UA Reflection Essay
Accounting 221- Fall 2013 (Beth Killy)
December 6th, 2013
1. The objectives that I had for being an undergraduate assistant for Accounting 221 were to accurately take the daily attendance, monitor electronic device usage, and help the professor proctor mid-term exams. My goal in completing these objectives was to gain more responsibility through taking attendance and proctoring exams, as well as be fair in monitoring the usage of electronic devices. I wanted to be an asset to Professor Killy and help her with as much as I could- within my “duties” and through any extra assistance that I could be. I think that I completed these objectives to my liking. I did feel a sense of increased responsibility for all tasks involved because my job directly affected the grades of the students in the class. Some days it was challenging taking accurate attendance and making the right discretional calls pertaining to the electronic device usage, but I knew that Professor Killy trusted me and I trusted myself to handle the situation. During the exams I was responsible for proctoring to the upper level of Taylor Auditorium. It was a large area and decent amount of students that I had to distribute exams to, monitor during the exam, and collect/order at the end of the exam time. There were no problems with proctoring the exams, taking attendance, or monitoring electronic devices and I think I did a fair and accurate job, therefore, yes I completed my objectives for the semester.
2. The responsibilities of taking attendance and monitoring the usage of electronic devices matched my expectations exactly. However, I don’t think I fully comprehended what was entailed in proctoring exam. I thought I could just pass the exams out, sit back and relax, then collect them at the end. However, I had to check the student’s entire calculator’s to make sure they were suitable for the class, make sure students sat a seat’s space away from each other, watching for cheating during the exam, and sort the exams by section once they were turned in. It was a little more involved than I originally thought.
3. The most rewarding experience of being a UA was the trust that Professor Killy had in me. I felt a lot of pressure proctoring the exams in the balcony of Taylor Auditorium, but knowing that she trusted me to do it gave me the confidence and reassurance that I could. One of the anticipated outcomes I included in my application was to feel a sense of achievement through being an UA. I wanted to feel important and necessary to Professor Killy and I think that I achieved that through her trust.
4. The most challenging part of being a UA was proctoring exams. Like I mentioned in #2, there was a lot more involved in proctoring exams than I originally thought and like I said in #3 there was a lot of