Abstract

This article overviews the development of a web-based counseling course through 3 phases: web-supplementary, web-enhanced, and web-enriched versions. The reader can compare each version with links embedded in the article, thus seeing how technologies can be introduced gradually into the design of the course. Seeing the evolution of the course described demonstrates a cost-effective method for the introduction of multiple technologies, from the simple use of a web page to streaming multimedia. The development of the course also demonstrates teamwork among counselor educators and instructional designers.

 

            Professional counselor organizations have recognized the impact of information technology on society and have required the addition of technology competence in the design of the counseling curriculum (ACES, 1999; CARCEP, 2002). Increasing numbers of professional counselor educators have devoted themselves to integrating computer technology into the curricula of counseling programs (Getz & Schnuman-Crook, 2001; Hayes & Robinson, 2000; Hines, 2002; Jencius, 2001; Jones & Karper, 2000; Pelling, 2002; Stone & Turba, 1999). This article summarizes the development of a web-enhanced career counseling course. The development of this course occurred over a period of two and half years. During that time three major revisions were made. Although the content of the course remained essentially the same, new technologies were used to deliver course content. This article compares the features of three versions (web-supplementary, web-enhanced, web-enriched) of the course, and demonstrates the evolution of a web-based career course. The use of the links provided for each version will enable the reader to see what the addition of new technologies provide for the student, and what is required of the course development team.


The use of information technology in counselor education does not intend to replace face-to-face training and learning. In fact, it can provide a richer and enhanced learning environment to motivate counselors-in-training and professional counselors to capitalize on the advantages of information technology. Learning in counselor education programs, enhanced with the integration of technology, will enable future counselors to become competent in providing more effective and efficient service to help people with diverse backgrounds.


The Evolution of a Career Counseling Course

Career Counseling is one of the areas in which the Internet has proven useful; there is a vast amount of career information on the Internet. The training of career counselors must include the application of computer technologies, such as how to search and access the information and resources over the Internet.

The career counseling course being described originally was taught in a traditional classroom setting. The design of this course has evolved from traditional to web-supplement, web-enhanced, and finally web-enriched. The first version, a web-supplement, was developed during the fall semester of 2000 by the course instructor, and it was revised in the summer of 2001 as the “first version revised”. The 2nd version of the career course, a web-enhanced design, was re-constructed with the support of an instructional designer and technical assistants between September 2001 to August 2002. The 3rd version, a web-enriched design, was enhanced with streaming audio/video and extra resources during the fall semester of 2002. For a comparison of the three versions and their use of various technologies, refer to Table 1.

Table 1: The three versions of the career counseling course

Development
Supplementary
Enhanced
Enriched
Developing time
September 2000 – August 2001
September 2001 – August 2002
October 2002 – December 2002
Versions
1st version &
1st version revised
2nd version
3rd version
Time for Teaching
January - Dec. 2001
April - Dec. 2002
April - Dec. 2003
Design Work
Content development
Applied WBI design to re-constructed the web structure and integrated computer technologies.
Added a multimedia feature and quizzes to enrich learning.
Structure
Hierarchical
Webbed
Webbed
Navigation Bar
-- / Linear
Non-linear
Non-linear
Textbook
***
***
***
Microsoft Word
**
***
***
Power Point
**
**
***
Web Browsers
***
***
***
Web Search Tools
*
***
***
E-mail
*
***
***
Adobe Reader
**
**
**
Bulletin Board
--
**/***
***
Chat room
--
**
**
Multimedia
--
--
**
Web-based quiz
--
**
**
*: suggested; **: Available; *** : Required

 

The Development of the Web-supplemented Career Course

The primary purpose of the web-supplement was to supply handouts to students via a website for teaching and learning activities; most instruction occurred in a traditional classroom setting. The supplementary web site was developed in the year of 2000, and the web-supplement course was offered in the spring semester of 2001. It was important to identify teaching goals and learning needs before the development of the course web site.

Teaching goals. The content of this course consists of career development theories, career exploration, and job readiness. The instructor emphasizes cognitive development based on both theoretical contents and practical activities. Students are expected to be able to provide helpful career guidance and counseling services after taking this course. They should also be able to teach people to access information: what to look for, where to find it, and how to use it. They should be competent using computers and Internet tools.

Learning needs. Counselor education students vary widely in age, come from many backgrounds, and have a variety of experiences and skills. Students’ computer skills and knowledge might range from no experience, beginning, to advance. In order to help students to use the web site, extra instructions were provided, such as the minimum settings of computers in Mac and PC, procedures of downloading and printing, etc.

For the 1st version of the course web site, the instructor designed a simple structure with a linear relationship of ten instructional units. The web site at this point provided lecture notes in PowerPoint format, and resources or handouts in both HTML and PDF formats. Two web-based activities were course requirements— “Exploring Occupational Interests” required students to use a web-browser to visit web sites, such as the DOT, GOE and O-NET and “Leisure Counseling” unit required students to self-study leisure theories and explore their leisure activities. Class participation was required and graded. Students could use either a PC or Mac with an Internet connection to access materials on the course web site.

1st version

The home page of first version

The first version revised web site included a hierarchical structure with a navigation bar including main categories (the Welcome Page, Instructional Units, Course Syllabus, and Help). The navigation bar in each main page allowed users to access other main pages. There were 10 units under the unit menu, which had linear relationships between the main page and each unit page (see figure 1). There was significant content development from the 1st version to the 1st revised version, including handouts, web resources with hyperlinks, and PowerPoint lectures. Refer to table 2 to compare these versions of the course.

1st version revised

The home page of first version revised

The grading system was changed to allow students more assignment options. The grading policy was based on a point system. A student who completed all required and optional assignments could earn up to 138 points. The highest possible final grade (“A”) was given to students who earned 95 or more points. Students who earned between 80 and 94 points received B’s, etc.



Table 2: The comparison of contents in three versions

WBI Design Items 1st Version 1st version
revised 		2nd version 3rd version
Course Units
Career Development theory * ** ** ***
Career Assessment -- * *** ***
Career Planning Systems * * ** **
Career and Internet (Job analysis) -- ** *** ***
Labor Market Sociology & Economics -- -- * *
Job Seeking Strategies * ** *** ***
Career Counseling Theory & Practice * ** ** **
Leisure Counseling * * * *
Occupational Stress Management -- ** ** **
Counseling for Career Advancement * ** ** **
Available activities/assignments
An objective exam R R R R
Take home essay exam R -- -- --
Class attendance & Participation R R R R
Group Project R R R R
Resume Writing R R R O
Library Research Paper O O O O
Abstracts of Journal Articles O O O O
Case Studies O O O O
Library Research -- O O O
Career Assessment Group -- O O O
Optional Web-based Activities
Visit DOT, GOE, O-NET -- * * **
Web-based practiced quizzes -- -- * **
Web-based self-assessment -- -- *** ***
Holistic Career Plan -- * ** **
Internet Research -- * *** ***
Internet Search -- * *** ***
Career Counseling Interviewing -- -- -- ***
* lecture notes/handouts only; ** rich/ web-supported resources/ activities;
*** enriched web-supported resources
R: Required assignment/activity
O: Optional assignment/activity

The Development of the Web-enhanced Career Course

The rationale of integrating technologies into curriculum development comes from the needs for teaching and learning. The instructor considered adding some computer mediated communication (CMC) tools for one off campus cohort program in the spring semester, 2002. Students in this course commuted to class across a three-state area. Most of them had full time jobs and took courses on weekends in order to complete their Master’s degree. Contacting other students outside of class was problematic. CMC tools added an important dimension to the cooperative learning undertaken by this cohort of students. Since some of the technologies exceeded the ability of the instructor, it was necessary for an instructional designer to join this project.

Needs Analysis
The first meeting of the development team (the course instructor and the instructional designer) occurred in September 2001. Changes incorporated in the course as a result of this collaboration included:

  1. The inclusion of a web-based practice quiz to help students learn career development theories and prepare for the National Counselors Examination (NCE).
  2. The addition of a web-based bulletin board and a chat room to facilitate students’ communication.
  3. The development of a student-centered environment providing a much-larger set of web-based resources and activities.

The Concept of Instructional Design
An instructional designer plays an important role in the design and implementation of a web site. An instructional designer, while also aware of the course content and context, is responsible for guiding the members of a development team in the design, implementation, and evaluation of the web site. The instructional designer intended to create a motivating environment in which counseling students could learn alternative methods of helping people and becoming competent in using Internet technology. She believed that integrating information technology into counselor education enabled counselors to provide more effective and efficient counseling service for diverse populations, but did not plan to completely replace face-to-face counseling services.

Instead of simply integrating CMC technologies and web-based quizzes into the current design, the instructional designer re-evaluated the entire course from the perspective of web-based instructional (WBI) design. She applied a WBI model: an analogy to building a house (See Fig 2) to re-construct the career counseling course. This included six stages in the phases of design and implementation and on-going evaluation for the design and implementation (Kuo, 2001). In the design phase, developers determine the purpose, structure, features, and resources of the web course. In the implementation phase, developers use available resources to create the features and appearance and related contents for teaching and learning. Evaluations (formative and summative) were conducted to examine the effectiveness of WBI design for teaching and learning and the efficiency of the course delivery.




 

The Design Phase
The design phase of developing the course web site involved the determination of web structure, features, and available resources. First of all, the instructor had to clarify the rationales of designing the course web site and to define potential audiences. In addition to the original teaching goals and learning needs, one teaching goal was added: students were expected to become competent in the use of computers and Internet tools.

Structure. A hierarchical structure with webbed interlinks was chosen to allow the students to have more flexibility. The course web site displayed an organized structure with a navigation bar that linked to six main categories: “Before You Start”, “Course and Syllabus”, “Course Units”, “Activities”, “Communication”, and “Resources.” Each category was explained as below:

The Activities, Course Units, Resources were linked to help students to access necessary information easily. Before You Start, tutorials, and syllabus were available for students to use as they needed. Multiple accesses were provided so that students could reach each page in several different ways.The structure of the 2nd version of the career course is illustrated in Figure 3.

Developers defined lesson plans and illustrated a storyboard for each lesson, which would help the development team ensure the flow, links, and the use of tools and resources for the lesson (see Figure 4, the example of lesson one ).


 

Web features. This web-enhanced design featured an open, interactive, and accessible learning environment. The instructional designer provided a supportive environment that allowed students to progress at their own pace. Five features were considered to enhance students’ learning in the design phase:

  1. Learner-centered/learner-controlled environment: This environment provided intuitive navigation with the support of an organized structure, tutorials, rich resources and instructions.
  2. Goal-directed instructions: Instructions were provided to guide students what to accomplish or how to process, which are available based on their needs.
  3. Collaborative learning and communicative environment: Technologies were embedded to encourage students to work together as a learning community.
  4. Need-directed supplementary resources: Resources were categorized to help students access them for their own needs and interests.
  5. Multimedia supportive environment: Multimedia allowed students to practice counseling interview skills.

However, due to the limited time and resources, the priority for the development each feature was established.

Resources. Budget was not a concern because the instructor and instructional designer volunteered their time for this project. In addition, the university provided the necessary equipment, including hardware and software that support web-based course development. Time, though, was a great concern with only a six-month lead prior to the next time the course would be taught. The instructional designer had to set up the priority for the development of features and activities that complemented the pedagogical goals of the career course.

The Implementation Phase for a Prototype
A prototype was implemented first, gave developers an idea of problems they might encounter. The prototype included the development of the main page, three categories, and three activities, and embedded two CMC tools (a bulletin board and chat room). The contents in the Course Unit page were linked to the 1st version revised web site.

Features. Due to the limited time, two features were chosen to fully develop and two features were partially developed. The feature of “multimedia demonstration” was delayed for a future revision. The development of these features required completion of the following tasks:

  1. Over 140 web-resources with hyperlinks were collected. These were categorized into seven groups of resources: Organizations, Self-awareness, Interviewing, Career exploration, Job readiness, Information center, Research, and Help.
  2. Explanations of “requirements” and “computer settings” were provided in “Before You Start” to help students be aware of how to prepare for this course.
  3. “Course Syllabus” listed course purposes, the weekly schedule, assignments, and evaluation.
  4. Lesson plans were provided on the “Activities” page, so students could be aware of what to expect and how to proceed in each lesson.
  5. A web-based practice quiz was offered as a study guide. Students could use it as many times as they needed.
  6. Two PowerPoint tutorials were created to help students become familiar with using the bulletin board and chat room.
  7. A course management tool, WebCT (Web-based set of Course Tools), was chosen to link to the course web site. With the integration of CMC tools (a bulletin board and chat room) on university’s the WebCT server, students were encouraged collaborate and share experiences as a learning community. For example, the online assessment, required students to explore three instruments or questionnaires on the Internet and share their experiences through the bulletin board.
  8. A navigation bar that allowed students to access pages based on their own needs was designed. In addition, a sitemap was created to guide students to access any page as a short cut.

Resources. Developers used Macromedia Dreamweaver and Fireworks to design web pages, created PDF files with Adobe Acrobat 4.0, prepared presentation lectures using Microsoft Word and PowerPoint, and made a practice quiz using the Hotpotato software. WebCT was chosen to facilitate communication, because it was supported and maintained by the university.

Appearance. The web page display used white background with light green under the navigation bar on the left that faded into white. The scheme was consistent on most course web pages. The layout used 800 pixels fixed width so that a page would fit on most monitor screens. The navigation bar occupied about one fourth the width of the page; the rest was used for content. The text font chosen for the contents was Arial Narrow; Arial Black was used for the titles. The mouse-over feature was applied so when users moved the cursor to a link, the text changed from blue to yellow to indicate an active choice. The design of the website intentionally limited the use of graphics in order to create a fast-loading site for students who use dial-up modems at home.

3rd version

The home page of third version

Contents. Content development is a critical task in WBI design. Providing related information in each page is essential to ensure the quality of the web design. As web pages progressed from a category to a component, from a page to a paragraph, developers had to chunk contents into smaller pieces that would not be longer than 2-3 printed pages. The decision of content in each page was related to the chosen web-features and the purpose of the page.

The Evaluation Phase of the Prototype

Formative evaluation. Formative evaluation was on-going during the design and implementation phases. In the design phase, the instructional designer had to examine whether the decision-making met the criteria of each stage. In the implementation phase, she checked the appearance, navigation, layout, and the availability of links. It was very repetitive and time consuming to ensure whether the content chunks were appropriate for teaching goals and related to the purpose of the page. Evaluation tasks involved checking whether the product matched the design plan, checking for consistency of format (font types, sizes, and color) in pages, checking for broken links, etc. Developers also made adjustments if they noticed any inappropriate contents and inconsistent design.

As the web site was posted on the Internet, more evaluation was conducted to ensure its appearance, loading speed, hyperlinks, layout, and navigation. Errors or unsightly spacing was often caused by the platform and settings on which the site was viewed. The loading speed was satisfactory, since the course web site did not use unnecessary pictures or multimedia. The bulletin board and chat room, supported by WebCT in the university, were accessible and reliable.

Summative evaluation. The instructor and one WBI expert evaluated the prototype of the career course. They focused on the performance of the web course, including the effectiveness and efficiency of the course delivery in terms of teaching and learning. Their concerns about the accessibility of the course in different computers, which included loading speed, accessibility, maintainability, etc. They also evaluated whether the appearance, navigation, layout, interactions, and fonts and graphics motivated students. The summative evaluation of course delivery also examined students’ learning outcomes, learning satisfaction, skill improvement, etc.

The Implementation for the Entire Course
With the experience of developing the prototype, developers proceeded to implement the entire course for the cohort program. This included (1) integrating the Course Units from the previous web site, (2) revising the sitemap with new hyperlinks, (3) designing the rest of the activities and lessons, and (3) updating and adding more resources. The evaluation of the whole course web site was conducted in March of 2002 and it was successfully delivered to the cohort program in April 2002.

The Development of the Web-enriched Career Course

The implementation of a web-enriched design was planned during the fall semester of 2002. The web-enriched design, including multimedia sources and online practice quizzes, was developed to achieve a better learner-centered/controlled environment and to offer richer resources than the previous design. The instructor and instructional designer sensed the necessity of adding video on the web site to introduce interview skills. With multimedia support, students could observe the instructor’s demonstration in class and review those skills by using audio/video on the web site as frequently as they needed.

The Implementation Phase
Two main tasks—Online practice quizzes and multimedia development— were divided into several consecutive actions, including content preparation, reserving recording equipments, editing equipments, preparing for guidance of downloading a multimedia player, and updating web pages.

On-line practice quizzes. The instructor designed four on-line quizzes as a study guide for reviewing career development theories. The questions were in multiple-choice format and a short answer was provided as a study guide. In order to provide a friendly navigation embedded in the quiz page, a frame structure was designed to help students to navigate without getting lost. Hotpotato software was used to create these practice quizzes.

Multimedia development. The instructional designer set up two camcorders to tape a demonstration interview as the instructor role- played with a volunteer student in the classroom. Then the instructional designer converted the tape into digital format, and made smaller pieces, based on its contents and topics. Then, she produced them in either RealPlayer format (for video) or Wave format (for audio only). The “career counseling—interviewing” activity, including an “Interview-Demonstration”, provided a systematized structure to introduce interviewing skills.

The Evaluation Phase
Formative evaluation was to check the interactions among pages and their performance. For multimedia development, the instructional designer had to repeatedly check the appropriateness of the length and contents of the audio/video clips, and ensure that multimedia pages showed organized structure, concrete contents, and reasonable downloading time. Numerous checks were performed as web pages and audio/video clips were uploaded to the Internet.

The concerns of summative evaluation were similar to the previous version of the course. The multimedia feature ran well in the T1 and cable Internet connections, but not as well with in phone connections. This web-enriched course was delivered to a cohort program on April of 2003. A few students encountered difficulties accessing the streaming audio/video for various reasons, such as computer platforms and settings, available memory, or without appropriate software for playing.

Conclusion: What Have We Learned

There is much to consider when developing a WBI design, which includes the purposes of teaching and learning, the preparation of contents and activities, web page construction, technology application, etc. A team is necessary to have a successful WBI design. Very few instructors have either the time or the expertise to craft alone a web site, such as the counseling course under discussion that uses many forms of technology and includes over 300 separate files and hundreds of hyperlinks. Counselor education programs must rely on resources outside their departments in order to effectively embrace web-enhanced instruction.

The web-based course described in the article is an example of collaborative efforts between a counseling and a technology education departments, with technical support from the university. This alliance allowed the counselor educator to be mentored by a technology education doctoral student, to not only build a course website, but also to become conversant with technologies not taught to counselor educators in their own professional training.

In addition, higher education administrators and educators cannot expect that designers of instruction will have a one-time implementation for a WBI design. The WBI model: building a house shows how the design, implementation, and evaluation phases work together to create a successful WBI design, which might be applied repetitively for a WBI development. It is suggested that in the design phase, developers have to prepare for a well-defined teaching goal and identify current and future goals for WBI design. In the implementation phase, developers should set up the priority of development, based on the importance of pedagogical goals and available resources (time, budget, tools). The evaluation phase should be applied as input for revision for both design and implementation phases.

The course described in this article may exemplify a practical way to slowly phase in instructional technologies, beginning with merely supplementing a classroom with web-based materials, and later more fully enhancing instruction with electronic tools. As developers have become savvy and confident to create web-based activities integrating technologies, they will be able to provide more enhanced features of WBI design.

References:

Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (ACES). (1999). Technical competencies for counselor education students: Recommended guidelines for program development. Retrieved July 02, 2002, from the World Wide Web, http://filebox.vt.edu/users/thohen/competencies.htm

Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) (2001). The 2001 Standards. Retrieved April 20, 2002, from the World Wide Web http://www.counseling.org/cacrep/2001standards700.htm

Getz, H. G., & Schnuman-Crook, A. (2001). Utilizing of online training for on-site clinical supervisors: One university’s approach. Journal of Technology in Counseling, 2(1), Retrieved Dec. 12, 2001, from the World Wide Web, http://jtc.colstate.edu/vol2_1/Supervisors.htm .

Hayes, B.G., & Robinson, E. H. III. (2000). Assessing counselor education students attitudes toward computers and multimedia instruction. Journal of Humanistic Education and Development,38(3), 132-141.

Hines, P. L. (2002). Student technology competencies for school counseling programs. Journal of Technology in Counseling 2(2), Retrieved August 12, 2003, from the World Wide Web, http://jtc.colstate.edu/vol2_2/hines/hines.htm

Jencius, M. (2001). Technology-enhanced instruction: Developing your digital vision. Retrieved Oct. 20, 2002, from the World Wide Web, http://cybercounsel.uncg.edu/articals/jencius_Cyber_aca.htm

Jones, K. D., & Karper, C. (2000). How to develop an online course in counseling techniques? Journal of Technology in Counseling, 1(2). Retrieved Dec. 12, 2002, from the World Wide Web, http://jtc.colstate.edu/vol1_2/online.htm

Kuo, Y. Y. (2001). A web-based instructional model: Building a house. Unpublished report. West Virginia University.

Pelling, N. (2002). The use of technology in career counseling. Journal of Technology in Counseling 2(2), Retrieved August 12, 2003, from the World Wide Web, http://jtc.colstate.edu/vol2_2/pelling.htm

Stone, C. B., & Turba, R. (1999). School counselors using technology for advocacy. Journal of Technology in Counseling 1(1), Retrieved August 12, 2003, from the World Wide Web, http://jtc.colstate.edu/vol1_1/advocacy.htm

Authors Biography

Ying-Ying Kuo, Ed. D. (kuo_ying@hotmail.com) received her doctoral degree of Technology Education at West Virginia University (WVU) and also earned a master's degree in Counseling at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Dr. Kuo provides technical support for faculty and students integrating technologies into teaching and learning. She has worked in the Teaching and Learning Technologies Center at WVU. Her research interests include web-based instructional design, integrating technology into counselor education, and quality assurance and evaluation of distance education.

David J. Srebalus, Ed.D.(djsrebalus@mail.wvu.edu) is a professor in the Department of Counseling, Rehabilitation Counseling, and Counseling Psychology at West Virginia University. He teaches courses in counseling theory and techniques and career counseling. Dr. Srebalus has been using web-enhanced instruction since 1999.