As counselor supervision and training enters into the twenty first century there are revolutionary steps to be taken.  The counseling profession has come a long way from the traditional psychoanalysis of Sigmund Freud and live supervision by counselors and their trainees.  Historically, supervision and observation of novice counselors began with live in-session meetings, and has progressed methodically through one-way mirror, audiotape, and videotape observation.  Now, with the availability of the World-Wide-Web, practicum level counseling supervision can be provided to novice counselors electronically and without direct in-person contact. The two methods of electronically mediated supervision are – live or real time (synchronous);  such as communication by web-camera or streaming video and chat, and delayed time (asynchronous); such as communication via e-mail, listservs, and  threaded discussions.

Counseling practicum supervision by definition is a progressive educational process between one person in the role of supervisor who facilitates and evaluates counselor development, skill acquisition, and professional counselor behaviors of another person in the role of supervisee (Bernard & Goodyear, 1998).   This definition applies to either traditional or online supervision in any modality, with or without any technological or electronic assistance.

Furthermore, with online course management and delivery software systems such as Black Board or WebCT, educating and training the novice counselor can be more convenient and timely for the supervisor.  Watson (2003) presents a list of advantages and disadvantages to these online modalities.  The advantages are as follows: (a) online supervision can lead to more productive supervisory session due to the convenience of scheduling, (b) supervisees have a better selection of more diverse internship sites, (c) there is more effective use of supervision time, and (d) there is a greater pool of supervisors available.  The disadvantages are: (a) the expense of the technology, (b) the supervisor/supervisee’s knowledge of the technology and how to use it, (c) technology failures, and (d) the lack of personal contact. 

According to Watson (2003), technology will continue to play a more significant role in the counseling profession thereby revolutionizing the counseling supervision process.  In the next decade counseling practicum supervisors will further use technological advancements by having live streaming digital video for counselor training.  The novice counselor will be in session with her or his client and be able to be supervised with real time modalities followed up by immediate feedback through online discussion or text-chat modalities. 

This writer believes that the modality of online supervision is here to stay and has the potential to improve the clinical supervisory process.  How effective it is and how it can enhance counseling practicum supervision are questions to study further.  Cybersupervision (Watson 2003) has the potential to make counseling supervision more accessible, convenient, and at the very least might enhance the traditional supervision methods.  The purpose of the present paper is too integrate the literature in the Cybersupervision arena, making it possible to offer recommendations for online counseling supervision practice and further research.

The information collected for the present review was obtained through an extensive web-based search.   Both primary and secondary resources provided information through traditional and online journal databases.  Materials were obtained though online search engines and electronic databases at North Carolina State University, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Winston-Salem State University and the California Institute of Integral Studies.   The following database search engines were used to obtain the information; NC Live, EBSCO, ERIC and Psych Lit.  

Counseling, Cybersupervision and Online Learning

In the arena of an Internet delivered therapeutic relationship (online counseling), Cook and Doyle (2002), Murdoch and Connor-Greene (2000), and Murphy and Mitchell (1998) have concluded that the therapeutic alliance between counselor and client can be maintained intact over periods of time.  Specifically, Cook and Doyle report that the traditional face-to-face empathetic relationship can be established online. 

The literature in the arena of Cybersupervision is limited.  However, there is research to support both synchronous (real time; chats and web-camera) and asynchronous (delayed time; discussion threads and e-mail) personal communication in counseling and therapy and in teaching and learning.  Most research in this area is qualitative in nature.  Zuboff (1988) reported that the use of technology, specifically e-mail, can be used with efficiency and promotion of human contact where it could not otherwise be felt and experienced.  Furthermore, Zuboff (1988) suggests that e-mail users can receive a sense of psychological safety not otherwise experienced in the traditional classroom. Furthermore, Batak (1999), Joinson (1998), and Finfgeld (1999) all reported that e-mail communication provided and promoted self-disclosure, ventilation, externalization of problems, expression of feelings, self-empowerment and provided frames of reference for clients and people in therapeutic settings.  Stebnicki and Glover (2001) performed exploratory qualitative research using e-mail or asynchronous communication with a small sample size of master’s-level rehabilitation counselors in a practicum experience.  The inquiry found that the novice counselors received the following positive benefits from the experience: (a) increased self support due to their access to supervisors, (b) more relaxed and informal communications with supervisors, (c) increased comfort in disclosing personal feelings and experiences of the practicum experience itself, and (d) more commitment to processing and clarifying thoughts between the supervisees and the supervisors.  For this writer, the Stebnicki and Glover findings also indicate evidence of counselor development through the practicum experience because the participants have time for reflective thought processing.

Clinegerman and Bernard (2004) performed a study which directly supported the use of e-mail or asynchronous learning in a supervision practicum setting.  They conducted an exploratory quantitative study using e-mail as a supervisory tool and Bernard’s Discrimination Model of Supervision (1979 & 1999) as a supervision strategy.  Clinegerman and Bernard found that in a 15-week counseling practicum course e-mail can be used as an effective modality in the supervision process.   They postulated that the supervisee personalization foci of the Discrimination Model of Supervision and the adaptation by Lanning (1986) of the professional behavior foci, would be the major e-mail message focus across an entire practicum course.  There findings were significant and proved that e-mail, as a form of asynchronous learning, was “congruent with a focus on personalization throughout the practicum experience” (Clinegerman and Bernard, 2004, p. 91).  The research performed by Zuboff (1988), Batak (1999), Joinson (1998), and Finfgeld (1999), Stebnicki and Glover (2001), and Clinegerman and Bernard (2004) also appears to highlight the effectiveness and benefits of asynchronous communication in the supervisory process. 

In study of both synchronous and asynchronous communication in the practicum supervisory experience, Coker, Jones, Staples, and Harbach (2002), performed two experiments.   The supervision model techniques from Bernard and Goodyear (1998) were used in conjunction with face-to face, online, text-chat, and chat-with-video supervision techniques.  The studies were pilot pre-experimental designs.  Both studies used online, text-chat, and chat-with-video supervision based upon the practicum students’ interactions with their clients.  The strategy for the two studies was to examine the effectiveness of chat format supervision for novice practicum counselors.  The only difference reported between experiments one and two was that the participants were surveyed on the “comfortability” with the Internet, word processing programs, and e-mail in the second study.  Most of the participants reported feeling comfortable with an online process.  The results from these two experiments were that the web-based supervision was comparable to previous traditional modes of supervision.  However, in a satisfaction survey upon completion of the two courses, face-to-face supervision was preferred and web-based supervision was rated most convenient.  Through these conclusions, Coker et al.’s (2002) hypothesis was partially proven but not conclusively.  In the second experiment, the online and face-to-face session were compared.  The results showed that there was minimal difference in the modalities.  

 

Suggestions for Further Research on Cybersupervision

The literature cited above has contributed to the investigation, creditability and usefulness of technology in counselor education and supervision.  Counseling training can take place in an online environment, and for the novice counselor it can be an effective way to be supervised and acquire competence and confidence.  Further research  questions might include: Can effective counselor supervision take place in a totally online environment?  Can course delivery systems, such as WebCT and Black Board, integrate both the synchronous and asynchronous experience for enhanced counselor training?  Can cybersupervision work hand in hand with traditional supervision in order to make communication in counselor training more diversified?  Can traditional models of counselor supervision, like Bernard’s Discrimination Model of Supervision (1979; 1999) be applied to an online environment?

The following hypothetical experiment is proposed to address these questions and to contribute to the research  body  in cybersupervision and counselor training.  Future studies in this area must be both quantitative and qualitative in nature in order to see if past measures in counselor competence can be used in the cybersupervision arena and to discover possible themes in order to enhance counselor training programs in general.  

The proposal covers a 15-week cybersupervision via a WebCT-hosted counselor practicum course.  The Discrimination Model of Supervision (Bernard 1979; 1999) will be the theoretical framework for the course, and it will be organized and implemented in order to address both synchronous and asynchronous training and learning.  The goal of this experiment will be for counseling supervisees to learn, enhance, and achieve progress in their counseling competence skills through the use of technologically mediated interactions.  In addition, this study will also look at the issue of counselor self-efficacy, as the author believes that self-efficacy is an important factor in counselor supervisory training that not been studied within online environments.  The course will use the following methods to deliver supervision: (a) class or group text-chat, (b) individual text-chat, (c) video counseling sessions, (d) e-mail and (e) discussion threads. 

The design of this experiment will be five repeated associational N = 1 case studies.   This will enable easily transmittable information on conducting counselor supervision online and provides objective feedback regarding counselor development and the other variables in this study.  This AB design is less rigorous than the ABAB experimental case study design, but with repeated measures and replication of the experiment with five or more supervisees, this design will have sufficient validity.   This associational design will both quantify behavioral change in counselor competence, skill acquisition, and self-efficacy and qualitatively discover themes in cybersupervision.  Lastly, this experiment will test the functionality of Bernard’s (1979; 1999) Discrimination Model of Supervision in an online environment. 

            Specific objective measures of counseling competence and counselor self-efficacy would be employed.  The baseline measure for the AB design will take place in 3-week interval over a 10-week period prior to the practicum course.  This baseline will then be compared statistically to the intervention over a 15-week invention.  The hypothesis is that with supervisory use of synchronous and asynchronous positive reinforcement the all three variable will increase over the treatment period.  Qualitatively, this experiment will examine the themes within the Discrimination Model of Supervision supervisory roles and supervisees foci groups. From the information gathered, there will be recommendations stated for additional research in the area of this supervision model and cybersupervision in general.  

Discussion

Online educational curriculum is becoming more popular.  It makes sense to bring this medium of instruction into counselor training and supervision.  For those who still conduct counselor supervision by traditional means, it offers a new avenue of supervisor supervisee interaction that could not otherwise take place.  Cybersupervision by its definition is compatible with traditional definitions of practicum training. 

The findings of this inquiry indicate evidence that online supervision is a viable alternative.  However, the prior research in this area is minimal and is more general than specific.  First, there has been no reference to specific course delivery software systems.  There are specific advantages and disadvantages to each, whether it is Blackboard or WebCT.  For instance in Blackboard, the control and interface of the group dynamics are more robust and the system is more user friendly.  WebCT is a more robust and inclusive course delivery system.  In addition, there needs to be more discussion on the effectiveness of these delivery systems in regards to both synchronous and asynchronous learning.  At this time neither of the above delivery systems has integrated live video feed to observe live counseling sessions, and this must be achieved by other technological means.  Second, except for Clinegerman and Bernard (2004), studies lack presentation of a model for supervision.  Therefore, it needs to be made clear in future research what supervision model is being used so to identify whether it is compatible with cybersupervision.  Currently, there is no research substantiating that any supervisory model is more effective than another in an online medium.  Lastly, there must be training programs provided for both supervisors and supervisees in order for cybersupervision to take place effectively.  There must be a set of standard competencies for the online supervisory experience in order to provide effective and efficient teaching and training of future counselors.      

The purpose of the present paper was to review and categorize the literature in the cybersupervision arena, making it possible to offer recommendations for online counseling supervision, practice and future research.  This paper illustrates that the field of counseling has already evolved into an online environment, but there is a need to focus our future research into specific areas.   Learning in non-traditional or technologically enhanced environments has moved from the less common to a more normative existence in the educational arena.  Currently, there are a growing number of totally online counselor education programs from accredited institutions, such as Regent University, University of Phoenix, and the University of South Florida, and as a result, future counselors have choices to make based on convenience, type of educational arena, and course offerings.  It is our duty, as counselor educators, to enhance this process as much as possible, and take this next step into improving through further research the process of cybersupervision.

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Russell A. Chapman is an assistant professor of psychology at Guilford College and a doctorial student in the Counselor Education Program at North Carolina State University at Raleigh.  Correspondence regarding this article should be sent to Russell A. Chapman, 5800 West Friendly Ave., Greensboro, North Carolina, 27410. (e-mail: rchapman@guilford.edu)  The author wishes to thank Stanley B. Baker and March Hajre-Chapman for their assistance.