The emergence of the Internet has transformed our society to an information society. Moursund (1995) stated that technology literacy is among the three basic skills for citizens of an Information Age (Roblyer, 2003) besides information literacy and visual literacy skills. In the counselling profession, technology literacy may not seen to be important enough to be considered as a 'must-know' competent. Myers and Gibson (1999) in their article "Technology competence of counsellor educators" noted that technological change is not even included as a need for counsellor preparation program in Hackney (1990) report titled “Changing Contexts for Counselor Preparation”.  

Myers and Gibson (1999) study on technology competencies for counsellor educators and students indicated that counsellor educators and counselling students lack a uniformly high level of technology competence in each of the 12 technology competencies tested areas.

The large research movement studying the impact of technology in counselling was only evident in 1990’s (Edwards, Portman and Bethea, 2002). Most of the researches related to the use of technology in counseling can be categorized into 3 main areas which are technology used in (1) record keeping, (2) data analysis, (3) cybercounseling and cyberlearning, and recently in counsellors training program.

As the result of this tremendous growth of technology application in the counselling profession, many professional organizations such as the National Board for Certified Counsellors, the National Career Development Association, the International Association of Educational and Vocational Guidance, and the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (ACES) have taken the initiative into developing standards and guidelines for technology competencies for counsellors (Hines, 2002).

 Among these standards and guidelines developed by various professional organizations,  perhaps one of the most suitable guidelines or standards that can be used by higher learning institutions to benchmark their counselor training program is the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision ACES (1999) 12 recommended guidelines of technical (technology) competencies for counselor education students. The main reason is that the standards really focus on technology competencies in counselor training and supervision and therefore it can be used as a point of reference when developing counseling training program in higher institutions. For instance, the University of Iowa has employed the ACES standards to assess its counseling graduates’ technical competencies upon completion of their studies at the university.

 The ACES 12 recommended guidelines of technical (technology) competencies for counselor education students is presented in Table 1 below:

 Table 1: Technical competencies for counselor education students: Recommended guidelines for program development. Source: ACES Technology Interest Network (1999)

  1. Be able to use productivity software to develop web pages, group presentations, letters, and reports.
  1. Be able to use such audiovisual equipment as video recorders, audio recorders, projection equipment, video conferencing equipment, and playback units.
  1. Be able to use computerized statistical packages.
  1. Be able to use computerized testing, diagnostic, and career decision-making programs with clients.
  1. Be able to use email.
  1. Be able to help clients search for various types of counseling-related information via the internet, including information about careers, employment opportunities, educational & training opportunities, financial assistance/scholarships, treatment procedures, and social and personal information.
  1. Be able to subscribe, participate in, and sign off counseling related listservs.
  1. Be able to access and use counseling related CD-ROM data bases.
  1. Be knowledgeable of the legal and ethical codes which relate to counseling services via the internet.
  1. Be knowledgeable of the strengths and weaknesses of counseling services provided via the Internet.
  1. Be able to use the internet for finding and using continuing education opportunities in counseling.
  1. Be able to evaluate the quality of internet information.

 

Background of study

This study was carried out as a response to Myers and Gibson (1999) urge to conduct more research to assist counselor educators in designing better counselor training program with incorporation of technology skills among counselors’ students. The participants of this study are 13 undergraduate students from the Bachelor of Education Psychology and Counseling program, University of Malaya. They are currently under practicum training in various organizations as counselor trainees. 12 respondents were positioned in several government agencies including 2 respondents at public hospitals, 8 respondents at public higher learning institutions and 2 other respondents at public service department. Only 1 student was placed in a corporate sector.

 

The counselling program offered by the Faculty of Education, University of Malaya was carefully planned and designed to prepare professional counsellors in various organizations in the government and corporate sector. Students are required to complete a total of 120 credit hours of training to be awarded Bachelor of Education Psychology and Counselling. The training program combines theoretical and practical approach to counselling.

 

As to keep up with recent trend of technology infusion in the counselling profession, a compulsory 3-credit hour course titled “Computer application for counsellors” had been added as part of the program requirement. The course was designed to introduce the counsellor students about basic computer applications software such as word processor, electronic spreadsheet, electronic database and presentation software. In this course, the student counsellors were involved in small projects related to the use of computer in counselling profession.

 At the end of their studies, student counselors need to complete 16-credit hour practicum training. The main purpose of the practicum training is to enable the student counselors to apply and practice the knowledge and skills that they have learned during their studies in a real life working environment. It is also a medium for the lecturers and trainers to analyze the student counselors’ knowledge, skills and competencies in the real workplace.

This study was carried out to identify to what extend that the knowledge and skills that the students, who were undertaking their practicum training, learned in the university are adequate in preparing them to be successful in their workplaces. However, this paper will only focus on the information and communication technology (ICT) competencies of the student trainees at their workplace. The philosophical framework of this research will be based on the standards of counselor technical competencies developed by the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (ACES) Technology Interest Group Network (1999).

 Findings of this study are essential in assisting the educators of the counseling program at University of Malaya to upgrade the effectiveness of the program.

 Research questions

The research questions of the study are:

  1. To what extend the students perceived that the ICT knowledge and skills assist them in performing their tasks as a counselor?
  2. What is the main ICT incompetence that the Bachelor of Education Psychology and Counseling student portrayed during their practicum training?

 Methodology

A qualitative research was applied in the study in order to gain deeper understanding of the topic from the students’ own perspectives during their practicum training experiences. Thus, data collection methods include open-ended questionnaire, non-participant observations, one-on-one interviews, review of documents and analysis of audiotape materials.

 

Open-ended questionnaire The students were asked to fill in an open-ended questionnaire related to their practicum experiences. There are 3 questions asked in the questionnaire related to their perceptions on how their learning experiences at the University of Malaya assisted them to handling their daily tasks as counsellors, problems that they faced during the practicum session and their recommendations on how to improve the program.

 

One-on-one interviews The researchers also conducted interviews with the students’ supervisors who were responsible to monitor the students’ performance and guide the students in handling their tasks at their respective organizations. The interviews were conducted during the researcher’s observation sessions.

 

Documents analysis Documents analysis were conducted as a supplement to the data collected. These documents are: (1) reports of the programs that the students conducted during their practicum, (2) 7 complete audiotapes of counselling sessions the students held with their clients and (3) the students’ logbooks, which documented their daily routine and activities at the organizations.

 

The vast amount of data collected from the transcriptions of fieldnotes, interview transcripts, responses from questionnaire and written reports were analyzed carefully. The processes include the reading through the data, coding and categorization according to the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (ACES) 12 recommended guidelines of technical competencies for counselor education students (1999). The data were then been compared to the ACES standards using a comparison table adapted from the standards.

 Findings

Findings of the study are discussed and presented below based on the 2 research questions: the students’ perceptions of the importance of the ICT knowledge and skills to assist them as a certified counselor, and the main ICT incompetence that the Bachelor of Education Psychology and Counseling student portrayed during their practicum training.

 a) Students’ perceptions of the use of ICT knowledge and skills

Students’ responses in the questionnaire differed from one another as their responses depend on the context of their working environment (i.e. government agencies or corporate sector) and available facilities at their workplace.

 However, the researchers found out that all 13 respondents agreed that the ICT knowledge and skills they acquired during their learning experiences in the university are very useful and benefits them in their daily tasks as a counselor. Some of them even expressed their regrets for not utilizing the opportunity to learn ICT skills while studying, as it has, in turn, affected their work in especially in record keeping and data management.  

 It is obvious from the students’ responses that the knowledge and skills of using Microsoft PowerPoint to create multimedia presentations that they learned and practiced in class is the most valuable skills in their work. This is true as the students’ logbooks demonstrate that the frequency of conducting seminars and workshops for staff and clients at their workplace is as often as once in two weeks time.

 Comments from the students’ supervisors also supported this finding as they stated that the student’s initiative to use Microsoft PowerPoint to present workshops content is a new and exciting approach as compared to the previous practice. Previously, workshops content were presented using overhead projector (OHP) which sometimes resulted in dull presentation. In fact, some of the supervisors were very pleased about the students’ initiative to teach them how to do it.

 b) The incompetence of ICT skills

Respondents’ ICT competencies were measured using a comparison table adapted from the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (ACES) recommended guidelines of technical competencies for counselor education students (1999) as shown in Table 1.

 Findings indicated that there are five main incompetence related to ICT skills portrayed by the graduates of Bachelor of Education Psychology and Counseling, University of Malaya in their future working environment. The first 4 incompetence were drawn out from the ACES standards while 1 was additional incompetence found out during the data analysis, which are: 

  • Utilizing word processing software to produce quality counseling-related reports (competency 1). The researchers found out that the quality of reports that the respondents produced need to be improved. Even though the students illustrated their ability to use word processing software to produce reports, it is apparent that majority of the students were either unaware of the importance of producing quality reports or do not know how to maximize the use of word processor features to produce quality reports. Analysis of the written reports revealed that students did not utilize the ‘margin’ function, the ‘table’ function, the ‘format’ and the ‘bullets and numbering’ functions in the software.

 Furthermore, some are unaware of the functions of specific keyboard keys such as ‘tab’, ‘spacebar’, ‘delete’, ‘backspace’ and ‘shift’ that results in poor report quality. For example, it is found that students always do not insert a space between two words, “…self-esteem.She…”. It is nice if the sentence were written as “…self-esteem. She…”.

Apart from the technical aspects, students were also found unaware of the importance of proper citation according to the APA style as required by the University, especially when quoting sentences from secondary source. For instance, student S1 wrote: "Jonassen (1999) stated that...", in which the correct citation should be: "Jonassen (1999) in Duffy (2000) stated that...  

  • Interpreting data from a computerized psychological testing program (competency 4). The incompetence in this category is found related to the skills of administering the psychological tests and interpreting the data produced from the tests. Only one student who was placed in the corporate sector pointed out this incompetence while others did not. It is probably due to the availability of the computerized programs at the corporate organization as compared to the government agencies.

 

  • Information searching skills (competency 6). Even though respondents stated that they are competent in searching information via internet, they were all agreed that they need more training on how to analyze and filter only relevant electronic information that is relevant to their needs.

 

Findings also reveal the type and scope of information that the respondents focus on when searching the net can be categorized based on 2 purposes: (1) information for clients and (2) to updating personal knowledge and skills.

Information for clients refers to as the information that suits the clients’ needs, including career and employment opportunities, continuing education opportunities, how to write a personal resume, and skills of answering interview questions, whereas information for personal purposes refers to information searched for individual counselors' need which basically involve the knowledge and skills to enhance personal counseling skills.

 

  • Access and use counseling related electronic database (competency 8). Database application software is usually used for record keeping purposes. Even though the application of electronic database is not really carried out in the government agencies, it is a common practice in the corporate sector. One on-site supervisor pointed out that the use of electronic database in the corporate sector is usually used to keep track of an individual client’s development and achievement throughout the series of counseling sessions. Therefore, counselor's ability to understand and manage counseling related electronic database is also another important skill that needs to be built up, too.

 

  • Public speaking skills (additional competency). While majority of the students’ supervisors agreed that the students were creative and competent in creating powerful multimedia presentations using computer software i.e. Microsoft PowerPoint and seemed comfortable and confident in using it, they agreed that the respondents still need more guidance in delivering information, specifically in public speaking skills.

 As mentioned earlier in this paper, the frequency of conducting workshops and other staff or client development programs during the practicum training is as frequent as once in two weeks time, the students were actively involved in the activity, as an organizer or as a speaker. Therefore, it is crucial for the students to be able to communicate and interact effectively with participants of the workshop or seminar sessions.

  

Discussion

Findings from this study seems to equivalent with Edwards, Portman and Bethea (2002) research findings on 4 main areas of technology competencies need to be strengthened among student counselors at the University of Iowa.

 The similarities lies in 3 competencies which are (1) competency 1 (ability to use productivity software to develop webpages, group presentations, letters and reports), (2) competency 4 (ability to use computerized testing, diagnostic, and career decision making programs with clients) and (3) competency 8 (ability to access and use counseling related CD-ROM databases). In some way, it can be generalized that the incompetencies in the 3 areas are seems to be common among counselor students yet need to be addressed and improved.

 Interestingly, both research found out that technology competencies are still lacking among counselor students despite the fact that introductory courses on computer application had been inserted in the counseling program.

 Perhaps one of the causes is the lack of integration of technology application related to counseling in other counseling courses. Technology competency is a developmental skill and can be acquired and mastered only with basic level of familiarity and practice. This might be true as it is apparent that all respondents from two different study groups i.e. the University of Malaya and the University of Iowa groups, showed high level of competency in using audiovisual equipments such as audio recorders, perhaps because the use of audiovisual equipments is a must-know skill in completing assignments and project works in other counseling courses. 

Suggestions for counseling program improvement

Findings in this study implore the needs to review the current curriculum of the undergraduate counseling program in the University of Malaya. The focus of this review, however, is to find suitable approaches to increase technology competencies among counselor students.

One instant action that can be done is to modify the existing curriculum of the introductory computer application course of the program. It is suggested that the curriculum of the course need to consider the 12 recommended guidelines outlined by the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (ACES) Technology Interest Network group (1999). The content of the course needs to concentrate on introducing the computer application software that really related to counseling profession. More hands-on activities need to be incorporated through instructional tasks, projects and assignments.

 Integration of technology associated with counseling in other counseling courses should also be taken into account. For example, knowledge on legal and ethical codes in cybercounseling (i.e. counseling via Internet) can be integrated into the counseling ethics courses. This integration can be in the form of specific topic on technology in counseling, class discussions, instructional activities, projects and assignments.

 Particularly in the practicum training, lecturers may ask the students to develop and submit digital portfolio as an alternative to print-based logbooks and reports. Such requirement will enhance students’ responsibilities to learn and master technology skills and simultaneously heighten their creative thinking to present the best. As for lecturers and supervisors, assessing students’ digital portfolio should be fun and enjoyable as the thick, boring text-based reports is now replaced with more graphical, user-friendly multimedia presentations.

 The student counselors’ ability to communicate ideas with clients and to influence audience’s thinking during presentations is among the crucial competencies of a professional counselor. Therefore, public speaking workshops should also be considered as one of the improvement that can be done.

 In addition, it is also recommended for counseling program coordinator to initiate staff i.e. lecturers professional development programs concerning the integration of technology in their taught courses, for instance using Yahoo e-mail and Yahoo Messenger to communicate with students or set up class e-group to build online learning environment.

Conclusion

As the advancement of technology continues rapidly, we should realized that technology has somehow impacted our working environment in variety of ways. As for counselors, technology competency is among the 10 core competencies of a competent counselor outlined by the International Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance (2003). As a result, counselor training programs at any learning institutions are increasingly required to adapt to these changes reactively.

 Results of this study indicate that counseling training programs need to incorporate a well-planned, structured technology courses related to counseling. The courses should be able to address certain standards of technology competencies developed by appropriate counseling organizations.

 Besides, it there is a little concern that counselor training program should not only emphasize on the cognitive learning domain of technology competencies i.e. the knowledge and skills related to the use of technology, but more importantly to focus on building positive attitude towards the use and application of technologies in the counseling profession.

 To begin with, counselor training program at higher institutions need to improve the five main technology incompetencies which are information searching skills, data interpretation skills, report writing skills, public speaking skills and electronic database management skills. The counselor trainers also need to boost their technology skills and reconsider to revise their counseling curriculum and modify their instructional approaches to ensure the high quality of graduates that they produced.

 References

Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (ACES) (1999). Technical competencies for counselor education students: Recommended guidelines for program development. Retrieved on October 1, 2005, from http://www.coe.ohio-state.edu/paes/couned/technical_competencies.htm  

 Edwards, Y. V.,  Portman, Tarrell Awe Agahe and Bethea, James (2002). Counselling student computer competency skills: Effects of technology course in training. Journal of technology in counselling, 2(2). Retrieved on October 1, 2005, from http://jtc.colstate.edu/vol2_2/edwards.htm

 Hackney, H. (1990). Changing contexts for counselor preparation in the 1990s. Alexandria, VA: Association for Counselor Education and Supervision.

 International Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance (2003). International competencies for educational and vocational guidance practitioners. Retrieved on November 2, 2005 from http://www.iaevg.org/iaevg/nav.cfm?lang=2&menu=1&submenu=1

Myers, Jane E. and Gibson, Donna M (1999). Technology competence of counsellor educators. ERIC Digest. Retrieved on October 3, 2005 from http://www.ericdigests.org/2000-3/counselor.htm

 University of Iowa (nd). Technical competenciescChecklist. Retrieved on October 4, 2005 from http://www.education.uiowa.edu/crsd/eportfolio/webs/rehab/07C281/technicalcompetence.htm

Author's Biography

Farrah Dina Yusop (farah@um.edu.my) Hamidah Sulaiman (hamidah_s@um.edu.my)

Fakulti Pendidikan, Universiti Malaya

Siti Salina Abdullah (ctsalina@kustem.edu.my)

Fakulti Pengurusan dan Ekonomi, Kolej Universiti Sains Dan Teknologi Malaysia

 

 

 

Abstract

The main purpose of this study is to determine the required ICT competencies for counselor trainees in their training workplaces. 13 undergraduate students of Bachelor of Education Psychology and Counseling, Faculty of Education, University of Malaya who were under practicum training currently working in various organizations as counselors were the respondents of this study. This study will determine whether the ICT knowledge and skills that the respondents learned in the university were adequate in preparing them to be successful in their workplace. Data were collected through structured interaction analysis, observations, audiovisual materials analysis and face-to-face interviews and were then analyzed using qualitative approach. Findings indicate that there are five main ICT skills that a counselor trainee needs to be competent at to be a good counselor. The five ICT skills are: (1) information searching skills, (2) interpreting data from a computerized psychological testing program skills, (3) quality report writing skills, (4) public speaking skills and (5) electronic database management skills. Findings of this study is hoped to assist counselor trainers at higher learning institutions to improve their counseling program in preparing high-trained counselors for future workplace.