A Comparison of Professional Accreditation Standards in Marriage and Family Counseling and Therapy

This article is a summary and comparison of accreditation standards in marriage and family counseling and therapy by two accreditation bodies.     

Effects of Covert Modeling and Written Material on the Acquisition of a Counseling Strategy

This study investigated the efficacy of covert other modeling, covert self-modeling, and written material on the acquisition of a counseling strategy that involved developing goals. Thirty-six student counselors were assigned randomly to the following four treatment conditions: covert other model, covert self-model, written material, and delayed-treatment control. Written pretest, posttest, retention test measures, and role-play pre- and posttest measures were obtained. A repeated measures ANOVA revealed that performance on the written measures for the three treatment groups increased significantly from pre- to post- testing and from pre- to retention testing. On the role-play measure, the performance of the three treatment groups also increased significantly from pre- to posttesting. The performance of the control group on pre- and posttesting for the written and role-play measures did not increase significantly.     

Multimedia learning environments: Issues of learner control and navigation

Using schema theory as a framework, we view learning as an active, constructive process. It is affected not only by learners' internal knowledge structures, but by the external constraints of the learning environment as well (Kozma, 1991). This article examines how different internal learner characteristics (e.g., prior knowledge, self efficacy and interest) and different external constraints (e.g., learner control, instructional design and level of control) influence the learning process. Specifically, we address learning from a variety of multimedia environments such as video, hypertexts, kiosks and other hypermedia within a schema theoretic approach that incorporates a constructivist view.     

Critical Realism and Empirical Research Methods in Education

In the light of recent writings of Richard Pring, and in relation to the application of empirical research methods in education, this paper offers a corrective to a neo-realist viewpoint and develops a critical realist perspective. The argument is made that the deployment of empirical research methods needs to be underpinned by a meta-theory embracing epistemological and ontological elements; that this meta-theory does not commit one to the view that absolute knowledge of the social world is possible; and that critical realism is the most appropriate meta-theory to underpin the use of empirical research methods. Further to this, unhelpful dualisms between quantitative and qualitative methodologies, and between structure and agency, are discussed in relation to neo-realist and critical realist perspectives.