Innovation with Integrity: Preparing Parent Educators Online

Abstract

We are living in an economic and social climate that is increasingly complex for families, with unparalleled demands placed on parents as individuals, and on their roles as caregivers and providers (Parlakian & Lerner, 2009). As such, there is a critical need for parent educators who can help parents navigate the challenges of daily life while building and maintaining positive relationships and environments for their children's development (Cooke, 2006). Effective parent educators must stay current in their knowledge of families' changing needs, parenting research, and pedagogical strategies. They also must employ innovative approaches to program delivery that keep pace with learner preferences.Here, we describe the redesign and development of a program to prepare parent education professionals to meet the needs of today's families: a graduate-level university program adapted for online delivery. The online platform affords participation by a wider range of students than does the traditional classroom program, thereby increasing the potential number and diversity of professionals in the field (Rickard & Oblinger, 2003). It employs distance communications technology in program delivery, thereby enhancing student comfort with e-learning tools (e.g., asynchronous discussion boards, chat rooms, modular courses), which increasingly are deployed in the field. Most importantly, the platform facilitates the integration of critical dimensions of educational quality, such as attention to beginners' professional development, to address competency standards through an environment that capitalizes on contemporary learning research. do this, three sections are presented. First, we argue that high quality, innovative parent educator professional development is essential in providing support for today's families. We then describe the key design and pedagogical elements of our program. Finally, we reflect on the program's accomplishments to date and identify challenges to online instruction that must be met if the field of family education intends to move forward with this method of delivery.The Need for Quality Parent Educator DevelopmentThe formal practice of parent education began as a gathering of mothers in the 19th century and developed into a professional field a century later (Smith, Perou, & Lesesne, 2002). During that time parent education evolved into different formats including; individual instruction in homes, small group classes, mass media approaches (Carter, 1996), and more recently, Internet and social media applications (Walker & Greenhow, 2008). Parent education addresses families across all socioeconomic strata and takes place in a variety of settings, such as hospitals, schools, early childhood programs, mental health agencies, churches, and social service agencies (Carter, 1996). Today the National Parenting Education Network (NPEN) asserts that the goal of parent education is: To strengthen families by providing relevant, effective education and support and to encourage an optimal environment for the healthy growth and development of parents and children, (NPEN, n.d., ¶ 1).Decades of research on parenting practices (Collins, Maccoby, Steinberg, Hetherington, & Bornstein, 2000; Herbert, 2004), parent-child relationships (Heath, 2005; Reis, Collins, & Berscheid, 2000), and children's development (Shonkoff, & Phillips, 2000; Thompson, 2006) provide the foundation for the content and delivery of parent education. Research-based outcome frameworks help parent education programs define ways in which participants' needs are addressed, and suggest benchmarks for measuring effectiveness (see Smith, Cudaback, Goddard, & Myers-Walls, 1994). In turn, evaluative research on parent education programs has resulted in a deeper understanding of the process, delivery, and contextual elements that help parents achieve their learning and behavioral goals (Jacobs, 2003). Components of effective parent education programs include: (a) a delivery mode that meets the specific needs of the parents in the group rather than assuming a one-size-fits-all parenting intervention model, and (b) professionals who are well-prepared to meet the needs of individual parents and unique groups (Carter, 1996; Smith et al. …