Australian undergraduate Internet usage: self-taught, self-directed, and self-limiting?

The Information Age is upon us and it heralds a new paradigm in the way universities conduct research. Lack of understanding and a cautionary stance towards the Internet has left many universities lagging far behind the needs of its student population. Research shows that both students and academics are struggling on their own to learn about these new channels of information with little, or no, guidance from their educational institution. As a consequence, the Internet remains a little understood and poorly utilised mode of gathering resource information for many of today's and tomorrow's researchers.     

Comparability of Written and Oral Measures in Evaluating Counselor Training

The comparability of written and oral measures in evaluating counselor effectiveness was examined for trained and untrained participants. The responses were rated on use of reflective skills, verbal following, and general quality. A multivariate analysis of variance indicated that written responses were significantly higher on verbal following and general quality. Correlations among the written and oral measures were high and positive, especially when corrected for attenuation as a result of the reliabilities of ratings. Correlations were higher for trained than untrained participants. In general, the results support the comparability of written and oral assessments of counselor effectiveness, especially for trained participants. Implications for the evaluation of training programs and areas for future research are discussed.     

Effectiveness Ratings of Counselors without Teaching Experience

Counselors without teaching experience were compared with counselors from the same graduate counselor education program with teaching experience and with other first-year counselors raters had known. Ratings were made in school employment settings by supervisors, principals, and associates of the rated counselors by indicating their relative effectiveness on each of five dimensions. On the first three, counselors without teaching experience were rated as effective or more so than other first-year counselors the raters had known. On the fifth—overall performance—two-thirds of the nonteaching counselors were rated as more effective. It was concluded that teaching experience does not seem to be necessary for the preparation of competent school counselors. It is recommended that biases and requirements against the employment of counselors without teaching experience be eliminated.     

The Impact of Client Suicide in Counselor Training: Implications for Counselor Education and Supervision

The impact of client suicide on student counselors has potentially severe and long-term consequences. This article presents recommendations for addressing the needs of students and discusses implications for counselor education.