Counselor Education Courses Research Articles

The Evaluation of a Hip Hop and School Counselor Education Course

The Evaluation of a Hip Hop and School Counselor Education Course

Teaching Gatekeeping to Doctoral Students: A Qualitative Study of a Developmental Experiential Approach

In addition to developing teaching, clinical supervision, and research skills, new entrants into the counselor education workplace will also face the challenging responsibility of gatekeeping. Gatekeeping can be both anxiety-provoking and time-intensive for new faculty members. To enhance the confidence and competence of new entrants into counselor education faculty positions, strong doctoral preparation in gatekeeping is critical. In this article, the authors describe a developmental experiential model to infuse gatekeeping instruction into counselor education and supervision doctoral courses. The model includes six experiential gatekeeping modules designed for instruction at three developmental levels. A phenomenological qualitative study of the model was conducted, leading to the discovery of four themes: importance of gatekeeping, behind the curtain, understandings vary by developmental level, and uneven responses to experiential learning. Developmental, pedagogical, and administrative implications for counselor educators are discussed.

Integrating Technology in Counselor Education Programs

The use of technology has become an indispensable part of our society and our daily lives, and it has been prominent in education since the beginning of personal computers, particularly with computer assisted technology and learning. In the field of counseling, counselor educators and supervisors can use this medium to enhance their teaching and practice. In the last two decades, counseling professionals have seen the value of computer-based and technology-assisted applications in the delivery of counseling courses and counseling supervision. This paper highlights a few common ways technology may be used generally across the educational spectrum, provides a comprehensive analysis of technology-assisted teaching and supervision that is utilized in the delivery of counselor education courses and training, and discusses advantages, disadvantages, the legal and ethical considerations that must be addressed when using technology in counseling courses and supervision, and the importance of infusing technology in counseling courses.

Examining Student Classroom Engagement in Flipped and Non-Flipped Counselor Education Courses

Examining Student Classroom Engagement in Flipped and Non-Flipped Counselor Education Courses

Whose Line Is It, Anyway? Using Improvisational Exercises to Spark Counselor Development

ABSTRACTNew counselors often struggle to respond to the unpredictability and ambiguity inherent in clinical interactions. Improvisational acting exercises can be used to help counselors-in-training become more comfortable thinking on their feet. By creating a safe environment for students to engage in extemporaneous expression, educators can model ways of developing rapport while helping students increase their sense of interactional self-efficacy. This article describes the benefits of using improvisational exercises in the classroom to encourage spontaneity, experimentation, and self-reflection. Example exercises that may be incorporated into counselor education courses are provided.

Predictors of Counseling Students' Decision to Pursue a Gerocounseling Specialization

The authors examined which variables predicted the likelihood of counseling students' decision to pursue a gerocounseling specialization by using logistic regression analysis. Results found that overall interest, perceived preparation, training willingness, and importance were predictive factors. Curriculum strategies on how to implement these variables into existing counselor education course work are discussed.

International Collaborative Cross-Cultural Teaching Project: United States and Taiwan

This article describes a collaborative e-learning project between the United States and Taiwan. The project involved teaching a synchronized graduate-level rehabilitation counselor education course through the use of Skype. Report of the process, impact on live teaching, and evaluation of experiences from students and professors of both universities are presented while advantages and disadvantages, limitations and recommendations of e-learning are described.

Bringing Life to e-Learning: Incorporating a Synchronous Approach to Online Teaching in Counselor Education

Recently, many counselor education programs have considered whether and how to offer courses online. Although online counselor education courses are becoming increasingly common, the use of synchronous (real-time) teaching approaches appears to be limited at best. In this article, we provide a context and rationale for incorporating online synchronous learning experiences, discuss the use of simple technologies to create meaningful educational experiences, and present one model for combining synchronous and asynchronous instructional approaches online. We also share our perspectives on the contributions of synchronous learning components, reflect on student and instructor experiences, and discuss issues to be considered in developing online counselor education courses.

Personal Growth and Awareness of Counseling Trainees in an Experiential Group

This article reports research that utilized a grounded theory methodology to explore the experiences of 14 master's level counselor trainees who participated in an experiential group as part of their counselor education course work. Data were collected through weekly reflection journals. Trainees identified 30 systemically interconnected aspects of their experiential group participation as contributing to their personal growth and awareness. The emergent model is presented and discussed in light of the current literature. Implications for counselor training and future research are discussed.

Letter Writing: A Tool for Counselor Educators

ABSTRACT Letter writing is an integral component of narrative therapy practice. In addition to the benefits of letter writing in counseling practice, letter writing may hold interesting possibilities for use in counselor education. This article provides a brief review of the benefits of letter writing in counseling practice and discusses the potential use of letter writing in counselor education courses. Guidelines and important considerations are offered, and examples of three types of letters are included.

Teaching Theories of Couples Counseling: The Use of Popular Movies

This article presents a model for using Hollywood films to teach theories of couples counseling. The authors first review the literature on using motion pictures as an instructional strategy in counselor education and psychology courses in general; advantages and disadvantages are highlighted. Next, they describe how they integrate movies into a typical one-semester course that emphasizes communications, systems, and psychodynamic models. The authors discuss the films they show, how each film illustrates constructs specific to the theory being taught, the exercises they use to enhance the learning experience, and student responses. They conclude by citing the advantages of using films to teach couples counseling if the instructor uses a variety of strategies to maximize student learning.

A Course in Spiritual Dimensions of Counseling: Continuing the Discussion

The author adds to the limited literature on counselor education courses that are based on the spiritual aspects of counseling by identifying the need for such course work, comparing and contrasting 3 previously published articles on such courses, and introducing a 4th such course in detail. Novel aspects of this newly introduced course and student assessment of various course activities and assignments are highlighted. The article concludes with questions that suggest future research directions.

Group Work Is Not Just for the Group Class Anymore: Teaching Generic Group Competency Skills Across the Counselor Education Curriculum

This article makes a case for teaching generic group competency skills (GCS) across the counselor education curriculum. After presenting their assumptions the authors will demonstrate the use of GCS in several counselor education courses and discuss teaching applications.

The Teaching of Leadership, Cooperation, and Communication in a Class Entitled: Management of Counseling Programs

This article describes the use of collaborative project-based learning as a format for teaching a course in management of counseling programs. Student reactions concerning opportunities to develop leadership, cooperation, and communication skills are provided. Recommendations for teaching this course and other counselor education courses in such a nontraditional manner are included.

The Impact of Learning About Child Abuse Trauma

Many counselors attend graduate courses and seminars on the treatment of child abuse and neglect. Educators and trainers need to focus on the feelings and reactions elicited from exposure to the content of these courses. This article provides information on the impact of learning about the trauma of child abuse.

Preparing Students for Professional Roles by Simulating Work Settings in Counselor Education Courses

The authors describe a method for preparing novice counselors for professional environments by using classroom meetings of semester‐long courses to simulate college student affairs divisions, community agencies, school counseling offices, and other work settings.

Thinking About Transformation: A Counselor Educator and an Artist Speak of Creativity, Art, and Therapeutic Change

This article presents a dialogue between a counselor educator and a distinguished artist that grew from the meeting of these two during an opening show of the artist's works where they found striking parallels between the creative process that Elias describes and the successful/unsuccessful healing process in A Shining Affliction; A Story of Harm and Healing in Psychotherapy (A. Rogers, 1995), a work being used in a graduate counselor education course taught by Dimidjian. Two paradigms are proposed for the parallel creative and healing processes, and the article closes with a poem composed by a student in tribute to Rogers.

Editorial: Is a Specialty in Psychiatric Rehabilitation Really Needed?

Questions are raised about the need for, and impact of developing specialized training programs in psychiatric rehabilitation. It is suggested that the alternative of bolstering basic rehabilitation counselor education courses might be preferable.

Comparative Effects of Teaching Basic Counseling Competencies Through Brief Microskills Practice Versus Mental Practice

Students enrolled in an introductory counselor education course who lacked training and experience as interviewers were randomly assigned to one of two short‐term attending and responding skills training groups or a wait‐control (WC) group. Brief microskills practice (MS) and mental practice (MP) training methods were used in the two treatment groups. All students conducted posttraining simulated counseling interviews, and their videotapes provided data for analysis of the quality of their interview competence and their proficiency with attending and responding skills. MANOVA and follow‐up analyses of data from independent ratings of the videotapes indicated that MS was superior to MP and WC on attending skills, MP led to superior performance on responding skills, and neither MP nor MS led to significant differences in perceived competence on qualitative dimensions.

Counselor Education Courses in Program Evaluation and Scientific Research: Are Counselors Being Prepared for the Accountability Press?

Counselor education programs listed in Counselor Preparation 1980 were surveyed to determine the proportion of required coursework devoted to instruction in scientific research and program evaluation. Regardless of area specialization, department size, or academic unit in which the program is housed, responding counselor education programs were found to devote approximately twice as much required instructional time to scientific research as to program evaluation. A rationale and suggestions for change are presented.