Incorporating On-Line Assessment Resources into Counseling Curricula

Incorporating On-Line Assessment Resources into Counseling Curricula
David Lundberg & Brenda Hall
N.C. A&T State University

Using Internet assessment resources can be an integral, useful, and fun portion of graduate counseling curricula. Courses such as career counseling or appraisal seem like natural avenues for using the Web in an assessment-related manner. Providing a good methodology is one key factor in incorporating the Internet into these courses. Providing valuable resources in an organized manner is also crucial.

Organized Resources
The Association for Assessment in Counseling’s (AACE) website (http://aac.ncat.edu) includes a “Resources” page divided into four sections. The first section is “Key Documents in Assessment and Testing.” It contains AACE documents and links to ERIC and Joint Committee on Testing Practices (JCTP) documents that are fundamental in respect to rights, responsibilities, standards, and ethics in counseling assessment. The second section contains links to other ERIC resources that are assessment-related.

The third section contains links to on-line assessment libraries and journals. Of the multitudes of Internet sites related to counseling and educational assessment, these links are chosen in expectation of their value to readers.

The final section includes links to “Related Organizations” considered potentially valuable to AACE members. Care is maintained to link only high quality sites.

Methodology
The following was part of an Internet exercise inserted into a graduate career counseling course. It included submission of a typed assignment at the completion of the exercise.

Instructions: Log onto www.counseling.org, the American Counseling Association’s official website, and spend a few minutes reviewing the site. Click on the following icons in order: “Branches and Divisions,” “ACA Divisions,” and “Association for Assessment in Counseling” (http://aac.ncat.edu). Write down your impressions of this website. Click on “Resources,” and review the following: “Key Documents in Assessment and Testing” and “ERIC/CASS Resources.” Explain how these resources could be useful to you as a counselor. Be specific.

Results
The Internet assessment assignment provided students with an interactive learning experience, allowing participants to employ technology in a variety of ways. These included: general review of several Internet sites; evaluation of assessment resources related to career counseling; and exploration of websites pertaining to specific professional counseling settings.

In general, students found the format and structure of the AACE website easy to navigate. They made comments such as “The site allows for quick, smooth browsing” and “ the links are particularly helpful to a counselor who wants to have access to various sources and stay abreast of what is happening in the counseling world.” Additionally, most agreed that information was presented in a “clear, concise way.” Participants accessed documents in all sections of the website. One student stated, “Finding information is an easy task because the layout and language are clear.” Another was impressed that “the separate categories are discernibly marked, and each one has detailed information.”

Review of the resources link resulted in an open and lively class discussion about specific applications of Internet resources in various counseling settings. Some individuals training as community counselors were surprised at the usefulness of information on the assessment site since they did not envision themselves doing as much “testing” as school counselors. The discussion evolved into the broader meaning of “assessment “ in the helping professions.

Students shared excitement about the site as a place to review ethical practices and fair testing procedures and to select assessment resources. There was recognition and consensus among students regarding the practical nature of the Internet in career information dissemination and career resource utilization.

Under the Articles link, students reviewed the article entitled “Using the Internet for Research.” Prior to reading it, class members identified personal concerns related to Internet research. Two common problems were wasting time in search of appropriate information and the inability to evaluate data. After reading the article, students collaboratively developed a list of Internet research objectives that included use of the Internet for research, knowledge of major search engines, identification of search engine personalities, experimentation with useful links & “Help” sections of websites, and knowledge about the authorship of the site. Using this list, students individually formulated strategies to meet the objectives.

Conclusion
Computers have become an integral part of how counselors evaluate and use information in career counseling. Internet assessment resources such as the Association for Assessment in Counseling website provide structures for experiential infusion of technology into counseling curricula. This type of instructional focus supports practice, discussion, and collaboration regarding computer-assisted methods in counseling.

Reference
Association for Assessment in Counseling Website (2001). Available: http://aac.ncat.edu.