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##  Transition of Career Development University Courses to Electronic               Formats. ERIC/CASS Digest.                                                   

Preservice counselor education programs usually include two courses             on career development theory, research, information and practice.               Often theory and research are addressed in one course and career                information and career counseling practices are included in                     another.  The World Wide Web (WWW) has burgeoned with sites devoted             to career information.  Many groups, including the Federal                      government, have turned to the Internet for delivery of                         career-related information. It has become apparent that the old                 didactic "occupational information" courses need to be transformed              into electronically enhanced career and educational information                 systems courses.  Once electronic enhancement of face-to-face                   instruction occurs, it is tempting to move to the delivery of                   courses through distance education means. GUIDANCE FROM TWO                   STUDIESCertainly counselor educators are receiving guidance from            within the profession as they determine how technology can be used              to enhance the preparation of counselors.  However, sometimes it is             instructive to review statements from other disciplines.  Selected              findings and recommendations from two studies are examined in terms             of possible implications for electronically enhanced career                     development distance education courses. 
1. What's the Difference?             A Review of Contemporary Research on the Effectiveness of Distance              Learning in Higher Education, (Phipps and Merisotis,                            1999). 
Finding.  Research has tended to emphasize student outcomes            for individual courses rather than for a total academic                         program. 
Implications. Career development courses which feature               didactic rather than clinical instruction have been the first to be             electronically enhanced.  As other counselor education didactic                 courses make use of interactive technology and, if clinical                     instruction is added to this mix, ways must be found to assess the              performance of practicing counselors who are graduates of programs              where they have been prepared by a cluster of electronic                        courses. 
Finding. Research does not take into account differences             among students. 
Implications. Career development theory and                   content have long recognized that individuals differ in their                   interests, values, skills, and abilities.  Much research remains to             be done on preferred ways of acquiring career information and on                career information processing patterns. 
Finding. Research does not            adequately explain why the dropout rates of distance learners are               higher. 
Implications.  Counselor educators must be clearly                    cognizant of dropout-rate facts if well-intentioned individuals make            suggestions to collapse certain counselor education courses and even            entire programs into a distance education consortia configuration.              It may well be, however, that career and educational information                courses could serve as a fertile ground for experimenting with                  formats that will decrease dropout rates.    If a career development            course offered via distance education was constructed as a personal             information journey, it could be a source of data on whether a                  course that focuses on personal meaning has higher retention rates              than courses that do not use such an approach. 
Finding. Research              does not take into consideration how the different learning styles              of students relate to the use of particular technologies and                    research focuses mostly on the impact of individual technologies                rather than on the interaction of multiple                                      technologies. 
Implications. The newest Web-based courseware                   programs feature multiple technologies. Increasingly it will be a               question of which technology is the best for particular content for             a particular learner. The courses offered by the British Open                   University often include a mix of media and materials and are                   expensive to produce.  One course was designed by a 40-person course            team and will be among the first seven offered in the United                    States.  The material for this course "include four books, several              study guides, five specially produced half-hour television shows,               and a set of audiotapes" (Blumenstyk, 1999, A 36).  Of the 300+                 courses developed by the Open University, only six are designed to              be completely Internet based and these are primarily in the area of             computing and information technology. 
Finding. Research does not              include a theoretical or conceptual framework. 
Implications.  The             preparation of career counselors requires both didactic and clinical            instruction.  It is in the clinical arena that those who prepare                counselors can make a major contribution in building research                   models.  For example, do research designs adequately address whether            didactic instruction learned through electronically enhanced means              contribute to building better clinical skills? 
Finding. Research              does not adequately address the effectiveness of                                digital "libraries." 
Implications.  This concern is also being                addressed by ACA, NCDA, ACES, and ASCA. The Web is a very open                  system with no quality control in terms of what types of career                 information and career development sites are constructed.  Many                 sites are developed by self-proclaimed career development experts               with little background in career development theory or experience in            working with the target audience for which the site was developed.              Some responsibility rests with federal and state government offices             that have awarded money for the development of such sites. Counselor            educators who develop electronic syllabi should include links to                sites that represent the highest ethical and content standards of               the profession. They should not be reticent to point out                        shortcomings of sites that are not based on sound career development            theory and which do not reveal the credentials of the site                      owner/developer. 
2. Recommendations from The Virtual University &             Educational Opportunity, (Gladieux and Swail,                                   1999) 
Recommendation.  Place access at the core of systems                    design. 
Implications. The Gladieux and Swail study reports that               a "digital divide" is being created in that the distribution of                 computers is "highly stratified by socioeconomic class" (p. 17) and             that there is wide disparities in access to computers by income,                race/ethnicity, and educational attainment.  The "digital divide"               grows even greater if counselors do not have access to equipment and            the skills to help clients access job openings, college admissions,             financial aid, and other types of career and educational                        information.  New counselor education graduates and experienced                 counselors who do not receive such preparation are at a serious                 disadvantage.  Further, they may place their clients at a serious               disadvantage.  Perhaps there is a "digital divide" in the                       preparation of counselors.  Some university counselor education                 programs may have far greater access to computing resources than                others. 
Recommendation. Keep the promise of technology in                     perspective. 
Implications. Technology can assist in locating                  career and educational information but clients must act on the                  information.  Although technology can help prompt actions, it often             takes face-to-face human interaction to help clients sort                       information, rehearse actions and follow through to achieve personal            goals. 
Recommendation.  Learn from the distance-learning                      pioneers. 
Implications. Faculty members at universities like                  Virginia Tech where a distance education career development course              is being offered and The University of Tennessee where the first                Web-enhanced career development course was developed can provide                valuable insights in terms of designing instructional activities                that seem to work in graduate courses.  British Open University                 personnel have valuable information to share in terms of emphasis               that is placed on team approaches to course development, course                 development costs, and the proper mix of face-to-face versus remote             instruction. 
Recommendation.  Take action to narrow the digital               divide. 
Implications.  The "digital divide" between trained and               untrained counselors should be a particular focus of university                 counselor educators. Here are some straightforward suggestions:                 Support counselor educator colleagues who want to learn new                     technologies. Convert occupational/career information courses to                Web-based courses. Advocate for access to computer classrooms.  Ask             counselor education interns to assist practicing counselors in                  learning how to use the Web. 
Recommendation.  Monitor progress                toward equal access. 
Implications. In a time when 40 percent of               classrooms in schools with the highest concentration of poor                    students (measured by percentage of students eligible for free or               reduced-price lunch) have Internet access, compared to more than 60             percent of classrooms in schools with the lowest concentration of               poor students (Rowand, 1999), and when half the schools that are                connected to the Internet are connected only at the library/media               center or principal's office (Quality Education Data, 1998),                    counselors must become advocates for equal access to technology.                Counselors work with all students and they are in a position to make            strong arguments as to why they need technology to help students                enter further education and employment settings. SUMMARYThere             is little doubt that advances in technology have opened many new                possibilities for delivering instruction.  Even though the content              of courses that deal with career and educational information seem to            be a natural fit for electronically enhanced instruction, those who             prepare counselors need to be aware that there is a lack of quality             research on the effectiveness of distance education and that                    technology is creating a "digital                                               divide." REFERENCESBlumenstyk, G.  (July 23, 1999).  Distance             learning at the Open University.  The Chronicle of Higher Education,            pp. A35-A37. 
Gladieux, L. E., & Swail, W. S.  (1999). The virtual             university & educational opportunity.  Washington, D. C.:  The                  College Board.  [ED 428 637] 
Phipps, R. & Merisotis, J. (1999)                What's the difference?  A review of contemporary research on the                effectiveness of distance learning in higher education. Washington,             DC: The Institute for Higher Education Policy. [ED 429                          524] 
Quality Education Data.  (1998).  Internet usage in public               schools 1998 (third ed).  Denver, CO: Quality Education                         Data. 
Rowand, C.  (1999).  Internet access in public schools and              classrooms: 1994-98. Issue brief (NCES 1999-017).  Washington, D.               C.:  National Center for Education Statistics.  [ED 428                         755] 
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Dr. Marla P. Peterson is Professor of Counselor                  Education and Counseling Psychology at The University of Tennessee,             Knoxville, Tennessee. 
ERIC Digests are in the public domain and               may be freely reproduced and disseminated.  This publication was                funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational               Research and Improvement, Contract No. ED-99-CO-0014. Opinions                  expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect the positions of            the U.S. Department of Education, OERI, or ERIC/CASS.                        **Title:** Transition of Career Development University Courses to Electronic               Formats. ERIC/CASS Digest.                                                   **Document Type:** Information Analyses---ERIC Information Analysis Products (IAPs) (071); Information Analyses---ERIC Digests (Selected) in Full Text (073); **Available From:** ERIC Counseling and Student Services Clearinghouse, University of               North Carolina at Greensboro, 201 Ferguson Building, P.O. Box 26171,            Greensboro, NC 27402-6171. Tel: 336-334-4114; Tel:                              800-414-9769 (Toll Free); Fax: 336-334-4116; E-mail:                            [email protected]; Web site: http://ericcass.uncg.edu.                       **Descriptors:**  Career Development,  Counselor Training,  Distance Education,                  Higher Education,  Nontraditional Education, World Wide Web                  **Identifiers:**
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