Technology continues to evolve and has had a seemingly unabated influence on how we learn, communicate, and interact with others both professionally and personally. Today’s high tech tools, high speed networks, and fast-paced digital exchanges are more an intricate part of our global society than ever before (Friedman, 2005). The school counseling profession is no exception and must also evolve to keep pace with our dynamic and rapidly changing world. Yet, even though the profession has developed exponentially in recent years, we have perhaps underutilized technology as a tool to improve our school counseling programs (Baker, 2001). Since school counselors play an important role in shaping students’ ability to learn, communicate, and share information with others, school counselors would be well served to understand how technology can enhance their work.  As Sabella (2003) points out, “for better or worse, computers are changing the ways in which we conduct our work, interact, and especially make decisions” (pg. 212). 

The Potential of School Counseling Technology

            Van Horn & Myrick (2001) suggested that the work of counselors’ in the areas of distance learning, college and career searching, counseling interventions, training and supervision, networking and support systems, and information retrieval and dissemination is affected by technology.  For example, by creating multimedia presentations that can be distributed over the Internet, school counselors can increase the speed by which information is communicated to large quantities of people. Sabella and Booker (2003) wrote about how to use technology to promote a guidance and counseling program among stakeholders. The authors suggested that using technology may have many potential advantages, such as the ability for information to be instantaneously updated and received by all stakeholders in a cost effective manner, enhanced collaboration capabilities, and the ability to present visually appealing, informative, and creative presentations.

            To better conceptualize the wide ranging potentials for how technology can help school counselors in particular, Sabella (2003) provided a useful categorization scheme which can help thinking about how to use and implement technology. Technology can help counselors in one or more of four areas:

1.         Information/Resource: In the form of words, graphics, video, and even three-dimension virtual environments, the Web remains a dynamic and rapidly growing library of information and knowledge.

2.         Communication/Collaboration: Chat rooms, bulletin boards, virtual classroom environments, video conferencing, online conferences, electronic meeting services, e-mail – the web is now a place where people connect, exchange information, and make shared decisions.

3.         Interactive/Productivity tools: The maturing of software and web-based programming has launched a new level of available tools off the shelves and on the Net. These technology tools can help counselors build and create anything ranging from a personalized business card to a set of personalized website links. Interactive tools help counselors to process data and manipulate information such as calculating a GPA or the rate of inflation, convert text to speech, create a graph, or even determine the interactive effects of popular prescription drugs.

4.         Delivery of services: Most controversial, yet growing in popularity, is how counselors use the web to meet with clients and deliver counseling services in an online or “virtual” environment.

How Are School Counselors Actually Using Technology?

            A review of the relevant literature does include some examples of how school counselors are using technology, although many (if not most) of the examples are clearly dated. For instance, counselors who have used computers to assist them in their work have done so in areas such as computer-assisted live supervision (Froehle, 1984; Neukrug, 1991); discussions of counseling issues with other counselors (Rust, 1995); supervision (Myrick & Sabella, 1995); advocacy (Stone & Turba, 1999); counselor training (Cairo & Kanner, 1984); school counseling program promotion (Sabella & Booker, 2003); as part of counselor interventions with children (D'Andrea, 1995; Glover, 1995; Shulman, Sweeney, & Gerler, 1995) and counseling simulations (Sharf & Lucas, 1993). Probably the most extensive use of computers in counseling so far has been in the area of career development and guidance (e.g., Bobek, Robbins, Gore, Harris-Bowlsbey, Lapan, Dahir, & Jensen, 2005; Chapman & Katz, 1983; Friery & Nelson, 2004; Haring-Hidore, 1984; Harris, 1972; Katz & Shatkin, 1983; Kivlighan, Johnston, Hogan, & Mauer, 1994; Pyle, 1984).

            Computer, networking, and other technologies have rapidly changed in recent years.  However, knowledge of how school counselors can use existing and emerging technologies is substantially absent in the professional literature.

Why is Technology Important for School Counselors?

            Most counselors would agree that they perceive themselves as having to meet increasing workloads with either the same or reduced resources - that is, they are having to "do more with less." Thus, the common cry among counselors is "How can I provide quality services and programs (i.e., continue to be effective) for my students in a more efficient manner?" The appropriate use of technology (e.g., productivity software) is one viable solution for dealing with this problem. The necessity for a comprehensive and integrated approach to counseling, including accountability, has become increasingly important, especially as fewer counselors are working with increasing numbers of clients in all sectors. Without help, counselors may feel overwhelmed, unorganized, or lost as a result of the sheer quantity of information they need to manage. Consequently, effectiveness and motivation may suffer.  Technology tools have the potential to make some aspects of the counselor's role more efficient, accurate, and automated (Tyler & Sabella, 2004). This is especially true in a profession that is dealing with very high numbers of students per school counselor. For instance, on the average, the school counselor in an American public school is responsible for counseling 488 students (American School Counselor Association, n.d.) although a great deal of variance exists.  In 2004-2005 school year, the average student-to-counselor ratio was 951:1 in California. In Wyoming and Louisiana, the student-to-counselor ratio was 218:1. To implement effective school counseling programs, the recommended minimum student-to-counselor ratio is 250:1 (American School Counselor Association, 2003). Technology has the potential to help counselors manage large caseloads more efficiently while working on reducing the student-to-counselor ratios to more reasonable levels.

            Technological competency has also become an ethical issue, one that strikes at the core of competency and student safety. The ASCA Ethical Standards section on Professional competence section E.1. (Professional Competence, section “c” states that the professional school counselor “strives through personal initiative to maintain professional competence including technological literacy and to keep abreast of professional information. Professional and personal growth are ongoing throughout the counselor’s career.” It is also the position of ASCA that:

Professional school counselors collaborate with parents and educators to promote awareness of high-tech dangers among students and cultivate personal safety and security skills related to technology usage. Professional school counselors maintain a basic level of technological literacy which, coupled with expertise in human development, allows them to provide educators and parents with guidelines for the appropriate use of technology by students. (ASCA, 2006, The Professional School Counselor’s Role,¶ 4)

            To efficiently and effectively serve students, school counselors should be armed with the same technological resources to which their students often have access. This enables counselors to communicate with students and parents on such issues as college and career exploration, two topics central to a high school counselor's role. In 1984, 27 percent of high school students used computers to locate career information. This increased to over 57 percent in 2002 (National Center for Education Statistics, 2003).  Over the past decade, many computer-assisted career guidance systems have been developed and shown to be effective in promoting career development and exploration (Bobek et al, 2005).  Children are surrounded by technology today, and technology is a more integral part of their daily lives than it is for most adults. Avoiding or ignoring technology in our profession will continually diminish our abilities to do our work in a timely and effective manner. Eventually, the “low-tech” school counselor will face ethical issues, such as functioning within the boundaries of individual professional competence. Counselors who decide to "opt out" of information technology such as the Internet will essentially be working with students and parents who will perceive them to live in a world that no longer exists.

            Overall, one would be hard-pressed to find any aspect of our modern lives that is not being affected by the rapidly expanding enterprise of computer-related technology (CRT). Lindsay (1988) wrote, "Computer technology has revolutionized many aspects of our society and is without a doubt the most significant innovation of the century." It is, therefore, inevitable that computer technology is changing the counseling profession as well. As Sampson, Kolodinsky, and Greeno (1997) point out, "During the past 30 years, computer applications have become an increasingly common resource used in the delivery of counseling services" (p. 203). The future holds only more changes and developments that promise to create new opportunities (and challenges) for how we work, live, and play. Whether we like it or not, information technologies are now essential tools for manipulating ideas and images and for communicating effectively with others - all central components of a counselor's job (Sabella, 1998).

The ASCA Model as an Organizing Framework

            The American School Counselor Association’s (ASCA) National Model provides a framework by which counselors can design, coordinate, implement, manage and evaluate their school counseling programs (American School Counselor Association, 2003).  The ASCA National Model is composed of four interdependent elements representing the structure of the model: foundation, delivery system, management system, and accountability. Each component is critical to the overall organization of the model, but the delivery system speaks to how the school counseling program is organized to provide programs and services to students. The delivery system’s four components, guidance curriculum, individual student planning, responsive services, and systems support, describe how the counseling program is structured to provide the needed programs and services to students and the larger school community. 

            The current study sought to analyze data previously collected by Sabella (2005) to describe the various ways school counselors used technology.  The ASCA National Model’s Delivery System components were used as an organizing framework to categorize the qualitative data.  Specifically, this study sought to answer the following research questions: Are counselors using technology to implement all four components of the ASCA National Model’s delivery system?  Of the four components of the ASCA National Model’s delivery system, is technology use in one component more prevalent than in the other three components?

Method

            The data for this study were obtained from an open-ended electronic survey.  Sabella (2005) collected data by soliciting participation via e-mail from approximately 18,000 school counselors who subscribe to the SchoolCounselor.com eNewsletter. Using an open-ended survey question, he asked participants to communicate how and for what purpose they used technology in their professional work.  Participants were encouraged to report ways they used technology to make their work more effective, efficient, or more enjoyable. 

            Forty-nine (49) people responded to the survey, including people who worked as school counselors, career counselors, or program coordinators for non-profit organizations providing contract counselors to public schools.  Approximately 90 percent of the respondents were from either the United States or Ontario, Canada (N=44).  Ten percent (N=5) did not indicate where they lived.  No other demographic data were collected.  Participants’ responses were used in more than one category when appropriate. One respondent replied with information she had recently learned in an online course, rather than information about how she had implemented technology in her professional life; therefore, her response was not included in the analyses.

            After reading respondents’ answers, the data were analyzed on two levels. First, the delivery system component for each technology application respondents mentioned was determined. After the data were coded by delivery system component, common themes among the respondents’ answers within these four components were identified. To increase internal validity, the data were coded and categorized three separate times by the first author without referring to a reflexive log in which all decisions were recorded. Next, the data were analyzed independently by two of the researchers to place respondent statements into codes.  The inter-rater reliability among the researchers was 92%.   For each code, 100% agreement among the researchers was required before the final categorization of each disputed code.

Results

            School counselors reported using technology in each of the four components of the ASCA National Model’s Delivery System, particularly within the school guidance curriculum and system support components. Figure 1 presents the frequency respondents reported using technology in each of the four delivery system components, and Figure 2 reports respondents’ use of technology by the specific codes and categories created by the researchers.

Figure 1.  Number of times technology use in each Delivery System component was mentioned by respondents

 

Components of the Delivery System

(Reported frequency with which counselors’ use technology in each component)

 

	School Guidance Curriculum	Individual Student Planning	Responsive Services	System Support
Frequency	34	21	4	33

 

 

Figure 2.  Breakdown of codes used within each Delivery System component

 

School Guidance Curriculum

Increase students’ depth of understanding	11
Increase students’ exposure to material	13
Deliver information to parents	10

 

Individual Student Planning

Increase communication	5
Advising	2
Efficiency	14

 

Responsive Counseling

Peer facilitation	1
Responsive counseling	3

 

System Support

Document and demonstrate accountability	10
Increase access to material	7
Save time	16

 

School Guidance Curriculum

            School counselors reported using technology as it relates to school guidance curriculum in three major areas: increasing students’ depth of understanding of material, increasing students’ exposure to material, and communicating with parents. In most situations, technology was used to increase students’ depth of understanding and exposure to material in college awareness, career awareness, and classroom instruction. Counselors reported using technology for school guidance curriculum 34 times, making this the delivery system component in which technology was used the most frequently.

Using technology to increase students’ depth of understanding.  Many school counselors reported using technology to increase students’ depth of understanding of possible occupations, colleges, and classroom instruction. Technology allowed them to e-mail businesses, access Internet sites, and extract information that is otherwise difficult to obtain. One school counselor used the Internet to encourage students to explore potential careers and provide in-depth reports of the careers they choose to explore. She stated:

I have a PowerPoint that addresses the big idea “Why People Work”. I videotaped 5 workers in my school and inserted these 45 second responses to a few key questions into my PowerPoint. It’s like having 5 guest speakers in 5 minutes…I particularly like it because you can select certain people to video to challenge gender stereotypes about occupations.

 

            Regarding classroom instruction, another female counselor used technology with her elementary school students by graphing the responses to anger management interviews with community workers and exploring ways to cope with anger. She required students to pick a topic in which they were interested, research it, and “create a full presentation which must include a technology component…the students love the technology tools and put together great presentations.”

            Using technology to increase students’ exposure to material.  School counselors used technology to e-mail scholarship information to students, conduct college searches via the Internet, explore the college application process, and provide on-line access to classroom notes so that absent students could obtain the material they missed. One counselor ran a 15 minute live television show in homeroom everyday focused on her guidance curriculum and announcements. This enabled her to deliver material to the whole school and address current topics in a timely manner.

            Another school counselor provided an example of how school counselors can use technology to increase students’ awareness of college exploration tools. “Using the college’s classroom laptops, the students visited websites such as CSU Mentor and began looking at the online application process for FAFSA.”

            Using technology to deliver information to parents.  Respondents reported using technology to communicate with parents about school-related programs and opportunities, and to deliver important information to families in a reader-friendly and accessible way. Many counselors reported using web pages to deliver timely academic information. One counselor stated, “I plan to show these results [graphs showing range of GPA, SAT scores, and class ranks of senior students accepted into particular colleges] on a PowerPoint presentation to our seniors and their parents on college night.”

            One school was preparing to convert to online grade cards unless a waiver was signed articulating that a parent lacked access to technology. A counselor at this school stated most parents do not currently use INTOUCH, the school’s medium to provide parents with information regarding grades, attendance, and other information. By eliminating paper copies of grade cards, she hoped to increase parent involvement in technology.

Individual student planning

            School counselors reported using technology with individual student planning to improve communication, advising, and efficiency. Respondents articulated using technology for individual student planning 21 times.

            Using technology to improve communication.  One school counselor used a computerized translation device to communicate with a French-speaking student. Although she reported that the translation was not entirely accurate, the technology facilitated rapport between the student and counselor.  Another counselor reported using the Internet to communicate with students about how to improve their grades.

            Using technology for advising. One school counselor reported using technology when advising students on college and career selections based on interest inventories. Another counselor used technology by providing current seniors with graphs indicating GPA, SAT scores, and class ranks of previous seniors accepted into particular colleges to aid students’ college selection processes.

            Using technology for efficiency.  Respondents reported an increase in the efficiency in which they engaged in the administrative aspects of their profession. One counselor programmed 270 eighth grade students for ninth grade in 70 minutes by using closed circuit television. Other counselors reported using Microsoft Excel™ to track students’ grades.

Responsive services

            Responsive services were addressed through technology in two areas: peer facilitation and individual counseling.  Counselors reported using technology in this area four times.

            Using technology for peer facilitation.  In this study, peer facilitation is categorized as a responsive service because it refers to a program that responds to identified student needs.  One school counselor reported a “mail bonding” program she implemented to create a partnership between her students and college fraternity men:

We identified twelve “at risk” boys…I had just won a computer through a grant, and enlisted my son’s fraternity to act as e-mail buddies for these kids. Their behavior improved dramatically since they didn’t want their buddy to know that they were making bad choices.

            Using technology for responsive counseling.  Two school counselors reported using technology to reduce students’ anxiety.  An elementary school counselor used technology to “reduce new student anxiety…through e-mail with the previous school teachers and/or counselors.”  She allowed new students to electronically send messages to their old teachers, who in turn delivered them to their old friends who did not have access to e-mail.

            Responsive counseling often requires information to be transferred quickly, such as in an emergency. One school counselor used a three-way call translation service to communicate with non-English speaking parents when their child threatened to commit suicide at school. The same three-way call translation service was also used to communicate quickly about logistical issues.

System support

            Three patterns emerged from school counselors’ reported use of technology for system support: documenting and demonstrating accountability, increasing access to material, and saving time. Counselors reported using technology for this delivery system component 33 times.

            Using technology to document and demonstrate accountability.  Respondents reported that computer software applications such as Microsoft Access, Microsoft Excel™, SCAATAP, and Microsoft Outlook facilitated their accountability-related efforts. Using an Access database, for example, school counselors stated they could compare data across schools. School counselors also used websites to increase accountability through online surveys. One counselor reported:

I have developed an on-line survey tool that complies with No Child Left Behind required data for each senior in our high school. Pie charts, percentages of post-high school plans, and much more are available as well as nice data to present to administrators and Boards of Education.

            Using technology to increase access to materials.  Through Microsoft Outlook, websites, e-mail, Access, staff servers, and PDAs, school counselors reported using technology to increase access to materials regarding professional development, consultation among professionals, and program management. “I have created a ‘folder’… in our Microsoft Outlook based intranet for often used staff forms and documents,” reported one counselor. Another school counselor stated “we also have Palms that are loaded with our students’ information…our school has around 1500 students and often you know a name and a face, but not together.”

            Using technology to save time.  School counselors reported using technology to create quick and convenient systems of data collection to free time for other obligations.  For example, one counselor stated “I maintain a ‘Teacher Links‘ intranet that puts information in the hands of teachers and administrators at a moment’s notice.” Another counselor articulated how Microsoft Word™ enabled her to save time collecting information about accommodations for students:

A month before testing comes I collect information about accommodations for students that I need to know in order to plan for testing. I use a table in Word because I can sort the table in so many ways…Once we test in the Fall, all I have to do is modify the list for the tests that come up during the rest of the year.

Discussion

            Respondents in this study reported that technology positively affected their work in each of the four ASCA National Model delivery system components.  Within the school guidance curriculum, school counselors reported using technology to increase students’ depth of understanding of material, increase students’ exposure to material, and communicate with parents.  These factors enrich students’ academic lives because they facilitate deeper and more complete knowledge about issues of which they might not otherwise be aware.  Most colleges offer virtual tours, or at least offer detailed information about their institutions, on their websites. Since students may attend college far away from home, they may see their college for the first time only when they begin their Freshman year. Using the Internet to research colleges, students learn how to access information and apply it to their own decision making. Communicating with parents via e-mail is a form of asynchronous communication, allowing counselors to generate and respond to e-mail requests when they do not have other more immediate concerns.  This facilitates overall communication with parents by helping them stay informed of their child’s progress without having to schedule conferences or phone calls. 

            The second component of the delivery system, individual student planning, was facilitated by technology in three ways by the respondents in this study: communication, advising, and efficiency. Van Horn and Myrick (2001) asserted in their study of school counselors’ technology use that technology helped increase communication between parents and students, a finding echoed by the results of this study.  Since language barriers between counselors and their students are problematic in many schools, the report from the counselor in this study who used technology to overcome the language barrier she was experiencing is particularly interesting, and is just one example of how technology, when combined with a need, can solve practical problems.

            Regarding responsive services, peer facilitation and responsive counseling were facilitated with specific technology applications – most notably, e-mail. Using e-mail to communicate with peers allowed students to interact with people outside of their schools and communities, possibly providing them with a different viewpoint on particular issues.  Creating a faceless environment via e-mail might facilitate the provision of counseling services to students who feel more comfortable expressing themselves via a computer than in a more traditional face-to-face environment.  However, the provision of counseling services via the Internet needs to be done cautiously, and within ethical guidelines provided by professional associations.  For examples of ethical guidelines regarding technology and counseling services on the Internet, see section A.10 of the Ethical Standards for School Counselors (American School Counselor Association, 2004), and The Practice of Internet Counseling (National Board for Certified Counselors, 2005).

            Systems support activities were facilitated by technology in three areas: documenting and demonstrating accountability, increasing access to material, and saving time. Accountability is a critical issue when working in a school environment, and using specific software and websites enabled the respondents in this study to have credible information to accompany their decision-making.  Another critical issue is the amount of time that school counselors spend on administrative tasks.  Creating spreadsheets, documents, and websites with commonly used forms enabled school counselors in this study to save time on administrative tasks and spend more time on college awareness, career awareness, and responsive services for students.

Across the delivery system’s four components, school counselors stated that technology has improved their professional work. The results of this study confirm prior research findings that technology is an enabler, allowing for more efficient counseling (Van Horn & Myrick, 2001; Bobek et al, 2005).  Although all responses, when taken together, suggest that technology enhances counselors’ professional work, many counselors did not indicate using technology across all four ASCA National Model delivery system components.

            A strength of this study is that it disaggregates data on counselors’ technology use by the four components of ASCA’s National Model’s delivery system. This should allow researchers and professional development providers to identify areas counselors are using technology to better focus their efforts. The lack of research on this topic, coupled with the lack of relevant technology training in many school systems, calls for a reassessment of where schools are placing their limited resources for school counselors. More professional development work focused on increasing school counselors’ familiarity with and understanding of how technology can assist them in their professional work is necessary.  Additionally, school counselors need continuous access to an Internet-connected computer to fully reap the benefits of technology.  Therefore, it is imperative that counselors have a computer in their offices on which they can organize student information and use the Internet.

            One limitation of this study is that the sample obtained was a selective group of people. Sabella (2005) invited the 18,000 subscribers of his newsletter to share how they are using technology, and only 49 people responded, yielding a response rate of less than one percent. Therefore, this study may be an example of homogenous sampling because the sample was a self-selected subgroup of the population of school counselors who subscribe to this newsletter. Since this is an online newsletter, the readers may be more technology-savvy than school counselors who do not read the newsletter.  Clearly, our sample is not representative of all school counselors. 

Future Directions in School Counseling Technology

            Future research could address the differences in how school counselors use technology across the elementary, middle, and high school levels. For example, Owen and Weikel (1999) found that counselors working in middle schools and secondary schools used computers more frequently than counselors working in elementary schools. The limited research on this subject does not provide enough knowledge to understand why and how the differences exist among the different levels of school counseling practice. By disaggregating the use of technology among counselors by grade level, research could assess what factors influence middle and high school counselors to use technology more than elementary school counselors.  It would also be interesting to determine if differences in technology use among younger and older counselors actually exist, or if this common belief is a myth.  Since technology use has boomed over the past couple of decades, it is possible that younger counselors feel more comfortable navigating the Internet or using Microsoft Office products than do older counselors.  It would also be interesting to examine if the availability and/or use of technology increases the effectiveness of implementing the ASCA National Model delivery system in schools of varying socioeconomic levels. Counselors working in schools that have high socioeconomic levels may benefit from using technology because many students and parents have access to technology in their homes.  In this situation, counselors, students, and parents have similar levels of access to technology.  On the other hand, counselors, students, and parents in schools that have lower socioeconomic levels might not have the same level of access to technology.  In this case, students and parents might benefit from their counselors’ understanding and use of technology because they do not have access to technology themselves. Their counselor could locate documents and important forms, research college and career options, and serve as a liaison between students and the Internet. Perhaps future research could also identify some of the many factors influencing school counselors’ use of technology so that our profession can more fully benefit from the emerging and available technology.

            Owen & Weikel (1999) found that 88 percent of school counselors report having an assigned computer in school to support the counseling program. Through a 7-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (lacking all confidence) to 7 (having total and complete confidence), the researchers asked respondents to indicate the degree to which they felt confident using a computer. The mean score was 4.86, suggesting that school counselors can benefit from further professional development with technology applications.  Given the rapid growth of technology, would this finding still be true if the same study were conducted today? What would school counselors across the country say about their confidence for using technology at this time? Indeed, if the levels of technological competency (and literacy) among school counselors were better known, professional development opportunities that are more focused and meaningful could be developed.

            Overall, acquiring and becoming proficient in using technology tools comes at a price in the form of both financial and human resources. Yet, the significant demands of the school counselor’s job and the fact that we now live in a high-tech world makes using technology imperative.  The school counseling profession must continue to understand how particular technologies may be best suited for effectively fulfilling our unique duties within the high-pressured and high-stakes world of education.

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