AbstractUniversity preparation programs in school counseling, special education, and social work services remain separate with pre-service collaboration virtually nonexistent. Effective preparation of these three disciplines requires developing skills and conditions for collaborative teaming among these human service professionals. A multidisciplinary electronic discussion forum was implemented by faculty representing these three disciplines to overcome the traditional barriers of space and time to allow students to use the Internet to collaborate in their pre-service program. Reported here are the rationale, logistics, and results of this electronic discussion forum. (For a graphic example of an outcome from one of the collaborative teams visit the Transition in Training team's website).
"It
brought me into the twentieth-century, FINALLY!" These were the emotive
words of a school counseling student who was introduced to technology on
the eve of the twenty-first century. This student is echoing the sentiments
found in the literature addressing the need to equip pre-service professionals
with technological skills needed to effectively enhance learning opportunities
for students in their future classrooms and schools (Bosch
& Cardinale, 1993; Roberson,
1999). School counselors, special education teachers, and social workers
are natural allies in their efforts to help children succeed academically
and transition into successful adulthood. If allies such as these are prepared
in their pre-service programs with systematic opportunities to use and
apply technology to collaborate, then fewer new professionals working in
our schools will feel ill-equipped to incorporate the use of technology
in the classrooms and schools of the new millennium.
Understanding that efficiency
in technology and multidisciplinary collaboration, both offer answers to
the major educational dilemma of addressing ever increasing student needs
with limited resources, faculty from the University of 
North
Florida representing school counseling, special education, and social work
services drew from the literature and their own personal experiences working
in K-12 settings to identify important benefits which support strengthening
the collaboration between school counselors, special education teachers,
and social workers. The intent of the work being done by the representatives
of these three human service professionals is to move their disciplines
from the traditional definition of roles to an enhanced view of what is
expected of them in the collaborative, technologically advanced school
of the third millennium. Toward this end, these faculty members formed
a multidisciplinary partnership with the alignment of three respective
courses to prepare their students with common experiences using the medium
of a virtual discussion group. The collaborative redesign of the course
work yielded a model for pre-service preparation that transcended the logistical
barriers of combining students in common classes.
This article describes the multidisciplinary pre-service model designed and implemented to prepare these prospective human service professionals representing the disciplines of school counseling, special education, and social work. The rationale, logistics, and results of using a pre-service collaborative virtual discussion group will be explained by examining the following areas: (1) the role of computer technology for effective multidisciplinary teaming and collaborating; (2) important issues from the literature related to the critical need for human service professionals to collaborate; (3) a description of the logistics for bringing three disciplines together in a virtual multidisciplinary team; (4) student feedback of challenges and benefits realized from this process; and (5) suggestions for university faculty who plan to co-educate using the Internet.
Human Service Professionals and Technology
It
is evident that the use of computers in today's secondary institutions
are ever increasing as opportunities to enhance the learning process. The
realization of these opportunities will be furthered if professionals are
effectively prepared in their pre-service programs to use computers and
other related technologies. Technologies such as telecommunications, the
Internet, and computer conferencing and collaboration bring students, teachers,
counselors, and other related personnel together in unique ways that enhance
the learning environment (Bonk,
Medury, & Reynolds, 1994). To develop technological competencies
and understand how they can be integrated into classroom instruction and
multidisciplinary collaboration, it is suggested that major emphasis be
placed on effective modeling by university faculty, integration across
the university curriculum, and implementation of multimedia applications
(National Council
for Accreditation of Teacher Education, 1997).
Researchers and practitioners agree on the need for quality, integrated technology experiences for pre-service teacher education students (Davis, 1993; Gammas & Nordquist, 1997; Walter, Keeps, & Chang, 1993). However, the pre-service programs for educators in the human service professions of school counseling, special education, and social work have not kept pace with other pre-service programs in education in preparing students for the efficient use of computers and Internet communication (Casey, 1995). The literature is replete with calls for increased skill development in technology for human service professionals and examples of the integration of the Internet as an alternative way of collaborating (Gammas & Nordquist, 1997; Grant & Scott, 1996; Powers & Mitchell, 1997).
Technological skills needed by human service professionals include a common core of skills needed by all educators and some skills unique to each discipline. Turba (1998) described technological skills needed by the school counselor. "For counselors to perform their job functions adequately, at the minimum, they must possess basic computer literacy skills. The present and future of counseling, however, dictates that counselors' technology skills should be far beyond the minimum. This should include extensive knowledge of Internet resources, software that relates to guidance and counseling, distance learning, virtual activities such as chat rooms, discussion groups, list servers, Internet video conferencing, constructing virtual guidance offices that help students access Internet resources, and the interest to stay current on the changing scene of computer technology" (p.10). For those who teach exceptional students, the need to understand technology is even more vital because technology can provide exceptional learners with a way to communicate, to manipulate the environment and to gain mobility (LePage, Lewis & Casella, 1995). Computer technology is an important component in social work preparation, but currently it is limited primarily to word processing, and data bases for clients. Recently this list has been extended to include assessment, intervention, and evaluation in practice (Kampwirth, 1999).
Jencius (2000) has provided student service professionals with a technology skills blueprint or path along which to proceed when moving from basic skill development to mastery. This path entitled Technology Competencies Matrix (TCM) is a set of eighteen standards adopted by International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE, 1997) and organized into five levels or paths, i.e., Core Knowledge, Classification Mastery, Basic Mastery, Intentional Mastery, and Teaching Mastery. The matrix "provides a staged approach to developing technology skills . . . a developmental process, not a leap to an endpoint" (Jencius, 2000, p. 5). The virtual teaming experience for pre-service professionals described in this article used ISTE competency B.4 which speaks to using computers to support problem solving, data collection, information management, and decision-making (1997). These participating pre-service professionals were able to move through the five paths established by Jencius (2000) to active mastery or technical competency in using virtual teaming to engage in multidisciplinary collaboration when problem solving student issues.
Human Service Professionals and Multidisciplinary Collaboration
Our colleges and universities pre-service preparation programs for these three human service professionals remain separate and unique to each discipline with pre-service collaborative interaction virtually nonexistent and pre-service preparation rarely addressing the critical dimensions of multidisciplinary teaming and collaboration (Lindsey & Strawderman, 1995; Sindelar, Pugach, Griffen, & Seidl, 1995). Effective preparation of these three disciplines requires developing the skills, abilities, and conditions for collaborative teaming (Stickel, 1996). Yet, the movement toward collaborative school improvement has not been accompanied by sufficient training or experience for school personnel in collaborative work. For example, a 1997 survey conducted in the school counseling preparation program at one university revealed that 100% of the 24 students surveyed, said their preparation program did not prepare them to collaborate with other human service professionals (Stone, 1997). Yet, these three human service professionals have common goals for professional preparation, such as, developing skills in the identification of student needs, selecting and implementing appropriate interventions to remove barriers that impede student achievement, and coordinating services for students to facilitate their successful transition into productive citizens.
To better prepare human service professionals, a new way of thinking about their roles is emerging, as indicated by Murphy, DeEsch, & Strein (1998). "The realities of the turn of the 21st Century dictate increased teamwork among all human service professionals . . . This can be facilitated by increasing collaborative training initiatives at the pre-service and in-service levels" (p. 87). Educational reform has strengthened the conviction among educators that collaborating and multidisciplinary teaming efforts are needed to combine the best that school personnel and parents have to contribute toward helping students learn (Dettmer, Thurston, & Dyck, 1998). Multidisciplinary collaboration has come to be an essential feature of school life and schools are reorganizing in a manner that accommodates multidisciplinary teams of adults coming together to discuss interventions for individual students (Villa & Thousand, 1999). Reform movements are focusing on the individual school as the unit of decision making, featuring the development of collegial, participatory environments among staff and community (Dettmer, Thurston, & Dyck, 1998). Futrell (1989) suggests that schools can be restructured only through cooperation and collaboration among many factions. However, universities have been slower to abandon the practice of preparing in isolation the various school disciplines.
Multidisciplinary preparation at the college level will help nurture collaborative relationships that students will need when they enter the profession. In both pre-service and in-service multidisciplinary teaming, the sphere of interactions among disciplines becomes broader and involves more shared problem solving. Interactions in team supported activities become less formal and more nurturing and result in enhanced decision making. To further the principles of multidisciplinary teaming, a supportive attitude for collaborative interaction is needed by faculty members in education preparation programs. Attitudes of shared role expectancies, openness to new ways of doing things, and flexibility will be required of university faculty. Under a university paradigm that employs multidisciplinary collaboration, pre-service professionals have opportunities to develop interpersonal communication, reflection, and task management skills needed to become effective colleagues on multidisciplinary school teams. If pre-service professionals have appropriate and positive modeling and practice opportunities, then the technological skills required for them to effectively interact can be learned at the pre-service level and generalized into professional practice.
School counselors, special education teachers, and social workers teaming with regular education teachers and parents address the ever increasing problem of too little time and too few resources (Idol & Baran, 1992; Myrick, 1997). Multidisciplinary teaming can positively impact many more students, furthering efficiency of time and resources. Heavy caseloads for counselors and social workers and large class enrollments for special education teachers become more manageable (Mostert, 1998). Human service professionals know that sharing their collective expertise achieves expected, and some unexpected outcomes for all students in this ever changing society (Campbell & Tierney, 1996). Counselors are excellent resources of information about affective instruction that impacts academic growth for diverse learning needs of all students. Both counselors and social workers are exemplary resources of information related to issues outside the school that might involve family and community support. Special education teachers are valuable resources of information about effective instruction. They know their students in ways that others cannot (Campbell & Tierney, 1996). The Internet and virtual discussion groups are avenues that enable human service professionals to share their data in an organized and efficient manner in order to collaborate with one another about what works in classrooms of today (Ludlow, 1995).
A Virtual Discussion Group
The multidisciplinary collaboration at this university used an asynchronous Electronic Discussion Forum as the powerful common meeting ground for their multidisciplinary discussions. This communication mediated by technology allowed the three disciplines to effectively, and efficiently collaborate without the barriers of space and time.
The Electronic Discussion Forum was the medium of communication and the development of an Individual Transition Plan (ITP) was the common task for the multidisciplinary virtual collaborative. The development of the ITP in a multidisciplinary collaboration is a good example of how Internet collaboration can improve education. According to Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1997 (IDEA '97), ITPs must be included in the individualized education plan (IEP) of each student in special education by age 14 for the purpose of enhancing students' transition from the role of a student to the role of an adult. The focus of the ITP is to inform students and families of available services in the community that can be accessed after high school. The language of IDEA '97 stresses the need for multidisciplinary collaboration among students, their family, teachers and student service professionals in the development of the ITP. However, effective collaboration is not always possible with demanding responsibilities and schedules of necessary participants. This virtual discussion group proved an effective way of developing ITPs, while keeping the student's primary interests and needs in mind.
One course in each of the three programs for counselor education, special education, and sociology were restructured to share a common course assignment to have these three disciplines collaboratively develop effective ITPs. Course content and scope were similar in many ways, therefore, the faculty members were able to develop a new method of instruction and curriculum without sacrificing content for any of the three courses. The interactive electronic discussion group began with students acquiring an active account with the university computing services, while simultaneously, an electronic discussion forum was created that restricted access to only the instructors and those students in the three classes. Collaborative teams were developed by students mirroring the procedures used by human service practitioners. Students majoring in special education took the role of facilitator for the development of the ITP's, simulating activities that typically transpire in schools when multidisciplinary collaboration takes place during ITP development. The special education class was divided into six small groups and each group was given brief case studies of students with a variety of disabilities. The ITPs were developed from the case studies. All of the case studies were posted by team name in the discussion group, (e.g., the Amigos, Intuition). School counseling and sociology students were also divided into groups and these disciplines read through the case studies and selected the group they would collaborate with throughout the semester, (i.e., a school counseling group would become part of the collaboration team for the Amigos as would a sociology team).
Students from the three classes wrote an introduction that included the members' names and background information of their college classification and other professional experience. They were given guidelines for interacting, and the process began! Guidelines for interactions required that each team review their sample cases and begin to determine any additional information they would need in order to make recommendations for appropriate transition activities for each case. Each team needed to consider assessment and educational activities that would help address the following transition goal areas: employment, vocational education/training, postsecondary education, financial/income, independent living, transportation, social relationships, health/safety, self-advocacy, and recreational/leisure. After each team evaluated the available information from each case, they posted their thoughts, questions, and recommendations to the discussion group. Students interacted for a total of seven weeks.
Responses from students
It was important to determine how the virtual discussion group process was viewed by participating students and what challenges and benefits were realized from this approach to multidisciplinary collaboration. A survey was given to students in all three disciplines following the close of the semester in an effort to assess the effectiveness of multidisciplinary collaboration using the Internet. Analysis of responses from 26 surveys revealed that 39 percent of the students felt the Electronic Discussion Forum was a viable tool for sharing educational issues with other professionals. "I feel this was a very useful exercise to be able to share information with other professionals in this way." "Outstanding way to have shared thoughts and ideas with many people." "Great experience for brainstorming when you are stuck and should be used more often. Sometimes professionals need suggestions." "This form of communication was an excellent tool to share ideas and information for educators, students, and all others interested in special education."
Understanding the professional role of the other disciplines and learning to attack student problems from other perspectives was a secondary theme that emerged from student responses. "The forum helped me to gain other perspectives in a situation without having to meet personally." "I enjoyed hearing from other people in different areas of education . . . it was interesting reading others' different slant on the same issue." "This is what counselors, social workers, special education, and regular teachers need to do more of because we can all become isolated in our own areas."
A strong response emerged from students as to how the experience had increased their technological skills. "It was interesting and I learned how to communicate using the new technology available." "The usage of the forum forced us to become computer literate. It was a challenge but now I feel it was worth the learning experience. I plan to share what I have learned with my co-workers." "I have started using e-mail rather than the telephone." "I am so glad it was a requirement of the class because in this day and age we all need to know how and be comfortable using the computer to communicate."
Students cited a number of benefits to using an electronic discussion forum. "Learned that the Internet could be an effective method of sharing information that was not dependent of same time, same place." "Face to face meetings are time consuming and hard to schedule but do add to the exchange of ideas. Electronic forums are a close second choice for me." "It was a wonderful idea and a good experience. It is very important to communicate with our colleagues and this is a quick effective way to do this. This exercise was good practice for the real world."
Students indicated that their major barriers included personal intimidation of technology and limited technological skills. "The only barrier was getting started. Once I got started I became a pro." "Not having the know-how to get into the discussion group, it seemed to take me forever before I mastered the steps." Other barriers cited were access problems, university technical problems related to activating accounts, difficulty keeping accounts current, lack of personal hardware, and lack of access to Internet. "My own computer is weak and slow and would break the connection occasionally."
Recommendations to University Faculty
Following are recommendations to university faculty who plan to co-educate using the Internet and other telecommunications as alternative vehicles to interact within and among similar programs in their settings.
ConclusionsTry to determine both the benefits and barriers of having students interact via the Internet. Consider if this form of interaction and problem-solving meet your course objectives. Before meeting with students, it is helpful if all instructors go through several trial-runs in which they work through examples of each type of assignment that will be expected of the students. This step proved very beneficial and familiarized instructors with the format of the electronic forum. The primary benefit of this pre-work was to allow time for the technicians to trouble-shoot when difficulties were identified and this approach enabled instructors to compliment each others skills and learn from each other. It is vital that you and/or the co-teacher have adequate skills to demonstrate the use of the technology. Know the connecting and interacting features of the electronic forum because oftentimes there are a number of ways to interact. Instructors who feel confident and are prepared to guide students through options, help ease some of the student's doubts surrounding the use of this technique. It generally takes at least one and a half hours to adequately demonstrate to students how this form of communication works. Repetition is necessary and each individual student needs to have access to a computer to walk through the process. Allowing students to demonstrate their skills to fellow students, helps ensure learning. It is important to put a system into place which will enable all students to have access to the forum. For example, these virtual discussions were conducted through the university's server so it was necessary to make certain that each student had a user identification name in order to participate. Securing required access codes and information beforehand, reduces student's frustration. Know what prerequisite skills are needed for effectively participating with this form of communication. It is important that the technical skills needed to participate can be learned in a short period of time. Otherwise, the class focus shifts from multidisciplinary collaboration to learning sophisticated technology. A good user friendly experience is important to encouraging students to make this form of communication a part of their professional life. A stable server that will allow for continuous communication is necessary to the success of the collaboration. Students need to be able to access the server any time of the day or night. Arranging for technical support for students who experience difficulty, furthers the likelihood for success and replication by students in their professional lives. If you are prepared to provide information to students about free Internet resources you can provide a much needed service for students who lack technology in their homes. Evaluate if this is just a gimmicky idea, or are the skills and techniques valuable in professional preparation and development. Students need to understand the rules and roles for communicating via the Internet. Mentally walk through your guidelines to students several times. Directions need to be specific and succinct. Providing a vocabulary list for some students reduces the need to repeatedly explain Internet language. Monitoring students' work is critical in the electronic forum and a minimum of an hour each day is required to read students' conversations. It is sometimes easy to forget to stay tuned because students are not presently in the same space to maintain the attention of the instructor. Dropping in on an asynchronous conversation is helpful. However, regular viewing of conversations at least once each day is required as students are expecting feedback. Assistance is sometimes needed for participants who do not know what to say or how to request additional information in order to maintain a meaningful conversation. Moderating participants' discussions also allows the instructor to model how these future professionals can facilitate similar types of networking environments in their schools, agencies, etc. Maintaining contact with the other instructor(s) helps ensure the integrity of the process. Additionally, strong collaboration between instructors promotes an equitable distribution of responsibilities. The electronic forum is meant to be a supplement to other forms of communication. Face-to-face conversations should be respected - never eliminated.
Change expectancies for university pre-service preparation programs include the delivery of relevant classes in multidisciplinary teaming and technology for school counselors, special educators, social workers, and classes that provide exposure to real life cases. Relationships can be broadened among human service disciplines by preparing disciplines to collaborate in pre-service programs using virtual discussion groups. University educators can increase the scope and range of their students' influence in schools, as well as galvanize the alignment of consultation efforts between these three disciplines. Human service professionals need structure, training, and practice in order to perform the sophisticated, demanding function of multidisciplinary teaming effectively. Effective preparation to work together on teams depend on extensive preparation in multidisciplinary consultation.
Pre-service preparation using online courses addresses the growing need for technologically advanced skills by school counselors, special education teachers, and social workers. "School counselors can take advantage of rapid communication and networking with time, data, people, and contacts . . .. The potential that computer technology has for the roles, responsibilities, and effectiveness of school counselors has only begun to be explored" (Sabella, 1996, p. 83). More than in any other segment of society, change is felt most sharply on college campuses, where young and older adults come together to prepare themselves for a changing world and to develop their skills and talents so that they can influence the direction of change (Halpern, 1994).
It is important to note that
the students enrolled in the classes were a diverse group of individuals.
However, the small number of participants requires caution in application
or extension of these results. A continuation of research is needed to
explore the benefits of virtual teaming and refine the process itself.
For example, the primary purpose for restructuring the classes in this
experience focused on providing preservice counselors an opportunity to
explore the use of virtual teaming via the Internet during one of their
practica experiences. The next logical step will be to conduct the virtual
teaming during the practica experience for students in special education
and social work services to more closely simulate activities of professional
practitioners. Additionally, an examination of participants' perceptions
of their skills related to Internet use and its effectiveness with virtual
discussions and collaboration are pertinent to understand in the continuous
preparation of professionals of the new millennium.
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