Developing Helping Skills in an Online Environment

There is minimal consensus on the pedagogy of teaching interpersonal skills to undergraduate students entering the helping professions. This is problematic as many bachelor-level social workers and addiction counseling students have not consistently been taught interpersonal helping skills, yet many will enter the workforce post program completion. For those programs that have transitioned to online, the question arises as to whether students can meet the learning objectives of skill-training in an online environment. The study examined students’ mastery of content knowledge of students and their helping skills based on Carkhuffs’ ratings of skills. Another research goal is to process my teaching experience as the instructor who developed and taught the online course. This study used a mixed-method that utilizes pre- and post-test design and action research. The t-test of pre and post scores on knowledge and skills showed that there were significant differences on students’ skills. The results from the action research data sources suggest that helping skills can be developed in an online environment when instruction includes a dynamic learning environment including sessions with modeling, practice, and feedback. This study informs practitioners about the challenges with transferring skill-based material to an online format and the technology challenges that must be managed to facilitate learning in this new environment.

Name thesis:degree_name

EdD

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services: Counselor Education

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Cincinnati

Year dc:date

2012

Author dc:creator

• Gomez, Jill

Contributors dc:contributor

• Tang, Mei

• Counseling Education
• online teaching
• counseling skills
• helping skills
• synchronous
• action research
• interpersonal helping skills

Statement dc:rights

• unrestricted
• This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws.

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1353088163

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:etd.ohiolink.edu:ucin1353088163