assist individual students in their search for a developmentally appropriate service placement. The campus service staff should ensure that all the necessary paperwork is filled out and relevant tracking and feedback processes are carried out by students and community partners. Where appropriate, this individual(s) should also serve in an advisory capacity in relation to training, performance assessment, and project evaluation.

(d) Bonner Web-Based Reporting System (Bonner WBRS)

The Bonner Foundation has developed a web-based reporting system (www.bwbrs.org) to assist in the overall management of the Bonner Scholars Program. It will play a central role in facilitating the comprehensive placement process. A “User’s Guide” will accompany this system.