If you attended the faculty meeting on January 6th, then you met “Susan,” a promising young student whose one bad decision potentially impacted the future of her academic career.
Faculty watched intently as Susan, who was suspected of plagiarizing a portion of her assignment, was first questioned by her professor and then brought before the Academic Standards Committee. While Susan’s tale of woe may have been mildly entertaining, ultimately this scenario prompted spirited discussion about appropriate methods for approaching a student who has plagiarized as well as the next steps to take to resolve such situations.
For those of you not in attendance, here’s a fun fact: Susan is not a real person. The struggling student and her plagiarizing antics were brought to you by the Simulated Experiences at Saint Leo program. In accordance with the meeting’s theme of preventing plagiarism. One of our highly trained Simulation Specialists assumed the role of Susan and interacted with actual members of the Academic Standards Committee to illustrate and emphasize both their role and the role of all other faculty members in recognizing and responding to incidents of plagiarism.
Were you surprised or impressed by the interaction? This was only one example of what the Simulated Experiences can do. Almost any type of real-life learning experience can be put to paper and performed with your students. Simulations can be used in customer service, client interviews, diversity training, sales, professional interviews, patient education, and much more. Any interested faculty member can design a scenario (with our support) and then have it executed by the Simulation Specialist. These experiences are designed to give students real-world, on the job experiences before entering the workforce. Mistakes can be made in a safe environment without any significant repercussions. The classroom debriefing of these learning experiences, facilitated by the expert faculty member, provides rich opportunities for reflection and growth. Simulations are conducted through Zoom so that they can be used in any location or modality, including centers, online, blended, ICC, or VTT.
Can you see the potential for adding a Simulated Experience to your curriculum? If you are interested in meeting “Susan” or any of her myriad of her friends (avatars), visit our website or email one of the Saint Leo’s Simulation Specialists: Emily Kochanski or Samantha Parisi.
