Kiser Processing Model

H.S. Internship

Kiser Integrative processing model

I am going to use the integrative processing model developed by Kiser to better learn to better learn from my internship experience. The best way I can think of to do this so I am able to get the most out of this exercise will be done as follows. For each step Kiser suggest I will first explain the step using Kiser's word then my own, I will then follow the step and I will then explain why each step is useful. Once I am finished with the whole process I will then summarize how the model has helped me think about my internship.

Step I Gathering Objective Data From Concrete Experiences.

Kiser describes the process of step one by writing, "In you fieldwork, experience forms the basis for learning as each specific experience is an event from which learning must be extracted....... During the experience, as well as after the fact, you are gleaning information about the situation and about the behaviors, actions, and/or interventions of the various participants. To me this means to choose an experience that I have gained lots for knowledge from or had issues with and describe the experience without including my feelings based soly upon the events.

The event I have chosen to discuses is the phone calls which I was instructed to make to potential serve-a-thon volunteers. When being instructed on how to make these calls I was lead by a woman named Megan. Megan led me to a desk which was separated from the other callers. I was placed in a small room with one desk, a phone, and a computer. I was then given a sheet of paper with a script in it telling me what to say to a person who would answer then call and what to leave as a message. Megan told me it was self explanatory. She then gave me a binder filled with names and numbers and told me if I have had any question to come over and ask her. I agreed and made my first call with her standing in the cubical with me. The first call was very simple and straight by the book. It was an answering machine which I simply read off the script and I had no issues. Megan then looked at me when I was done and told me I had done a good job. Once Megan left I continued to make my calls. I spent 8 hours my first day making calls. I got many answering machines and spoke to many people. With my limited information provided by the script this experience taught me a lot.

This step is very important because it allows me the chance to look back at the experience and think about what actually happened not just how I felt about what was happening. I do not simply think about weather I liked the experience or disliked it, whether I felt I gained knowledge or wasted my time.

Step II Reflecting

Step two is described by Kiser as "engaging in reflection by assessing your own personal reaction to the situation. You might think of this step as examining your "involvement of self" in the task at hand..... Another important component of reflection is evaluation of your own behavior in the concrete experience." My interpretation of this step is to write about how the experience made me feel during and after the event. This step is also a chance to think about how well I completed the event.

When reflection on the first day of phone calls I am rushed with negative feelings. The overwhelming feeling that I think of when I reflect on the day's events is that of disappointment. I did not like the task I was doing for a few reasons. First I felt alone, sitting there in my cubical with all the other sitting together in an open work space. Secondly I felt like the job I was doing would yield no positive results largely because many of the numbers I dialed where not the names of the people on the list which showed that the list was very out dated. I felt disappointed that the organization would assign me to such a minor task. Lastly I felt upset by my lack of knowledge, for example people would ask me things about the cost of serving that were not on the sheet and I had no knowledge of how to put them on hold in order to get the information and I was not taught how to remove names from the list so next year some one will waste there time calling wrong numbers just like I needed to do. When I think about how well I did at the job, I feel that I did my job as well as it could have been done as a person with my knowledge of the event.

This step is very useful because it helps me to see how I feet, and when combined with the first step it allows me to get a better understanding for what I enjoy doing and gain knowledge from and what I do not like doing or do not feel rewarded by. This step combined with the first helps me better understand why I disliked what I was doing. And it helps me understand what I could have done to my job better or what could have been done to help me get more out of the experience.

Step III Identifying Relevant Theory and Knowledge

Kiser writes that for step III "you should identify theoretical, conceptual, and/or factual