Conflict Resolution
The Practicum Experience
The Conflict Resolution Practicum at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro is a student centered learning experience that is supervised by people at a variety of local organizations as well as monitored by the Program Director.
Placements represent a range of practice settings from schools, mediation centers, organizations and agencies. The practicum experience is designed to provide you with an experiential opportunity to obtain hands on conflict resolution practice in a variety of professional settings.
The purpose of practicum is to provide a structured conduit between classroom-based learning and the application of knowledge to supervised field settings. As such, practicum is an integral and vital part of the curriculum where classroom abstraction meets the applied world. The practicum course and associated field experiences create opportunities for students to evaluate, analyze and synthesize knowledge from substantive, theoretical, process, skills, and methods courses. Students are encouraged to create opportunities that test ideas, examine the strengths or limitations of various theoretical frameworks or to systematically examine and experiment with forms of conflict intervention.
Students will develop a variety of skills depending on their placement choices. The goal is to experience a wide range of activities geared to students’ future practice interests, apply theoretical models and perspectives to practice, network with conflict professionals in your community, and become active in local and national conflict resolution organizations and activities. Practicum, therefore, is a capstone course which serves as a bridge between academic substance and theory and its practical application in the community.
Students may participate in the growing activities of the Civic Project, work with individual faculty on research projects and community activities, and help develop training programs and workshops within the Conflict Resolution Program in addition to duties in their primary practicum placement site. In conjunction with the internship, students attend a Practicum seminar during the internship to provide guidance and support during the process. The seminar focuses on monitoring on-site practicum issues, preparing students to perform required practicum skills such as training workshops, group facilitations, or organizational assessment, and preparing a conflict resume in preparation for job search and private practice.
Each practicum site where you will undertake your various projects has agreed to accept student interns because they are interested in helping shape the next generation of professionals in conflict resolution. Practicum sites also have an interest in gaining your expertise in conflict resolution for their organization and this synergistic relationship is at the heart of making the most of your supervised field experience. Practicum sites do not receive compensation for their collaboration and our collective appreciation is often all that we can express. One source of satisfaction for many of the people at these sites is that they make a difference in your professional development and for the community. The program genuinely appreciates this connection to the community and works hard to maintain cooperative and friendly relationship with these people. The program continuously strives to build more bridges like these where students can gain initial entry level practice and valuable program and training experience.
Practicum provides opportunities that you must be active in creating. It provides the chance to explore employment settings and obtain a realistic feel for your level of expertise in conflict analysis and resolution. Practicum also offers you a preview of where conflict resolution skills are currently practiced or where they can be introduced. Practicum essentially allows you to explore the field in an individually focused yet supervised manner. Take advantage of this opportunity to explore and to appreciate the new contacts you make. Experiences like these can help establish your personal and professional reputation within the community. Contacts made here may assist you in seeking local employment upon graduation, though that is not a part of their responsibility. Remember that flexibility, as in any job search, is a key to employment and with the expansion of the field throughout the Carolinas and around the world your willingness to relocate greatly improves employment opportunities. Online students, particularly, are responsible for finding their own practicum placement. The program will assist online students in explaining the practicum.
Additionally, the student will attend a Practicum seminar to provide
guidance and support during the process. In addition to problem solving
on-site practicum issues with collaborative dialogue, the class prepares
students to facilitate training workshops and other group activities in
preparation for consulting and private practice.