Experiential Learning Theory as a Guide for Effective Teaching

David Kolb's experiential learning theory involves a framework that can be helpful in designing courses that meet the needs of diverse learners. Kolb described learning as made up of two dimensions, prehending or grasping information, and transforming or processing that information. The prehending dimension ranges from concrete experience to abstract conceptualization. The transforming dimension ranges from reflective observation to active experimentation. Kolb suggested that learning occurs as the individual moves through a cycle of concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization, and active experimentation. The cycle is then repeated at more complex levels. A course design that provides systematic activities in all four of these modes (concrete experience, reflective observations, abstract conceptualization, and active experimentation) will be sensitive to the students' learning styles while at the same time challenging them to develop competence in other ways of learning as well. Students are thus encouraged to master the information with which the course deals and to develop skills in processing and applying that information. They are therefore engaged in learning how to learn, a competence that is critically important for effective adult functioning.     

Effects of Recording on Counselors and Clients

Early research on the effects of audio recording on counselors and clients found no adverse effects, particularly on clients. This research fostered a set of beliefs about recording which is now being extrapolated to the area of video observation. Recent research, however, does suggest that audio and, in particular, video recording has an inhibitory effect on clients and counselors. The nature of these effects on clients has been found to depend on several client characteristics. Although recording is not as inhibitory as clients expect it to be, counselors tend not to be sensitive to the inhibiting effects that do occur in their clients. Implications of recent research for counselors and counselor educators are examined.     

PILOTing Courseware

The declining costs of microcomputers will enable counselor education programs to take advantage of this medium in developing instructional programs and units. PILOT, an amazingly simple computer language, is outlined for producing computer-assisted instruction (CAI). Authoring systems that internally contain the logic and programming necessary for the development of CAI lessons are discussed. Applications for training, especially simulations, are included.     

A Triadic Method of Supervision in the Training of Counselors and Counseling Supervisors

The article describes a triadic method of supervision that can be adapted to several settings, including the training of students in both counseling and supervision, as well as mutual peer supervision in employment settings. The triadic method reduces the complexities of the supervision process to teachable elements. As students learn to function alternately in the three roles of supervisor, commentator, and facilitator, they refine their skills in the four following basic processes of supervision: (a) the presentation of their counseling work, (b) the art of critical commentary, (c) the engagement in meaningful dialogue, and (d) the deepening of the here-and-now process inherent in supervision.     

Enterprise and Liberal Education: some reservations

The paper responds to Professor Bridges's paper:‘Enterprise and liberal education’, the thesis of which is taken to be that enterprise education is not only compatible with liberal education, but a necessary part of it. A number of reasons are urged against this claim. In particular, it is argued that being enterprising is neither necessarily generalizable nor always desirable; that enterprise education is inextricably, though ambiguously, related to ‘the enterprise society’, yet ignores the harmful aspects of such a society; and that the claim that enterprise education is liberal because it uses progressive pedagogic methods, is unsustainable.     

Counselor Preparation: A Semantic Differential Evaluation

Counselors and superintendents from Tennessee and Indiana were administered a semantic differential to compare their perceptions of counselor programs as reflected by counselor performance in 11 skill areas. Counselors rated their training programs higher than did the superintendents but did agree with the superintendents that the best counselor preparation was in educational counseling, pupil appraisal, public relations, and guidance program coordination. Counselors also agreed with the superintendents that better counselor preparation was needed in parental consulting, vocational counseling, and research. Primary disagreement between counselors and superintendents centered on personal-social counseling, an area in which counselors feel well prepared.     

Counselor Renewal Workshop in Sex Equality

The article discusses a counselor renewal workshop in sex equity that used a variety of experiential activities including material from the ACES Commission on Sex Equality Concerns. Evaluation of the workshop was done in an unique manner through the use of a questionnaire from the handbook prepared by the ACES Commission and through a pretest/posttest consisting of a worksheet and audiotaped vignettes demonstrating sex bias in counseling situations. The workshop appeared to heighten the awareness of the subtlety of sex-biased communication on the part of the counselors and to stimulate their intentions to monitor and to change appropriately their own counseling behaviors in the future.     

A Model for Retooling School Counselors

If school counseling is to continue as an ongoing dynamic profession, counselor educators must address their attention to the improvement of practitioner competencies as well as toward counselor preparation. The development of a program designed to accomplish both tasks must be dependent upon the needs of counselors, counselor educators, and considerations emanating from the environments in which they work. The purpose of this paper is to share one educational approach which can facilitate movement toward achievement of these desired needs.