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"REPORT NOPUB DATENOTE

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Miller, Leonard A.; And Others.Continuing Education for Rehabilitation Counselors:A review and Context for Practice and Research.Iowa Univ., Iowa City. Coll. of Education.Rehabilitation Services Administration (DHEW),Washington, D.C.; Social and Rehabilitation Service(DHEW), Washington, D.C.RD-2314-GAug 69113p.

EDPS Price MF-T0.50 HC-$5.75Audiovisual Aids, Counseling Effectiveness,*Counseling Instructional Programs, *CounselorCharacteristics, Counselor Performance, CounselorTraining, *Educational Programs, *InstructionalMedia, *Rehabilitation Counseling, VocationalCounseling

ABSTRACTThis report deals with the continuing education of

rehabilitation counselors both during and through employment. Thistype of a program requires information on how: (1) the structure andpatterning of tasks in the work milieu, (2) administrative practicesand attitudes, and (3) counselor characteristics can specificallyinfluence what effect continuing educational experiences of both theduring-employment and through employment variety have on desiredoutcomes. Research on instructional media has demonstrated that anyformat for training can be effective if designed according to what isknown about teaching-learning linkage. Audiovisual hardware, macroforms of learning, laboratory experiences, and curriculum levelstructure are considered. Relating continuing educational outcomes tolob performance criteria for the rehabilitation counselor iscomplicated in many ways, including the relative independence amongintermediate criteria of counselor performance. Various studies, inthe past, present, and future in continuing education forrehabilitation counselors conclude this report. (KJ)

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-11111114

Continuing. Education frr 1?ehabilitat1on

Conn.selors: A Review and Context

kr Practice and Research

(,)

College of Education

The University of IowaIowa City, Iowa 52240

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION & WELFARE

OFFICE OF EDUCATION

THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN REPRODUCED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED FROM THEIanPERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIGINATING IT. POINTS OF VIEW OR OPINIONS(:)STATED DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT OFFICIAL OFFICE OF EDUCATION

POSITION OR POLICY.

OOLA.1

The University of Iowa

STUDIES IN

CONTINUING EDUCATION

FOR REHABILITATION COUNSELORS

Report No. 1, August, 1969

Continuing Education for Rehabilitation Counselors:A Review and Context for Practice and Research

Leonard A. MillerC. Esco Obermann

George AllenJordan M. AtinskyJames R. EngelkesKenneth R. MinerElwyn H. Nagel

Bill K. Richardson

The University of Iowa Studies in Continuing Educationfor Rehabilitation Counselors are supported, in part, byResearch Grant RD-2314-G from the Social and RehabilitationService, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare,Washington, U. C. 20201.

Special thanks are due Mrs. Patricia Hoback whosetyping skills were used in the preparation of the manu-script for this Report.

FOREWORD

Studies in Continuing Education for Rehabilitation Counselors(SCERC) are being directed by a research staff that was organizedat The University of Iowa in 1966 for the purpose of developingand carrying out a program of research in this general area. Thisprogram has significantly involved three professors and five doct-oral students to date.

From the beginning, at regularly scheduled developmentalconferences, in collecting data, in developing learning units,in monitoring the on-going study, and in analyzing data, thecontributions of all members of the team were significant enoughto merit author status on current SCERC publications. Seniorauthorship is granted to the person(s) primarily responsible forinitial manuscript preparation of this publication; thereafter,the listing of contributing members is alphabetical.

The current Studies in Continuing Education for RehabilitationCounselors are also the product of cooperation by the directors,training directors, research helpers, district supervisors, andcounselors in the Illinois, Iowa, and Minnesota State-Federalvocational rehabilitation agencies. Their willingness to becomeinvolved in long-term research reflects a high level of profes-sionalism. We would like to recognize specifically the directorsof these three state agencies: Alfred Slicer (Illinois), JerryStarkweather (Iowa), and August Gehrke (Minnesota). We wouldalso like to recognize their training directors: Philip Kolber(Illinois), William Herrick (Iowa), and Joseph Steen (Minnesota).

StudiEs in Continuing Education for RehabilitationCounselors ore made possible by major financial support from theRehabilitation Services Administration, Department of Health,Education, and Welfare (RD-2314-G); the Studies are greatlyfacilitated by the staff of the Research and DemonstrationsDivision of that agency who encouraged the development of thisprogram of research.

Summary and Guidelines for Research and PracticeIn the Continuing Education of Rehabilitation Counselors

in State VR Agencies

Listed below are "Factors to Consider" and "Recommendations"that summarize guidelines for research and practice suggested bythe materials included in this monograph. These considerationsand recommendations are repeated in pertinent parts, at the endof Chapters II, III, and IV. All of them are listed here, andare offered as an efficient summary of the most significant andoperationally useful conclusions to be drawn from the data andinformation presented.

Factors to Consider Recommendations

1. A continuing educational pro-gram should not unduly inter-fere with the performing ofthe services the counselor isemployed to provide.

2. A continuing educational pro-gram should keep unproductivetime (travel, equipment chan-ges, etc.) to a minimum.

3. A continuing educational pro-gram should meet the coun-selor's need for practical,concrete training.

4. A continuing educational pro-gram should be adaptable toindividual counselor workschedules.

5. A continuing educational pro-gram must allow a counselorto begin training immediatelyupon employment, and thistraining must be relevantto his assessed needs.

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A. A continuing educationalprogram should be basedin the district or areaoffice where the parti-cipating counselor isemployed.

B. The content of a conti-nuing educational programshould be counselor task-oriented; care should betaken to explicate therelationship of occupa-tional and job-levelmaterial to active con-cerns of the counselorin specific settings.

C. The format of continuingeducational experiencesshould allow a counselorto take the training onan individual basis, andwhen convenient to him.

6. A continuing educational pro-gram should allow a counselorto take training when it ismost relevant to him, such aswhen he is facing specificoperating problems.

7. A continuing educational pro-gram should allow both train-ed and untrained counselorsto continue developingincreased competence.

8. The counselor should seethat continuing educationis a valuable, necessarypart of his work behavior.

9. A curriculum-level structureis needed for the continuingeducation of the rehabilitationcounselor.

1U.The maintenance of a compre-hensive continuing educationalprogram will require accuratefeedback to administrators.

11.The construction of specificlearning experiences shouldincorporate teaching-learn-ing links as far as possible.

12.With the adult learner,auditory and visual instruc-tion can be effectivelyhandled in several ways.The goal of multi-mediadisplay of content canoften be handled withrelatively inexpensivemethods.

0. The range of content ineducational experiencesshould be broad andadapted to varying back-grounds, training, andneeds of counselors.

E. Time, on the job, shouldbe scheduled for continu-ing educational experi-ences.

F. A continuing educationalprogram should haveclearly defined relation-ships with work rewards,such as promotions,salary increments, etc.

G. The administrators ofVR agencies, with theircounselors, should deve-lop a comprehensive planfor a continuing educa-tional program.

H. A cumulative trainingrecord form should bedesigned and maintainedon counseling personnel.

I. Agencies should utilizeavailable universitiesand colleges to purchasepre-packaged learningexperiences according toagency specifications.

J. Agencies should conductan inventory of instruc-tional resources forpossible inclusion ofexisting resources intoa comprehensive continu-ing educational program.

13.Independent study methodsare as effective as face-to-face instruction forconcept development.

14.The design of laboratoryexperiences, for skilland proficiency develop-ment should capitalize onthrough-employment experi-ences.

15.Learning experiences forchanging counselor attit-udes and dispositionsshould be well definedin terms of goals. The roleof such learning experiencesis quite restricted.

16.Job-performance criteria forrehabilitation counselors arehierarchical, ranging fromimmediate to ultimate inscope.

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The use of expensiveaudk)-visual hardwareshould be avoided.

L. For developing concepts,workshops or centralizedmeetings should be avoid-ed, unless their relativeexpense can be rational-ized in terms of uniqueresources. Generally,prepackaged, independent-study procedures, pre-pared according toagency specifications,can proceed at districtlevels.

M. The use of special forms,the use of supervisorypersonnel trained inhandling specific learn-ing experiences, andattention to teaching-learning links should beencouraged in designinglaboratory experiencesaround the actual taskswhich counselors performwhile' giving services.

N. The use of learningexperiences for chang-ing counselor attitudesand dispositions shouldbe job-task oriented,with a goal to enhancecurrent work behavior,not to alter persona-lity characteristics.

0. Periodically, an agencyshould examine the pro-ducts of its currentdelivery-of-services,to ascertain the via-bility of the systemas a whole.

17.Continuing educationalexperiences for rehabili-tation counselors arehierarchicalo and culmi-nate in actual job skills.

18. Norms on counselor job-performance must bemeaningful in a Practicalway.

P. Job components in therehabilitation process,that are believed nec-essary for desirableoutcomes on ultimatecriteria should benormed for measuringthe effects of continu-ing educational experi-ences.

Q. The evaluation processfor concept developmentand dispositional learn-ing experiences shouldbe primarily for learnerfeedback.

R. The evaluation processfor skill-learningexperiences should betied most directly tointermediate criteriafor counselor performanceon necessary rehabilita-tion process components.

S. Competence norms, basedon a "mastery concept"rather than a "relativeperformance", should bedeveloped.

T. Competence norms shouldfocus on speciallzed,job-oriented skill inrehabilitation-processcomponents not ordinarilypossessed by most adulthuman beings.

Counselor evaluation onjob-performance criteriashould be a cumulativeprocess, not a singleevent in time.

19.Job-performance criteriafor rehabilitation counselorscan be criteria of satisfactor-iness or satisfaction.

V. Micro-skill experiencesthat allow the develop-ment of explicit compe-tence in rehabilitation-process componentsshould be developed.

W. Statistical treatment ofevaluative data shouldbe primarily descriptive.Statistical help can bepurchased after a basisfor competence norms isestablished.

X. Dispositional learningexperiences, orimarilyfor intra-agency communi-cation and functioning,should be measured oncriteria of counselorsatisfaction. Dispositi-onal-learning experiences,focusing on the perform-ance of a specific job-task, should be measuredas part of a skillexperience.

Foreword

I. Introduction

II. The Cont kat for the Coolinging Education ofRehabilitation Counselors

1

A. Introduction 5

B. Influence of work environment 9C. Influence of counselor characteristics 12D. Summary and Guidelines for Research and

Practice 13

III. The Management, af. Instructional, Media, forContinuing Education Qf Rehabilitation Counselors:Teaching-Learning Linkage.

A. IntroductionB. Media for Developing Concepts/InformationC. Media for Developing Skills/ProficiencyD. Media for Developing Self Awareness/

DispositionsE. Summary and Guidelines for Research

and Practice

163139

42

51

IV. jha Relating of Continuing Education for Rehabili-tation LgoanlkiilLa .19 Goals and Outcomes

A. Introduction 54B. Criteria of Satisfactoriness

and Satisfaction 59C. Measurement Problems 61D. Summary and Guidelines for Research

and Practice 71

V. Studies j Continuing Education 19" RehabilitationCounselors: Past, Present, Future

A.B.

C.

Epilogue

Background of Project 74Method in Current Study 75Future Plans 79

80

I iltX2ALULM.

This report is the first in a series of reports that willdeal with the continuing education of rehabilitation counselors.It reviews the literature on the problems related to the conti-nuing education of professional workers, and sets forth guide-lines that are being followed in the programmatic researchunderway at The University of Iowa. It attempts a usefulsynthesis of both the theoretical foundations of learning andpractical suggestions for implementing such concepts in thecontinuing education of rehabilitation counselors.

The continuing education of rehabilitation counselors isusually labeled "inservice training" by their administrators.The term "inservice training" implies that training and employ-ment are concurrent, which is not the distinction that willordinarily be made in this report. It will be more useful,most of the time, to think of continuing educational methodsalong two dimensions.

The first dimension concerns the general forms suchtraining can take. These forms can be(a) continuing educationduring employment, and(b) continuing education through employ-ment. As the report will more clearly show, the two forms ofcontinuing educational experiences can and at times should bemerged, but they are different enough from each other to meritseparate discussion at times. By continuing education throughemployment, is meant the planned restructuring of job tasks soas to achieve desired changes in dispositions, skills, and/orinformation which counselors possess and which have someinfluence on job-related criteria. For example, a counselormight be assigned several mentally retarded clients, and bythe use of specially prepared forms, tape recordings, etc.,receive special supervision in his handling of such clients.Here the counselor performs a given part of his job consciouslyaware that it is a learning experience. This might be thoughtof as structured work experience; such continuing educationalexperiences are particularly appropriate for learning how IQapply, knowledges already in the counselor's possession. Inthis respect, the function of through-employment experiencesparallels the function of on campus practicum and clinicalpractice (Joint Liaison Committee, 1963) in university train-ing programs which aim primarily at developing skill(s) orproficiency. This might be thought of as the "work-sample"approach to teaching; work samples are usually used in eval-uation (hoed, 1960; Rosenberg and Usdane, 1963; Sakata andSinick, 1965).

Continuing education during employment is composed ofexperiences a counselor might receive away from his job, such

as in workshops or classes on a college campus, or at annualstate staff meetings. If he were to bring case files of hisclients to the campus for discussion, this would be a blendof both approaches.

The second dimension of continuing education concernsthe general level af Presentation in such training. Theclassifications can range over (1) occupational training,(2) job training, and (3) position training. The meaningshere are similar to those used by Shartle (1946) when hespeaks of occupations as being similar jobs in severalestablishments; jobs are similar work tasks in the sameestablishment; and positions are given set of tasks.Counselors need continuing educational experiences at theoccupational level (i.e., they should learn the things allrehabilitation counselors know); counselors need such exper-iences at the job level (i.e., they should learn thingsthat all counselors in their agency know); and finally theyneed educational experiences at the position level (i.e.,they should learn the things that only their particular worktasks call for).

The content in a given continuing educational exper-ience may range over all levels of presentation, but thethrough-employment experience is much more apt to containcontent at the job and position levels; during-employmentexperiences are more apt to contain occupational-level content.These occupationally-oriented dimensions are related to andmerge with concepts derived from learning theory.

On a given working day, a rehabilitation counselorpossesses a repertory of dispositions, skills and informationwhich cause him to act in certain ways with respect to hisjob. He might, for example, reject a client another counselorwould have accepted (Dishart, 1965). He might or might notinterpret an interest inventory so as to act on that informa-tion in a manner that benefits his clients. He may also bemore dissatisfied with his job than most counselors workingin that setting. In his dispositions to act, such as valuesand attitudes, in his demonstrated skill in performing atask, as well as the knowledge he needs to cope with jobdemands, he reveals his previous learning.

But a counselor has learned in both formal and informalways. Formally, he has attended schools, where the educationalprograms were more ore less definable sequences of experiences,planned to change the learner so as to produce desired personaland organizational outcomes. Some experiences, have beenfocused on giving him information; some were designed toallow him to practice a skill; others were designed to change

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his dispositions, i.e., values, attitudes, aspirations, etc.Informally, in social situations, he has also learned whatdispositions his peers expect and, through gossip, he hascollected considerable information.

This report deals with issues and problems in the con-tinuing education of rehabilitation counselors in the formalsense of education as being a planned sequence of experiencesfor ultimately producing desired outcomes on the job. Assuch, the sequence of experiences must have the primary intentof changing dispositions, skills, and/or providing informationthat enables counselors to achieve desired outcomes. A pro-fession must not only define the formal educational sequencefor members prior to entry into the field, but it must alsoestablish formal, continuing educational programs to maintaineffective work behavior in its members. No profession hassolved its continuing educational problems, although, advanceshave been made in education (Bureau of In-service Education,1966; Elder, 1961; Gilchrist, 1959; Moffitt, 1963; Nelson,1964), aviation (Hoehm and Lumsdaine, 1958; Larkins andJewell, 1958), medicine (American Medical Association, 1966,Ebbert, 1960; Law, 1965; Robertson, 1961; Robertson, et al,1965; Woolsey, 1960; Worledge, 1966), and the military(Clark and Sloan, 1964; Crawford, 1967; Eckstrand, 1967;Saettler, 1968; Sheldon, 1967), to name some.

The dilemmas which arise in the continuing educationof rehabilitation counselors, as this report will more fullyshow, are related to many of the unsolved problems stillexisting in the rehabilitation counselor's job. They are tiedmost closely to current inability to get wide agreement onmeasures of successful counseling performance (Muthard andMiller, 1966), or to achieve closure on the necessary andsufficient training and skills a counselor should possess(Ellwood, 1968; Olshansky and Hart, 1967; Patterson, 1968).The solutions to more limited problems connected with thecontinuing education of rehabilitation counselors, such asthe retrieval and use of research findings by the counselor,depend to a great extent on the answers that will be deve-loped for these larger problems. As the rehabilitationcounselor working in a state-federal agency moves into newsettings, e.g., correctional institutions, or in so far ashis job becomes more specialized in either clientele orfunction, the larger questions of criteria for success andnecessary training must be answered repeatedly before thecontinuing educational programs of state-agency rehabili-tation counselors develop adequate coordinated experienceswith demonstrated relationships to desired job outcomes.In a real sense, the continuing educational problems andchanges required will always be present as the job setting,

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type of clientele, and counselor personnel continue tochange (Kramer, 1966; RSA, 1968).

II. The Context for the Continuing Education of RehabilitationCounselors

A. Introduction

The way we think about the continuing education ofrehabilitation counselors determines to a large extent whatwe will do about it. Consequently, the concepts which agencyadministrators and counselors hold of their work comprise acontext out of which continuing educational practices grow.This brief examination of some of the more important conceptsheld in state vocational rehabilitation (VR) agencies, andtheir probable influence on continuing educational activitiesshould help in designing and implementing a more effectiveprogram of continuing education.

One major concept or perception which VR agencies haveof their activities might be labeled a set-to-give-services,or a service orientation (Goldin, 1965). Since these agenciesare charged both by the federal and state governments to pro-vide current services to handicapped clients, it is reasonablethat such an orientation be an important part of agency policyand thinking. However, such a perception might well lead toimplementing a very sketchy uncoordinated program of continu-ing education for counselors, one designed to interfereleast with delivery of client services (Harbridge House, 1963).

A review of the literature has uncovered no formula forestimating what proportion of company time an employee shoulddevote to a continuing educational program. In areas whereknowledge is advancing rapidly, where changes in equipmentor job tasks are relatively rapid, such as computer techno-logy and aviation, it is probably not unusual for 25% of thework time to be devoted to continuing education. On the otherhand, in relatively stable, less complex jobs a much smallerproportion of work time needs to be allocated this way.Although time required for continuing educational experiencesis also related to the delivery system for instruction, i.e.,the management of instructional media and content, it seemsreasonable to assume that a certain minimum amount of timemust be allocated to such activities for the rehabilitationcounselor, even when the educational program is highly effi-cient. For agencies that recruit mainly untrained personnel,a highly efficient continuing educational program would benecessary to stay within minimum time allocations and stillachieve desirable results on criteria related to agencymission. For a typical state VR agency, recruiting bothtrained and untrained counselors, and operating an efficientcontinuing educational program which produces desirable out-comes, it is not unreasonable to suppose that ten percent of

the counselors' work time should be set aside for such aprogram. As one considers the present and growing complexityof the counselor's job, with expanded disability categoriesbeing served, such an estimate appears conservative. Animportant consideration is reduction of unproductive train-ing time to a tolerable level, e.g. eliminating extensivetravel time, and time spent in waiting for equipment changesor instructors.

When specific continuing educational proposals are eval-uated by VR administrators, it is safe to assume that animportant criterion by which such proposals are judged isthe amount of time they will divert from the time availablefor client services. Short-term training workshops becamerelatively desirable, for example, because all counselorscan receive some educational experiences at the same time,making such workshops more "efficient" in terms of time de-mands on the counseling staff. However, such workshops aremore apt to emphasize occupational-level training, becauseof the need to keep content quite general when instructingan audience from many settings. Consequently the topicspresented in such workshops are likely to be too theoreticalfor service-oriented participants from state VR settings(Wright, et al, 1968).

In a 1966 survey of counselor educators (Carlson, 1966),77% of the 31 educators responding indicated they had sponsor-ed at least one workshop for state vocational rehabilitation(VR) personnel in the prior two years. This demonstrates howprevalent workshops have become, for example, when it isfurther noted in this survey that only 32% of these educatorstaught an extension class primarily for state VR personneland only 39% served as consultants on an overall staff deve-lopment program for a VR agency. In another study (Wright,et al, 1968), nearly one-half of 87 counselors surveyed re-ported that their training was too theoretical and lackedsufficient practicum; the implication was that more "practi-cal", "concrete" training would have been desirable. Suchtraining content apparently would be at the position-level,with the bulk of the continuing education being given inthrough-employment experiences.

This Wisconsin study by Wright, et al, also found that58% of 199 counselors responding in the survey thought in-service training should be improved, and approximately 22%recommended more workshops or seminar-type events. Whatthe literature has to point out about the general trainingeffectiveness of short-term, training workshops will bepresented in the chapter on comparision of media for train-ing. However, two important characteristics of such work-

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shops for VR agencies, ignoring their demonstrated trainingeffectiveness for the moment, are the savings in time and therelative ease of implementing them. This makes them con-sonant with the set-to-give-services orientation of the VRagencies.

Allied to the service orientation and a major part ofsuch a set is the prevalent view of VR personnel that themost desirable form of giving services to a client often isto take some direct action on his behalf. Such an action,for example, may be to send the client for training or tolocate a job for him. Probably part of this compulsionstems from large caseloads and a work pattern which resultsfrom attempts to cope with such a caseload. In a studyconducted by Muthard and Miller (1966), it was demonstratedthat VR personnel describe direct-action counselor behavioras "good behavior" to a significantly greater degree thando counselor educators. This was true for trained counsel-ors holding an M.A. degree as well as for untrained counsel-ors, supervisors, and agency administrators.

The counselor who sees his job as providing direct,concrete help to clients, rooted in commonsensical notionsof what is needed and should be provided, will probably notdesire nor benefit from occupational-level continuing educa-tional experiences that challenge his view of his job. Forexample, training in counseling theory that describes thecounselor-client interaction in ways that do not include orendorse direct intervention on behalf of the client willnot be well received by counselors who subscribe to directintervention as a principal strategy.

Perhaps counselors desire certain continuing educationalexperiences to better cope with agency demands, whileentertaining different preferences for training experienceson the basis of their definition of rehabilitation counselingas a profession. In the Goldin study (1965), 84% of thecounselors responding thought that only 20% or less ofthe counselor's total time should be spent on cases. whichhave a doubtful prognosis for vocational rehabilitation. Yet,in the same group of counselors, 76% of the them stated thatthe rehabilitation of severely disabled and chronically illpersons for independent living was as important as vocationalrehabilitation. Goldin interprets this as indicating a con-flict within the counselors, caused by an agency requirementfor productivity in rehabilitating as many people as possible,and the emotional commitment of counselors which includeshelping disabled persons to live at a higher functional levelwithout necessarily becoming gainfully employed. Krause (1965)also points out that certain structured strains are created

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in the role of the rehabilitation counselor by his employingorganization and by the community. He cites the "product"orientation of the agency to achieve placements for vocation-ally feasible clients, large size of caseloads, and timerestrictions, as some of these strains.

Since the service and direct-action orientation of VRpersonnel, both administrators and counselors, is relatedto what is seen as desirable methods and topics of continuingeducation, as well as to what is regarded as desirable criteriafor evaluating such education, the probable influence of suchorientation will be examined throughout this report. What is

most clearly apparent is that continuing education, as it is

practiced and might be practiced in state VR agencies shouldbe related to wider issues and concepts connected with thecounselors's job.

In concluding this section, it might also be pointed outthat the amount of administrative control over the counselor'sdecision making, particularly in expending funds and imple-menting novel plans, would influence how effective certaineducational experiences might be. If most of his planningand operating must be countersigned by higher officials,then it might be supposed that occupational-level trainingduring-employment, for example in topics of a theoreticalbent on decision-making, would have little effect on acounselor's job behavior.

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B. Influence j Work Plvironmlal

The work environment of the counselor who is employed ina state VR setting presents certain barriers and selectiveinfluences in the development of a meaningful sequence ofcontinuing educational experiences, influences aside fromthe attitudes of counselors and administrators. Both thestructure and pattern of counselor work activities makecertain continuing educational practices more or less feas-ible and effective.

Rehabilitation counselors even in the same office typi-cally carry caseloads of clients with whom only they, ascounselors, are working. On any given day the pattern oftheir work tasks, with respect to such individual caseloads,may vary widely across counselors. Counselors may, on anygiven day, be performing different tasks and be activelyconcerned with different kinds of problems. Consequently,when a continuing educational event is scheduled, on a giventopic, in any given period, it may have more immediacy andinterest for some counselors than for others. As a result,in terms of work patterning, particularly for training atthe position-level, scheduled continuing educational experi-ences through employment have much to recommend them. Sucheducational experiences can thus be tied to immediate prob-lems and concerns of the counselor.

In terms of structure, certain job tasks which thecounselor performs are relatively invisible and are per-formed autonomously; and it is difficult to interject atraining element into such tasks. For example, in coun-seling interaction the one-to-one relationship betweencounselor and client is changed when an observer or traineris injected into the situation (Roberts and Renzaglia, 1965).As another example, the counselor usually privately contactsemployers and many other significant people in the community;consequently, the counselor's actual placement and publicrelations behavior is also relatively invisible and performedautonomously. Because of this, it is difficult to incorp-orate many through-employment continuing educational experi-ences in such activities.

Other factors in the structure of work tasks performedby the counselor which shape continuing educational needs andpractices are specialization of job tasks and the localewhere the job is performed. If an agency has divided therehabilitation process into different segments, for example,intake, case services, placement functions, and employs counsel-ors to perform primarily in one of these segments of theprocess, it is obvious that counselors will need differing

educational experiences that will be related to the segments in

which they perform. The Iowa VR agency, for example, has esta-

blished a three-unit system that differentiates job tasksinto intake, case services, and placement. As far as coun-

selor job responsibilities are concerned, the range of con-tinuing educational experiences can be restricted to those

most appropriate for his unit; as far as his personal careerdevelopment is concerned, such restriction of experiencesmay be harmful.

The locale in which a counselor works has severalstructural aspects that influence continuing educationalpractices. The counselor who works primarily in an urban

office with several other counselors who might help stimu-late him, has continuing education and methods availablethat can be utilized in an educational program. Wasson

and Strowig demonstrated that school counselors in locales

where several counselors worked together read more of the

professional literature and developed more professionalattitudes than did isolated counselors (1965, 1965).Counselors in a state VR setting typically work in a de-

centralized, district-office situation. This imposescertain limitations on how much exposure all counselorsin the agency can receive to educational experiences with-out resorting to centralized meetings.

The opportunities for continuing education throughemployment as well as during employment are greater insettings that allow quite frequent contacts with otherprofessionals and facilities, such as in rehabilitationcenters, employment offices, medical clinics, and univer-

sities. Taylor set out to discover what influence, if any,

organizational, geographical, and financial factors had onthe inservice teacher-education program in 100 Indiana High

Schools (1959). He found that the larger schools employingthe greater number of teachers and located in the larger,wealthier cities had the more extensive inservice teacher-education programs. He concluded that better educatedteachers for better schools depend, in part, on schooldistricts being large enough and wealthy enough to provideadequate inservice teacher-education programs.

Perhaps the most powerful influence on the developmentand effect of continuing education for rehabilitation coun-selors in state VR settings stems from the reinforcers orrewards that are offered in such settings for pursuing con-tinuing educational experiences. The attitudes toward con-tinued training held by significant others in the work en-vironment, both supervisors and co-workers, can be an im-portant source of such influence (Kelley and Thibout, 1954;

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Blake, 1958). If status devolves on persons who pursue anactive continuing educational program, it can be expectedsuch a reward will lead to a more extensive program ofcontinuing education.

Monetary rewards and job advancement have been usedas reinforcement for continuing education in public schoolteaching (Edmonds, et al, 1966); however, the form of thiseducation has typically been additional course work at auniversity. In other words, occupational-level training,during employment, has been the primary type of trainingfor public school teachers.

Continuing education for rehabilitation counselors,particularly of the through-employment variety, has notbeen recommended as a substitute for professional residenttraining in graduate programs of rehabilitation counseling(American Rehabilitation Counseling Association, 1968).In some respects, this is unfortunate, since the implementa-tion of such a recommendation would be a very potent rein-forcer for untrained counselors to develop their potentialthrough continuing educational experiences, and therebygain the accolade of being "trained".

C. Influence, pj, Counselor, Ibkraraerillics.

The factors in the learner which help account for varia-tion in outcomes from educational experiences are legion.Generally, they might be classified as achievement-aptitudefactors, and dispositional factors. Many of these learnercharacteristics have an interaction effect with such thingsas environment, topic of the educational experience, and

method of presentation, which produce an outcome not as-cribable to learner characteristics alone (Briggs, 1968;LuMsdaine, 1963).

Under achievement-aptitudes special learning capabilities(e.g., a capacity to develop easily a repertoire of manualspeech signs with deaf people) must be considered. Disposition-al factors encompass those learner characteristics which pre-dispose him to act a certain way. They include desire tolearn, interest, values, and personality factors.

With respect to previous learning, it might be relativelysafe to assume that counselors in state VR agency settings andtrained in graduate programs of rehabilitation counseling havehigher levels of knowledges required for their jobs thancounselors not so trained. This must certainly be true atleast at the level of occupational education, if not at theposition or job levels. There is currently no publishedempirical evidence on this.

It is assumed that the rehabilitation counselor in a

state VR setting has average mental ability. It is quitepossible that counselors in state settings who have beentrained in graduate programs and thus have been selected onsome academic basis, might test out somewhat above averagefor college students as a whole. This has yet to be esta-blished.

There is also some reason for assuming that counselorsin state settings, trained in graduate programs of rehabili-tation counseling, might differ systematically on certaindispositional factors when compared with untrained counselors.For example, their election of e graduate training programin rehabilitation counseling may predispose the trainedcounselors to have a greater interest in and satisfactionwith their jobs, a more "professional" image of their work,a different set of values about clients, etc. (Dishart, 1965;Eddy, 1960; Smits, et al, 1968). The results of Goldin'sstudy (1965) would suggest that counselors view themselvesas psychotherapists, having low prestige, and using medicineand psychology as professional reference groups. This studysuggests certain predispositions in counselors in state VR

12

agencies that would affect continuing ,educational outcomes.The previously discussed set-to-give-services and set-to-take-direct-action are also apt to be counselor character-istics which influence the effectiveness of any given con-tinuing educational experiences.

D. Summary and Guidelines for Research and Practice

A continuing educational program for rehabilitationcounselors in state VR settings requires information on howthe structure and patterning of tasks in the work milieu,administrative practices and attitudes, as well as counselorcharacteristics can specifically influence what effect thecontinuing educational experiences of both the during-employment and through-employment variety have on desiredoutcomes. Ideally, a continuing educational program wouldtake into account what is already known about some of thefactors enumerated above; and research should continue toproduce further information for program evolution. In addi-tion, such a program of continuing education should incorp-orate what the literature has to tell about the processof learning and effective strategies for managing instruct-ional media. The learning and strategy factors will bedealt with in the next chapter.

13

Table 1

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR RESEARCH AND PRACTICE

Factors to Consider Recommendations

1. A continuing educational pro-gram should not unduly inter-fere with the performing ofthe services the counselor isemployed to provide.

2. A continuing educational pro-gram should keep unproductivetime (travel, equipment chan-ges, etc.) to a minimum.

3. A continuing educational pro-gram should meet the coun-selor's need for practical,concrete training.

4. A continuing educational pro-gram should be adaptable toindividual counselor workschedules.

5. A continuing educational pro-gram must allow a counselorto begin training immediatelyupon employment, and thistraining must be relevantto his assessed needs.

6. A continuing educational pro-gram should allow a counselorto take training when it is

most relevant to him, such aswhen he is facing specificoperating problems.

14

A. A continuing educationalprogram should be basedin the district or areaoffice where the parti-cipating counselor isemployed.

B. The content of a conti-nuing educational programshould be counselor task-oriented; care should betaken to explicate therelationship of occupa-tional and job-levelmaterial to active con-cerns of the counselorin specific settings.

C. The format of continuingeducational experiencesshould allow a counselorto take the training onan individual basis, andwhen convenient to him.

7. A continuing educational pro-gram should, allow both train-ed and untrained counselorsto continue developingincreased competence.

8. The counselor should seethat continuing educationis a valuable, necessarypart of his work behavior.

The range of content ineducational experiencesshould be broad andadapted to varying back-grounds, training, andneeds of counselors.

E. Time, on the job, shouldbe scheduled for continu-ing educational experi-ences.

F. A continuing educationalprogram should haveclearly defined relation-ships with work rewards,such as promotions,salary increments, etc.

III. The Management of Instructional Media for the ContinuingEducation of Rehabilitation Counselors: Teaching-LearningLinkage.

A. Introduction .

In the continuing education of rehabilitation counselors,there is involved an educational process, a process that mustbe managed in a fashion that produces desired outcomes. Inthis respect, it is similar to the rehabilitation processwhich a state VR agency provides to achieve desired outcomeswith clients. Drawing the analogy a little closer, it mightbe added that planning, continuity, and feedback are ascrucial in the continuing educational process as in therehabilitation process.

The fact that the educational process is not clearlydefined should not cause embarrassment. The educationalprocess is an endeavor to use any of the disciplines ofknowledge to achieve desired changes in learners. It is

mission-oriented and in this respect requires a collectionof knowledges and tasks to be performed. Again, it closelyresembles the rehabilitation process.

The ideational structure which is used to create andimplement an educational process can be viewed as two some-what distinct, but interlocking, systems. They can belabeled as (1) Learning Theory and (2) Instructional Techno-logy (Media Usage). Although the focus in this chapterwill be primarily on the management of instructional media,and on the pertinent research which supports specific mediausage, it will be profitable to review the more importantconcepts emerging from learning theory, in order to gainbetter perspective on the continuing educational processof rehabilitation counselors.

Learning theory, without much empirical support, andwith a great deal of difficulty, has attempted to extro-polate specific suggestions for learning conditions inanimals and children, to learning in the adult human being.As a result, theory many times deteriorates into a list of"dos" and "don'ts", particularly when a piece of instruc-tional hardware is said to incorporate the "laws of Learning"(Briggs, et al, 1967; Saettler, 1968). In the section ofthis chapter on Management of Instructional Media, a closerlook will be taken at claims pertaining to learning theoryand specific media usage.

In its broadest sense, learning theory can subsume thefield of psychology, or can become a synonym for psychology.

16

For example, since learning theory deals with changing humanbehavior, some variant of learning theory has been adaptedto counseling (Pepinsky & Pepinsky, 1954), psychotherapy(Dollard & Miller, 1950), personality theory (Shaffer &Shoben, 1956), and social psychology (Bandura & Walters,1963; Zajonc, 1966). There are theorists who would arguethat the psychologist, whether he knows it or not, is

usually studying and is concerned with some learning process,and is most effective when he explicitly recognizes this.As a result, there is probably as much range and diversityin learning theory as there is in all psychological theori-zing.

Historically, current learning theories developed outof school settings or animal research (Saettler, 1968), andwere generalized to psychotherapy, counseling, and to ind-ustrial and adult educational settings. The diversity oflearning theories reflects the diversity of their intellect-ual ancestors. Learning theory has drawn upon such philo-sophers as Socrates (the Socratic Method), Locke (TabulaRasa), Rousseau (Noble Savage) and later figures such asPavlov (Conditioning), Wertheimer (Gestalt), and Herbart(Faculty Psychology). Since it is not the intent here topresent a historical review of learning theory development,the following readings are recommended to those who mightwish to pursue this subject further:

Saettler, P. A history, 2i instructional technology,New York, McGraw-Hill, 1968.

Hilgard, E. j.hjories at 'gaming, (2nd Ed.),New York, Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1956.

An important development in learning theory has been therecognition that there are several different types of learning(Gagne, 1965). By understanding the limited role that eachtype of learning plays in achieving a given defined educationaloutcome or objective, it is possible to prescribe more effect-ively a sequence of educational experiences which, in theirtotal impact, can accomplish defined objectives. Gagne (1965),has described the types of learning as follows:

Type 1 - LIGNAL I.LEABILLU

The individual learns to make a general diffuseresponse to a signal. This is the classicalconditioned response of Pavlov (1927).

Type 2 - STIMULUS-RESPONSE LEARNINGThe learner acquires a precise response to adiscriminated stimulus. What is learned isa connection (Thorndike, 1898) or a discrimina-

17

tive operant (Skinner, 1938), sometimes calledan instrumental response (Kimball, 1961).

Type 3 -. CHAININGWhat is acquired is a chain of two or morestimulus-response connections. The condi-tions for such learning have been describedby Skinner (1938) and others, notably Gilbert(1962).

Type 4 - VERBAL A5.52112.4,Verbal association is the learning of chainsthat are verbal. Basically, the conditionsresemble those for other (motor) chains. How-ever, the presence of language and the humanbeing makes this a special type becauseinternal links may be selected from theindividual's previously learned repertoireof language (cf. Underwood, 1964).

Type 5- MULTLPLE DISCRIMINATIONThe individual learns to make n differentidentifying responses to as many differentstimuli, which may resemble each other inphysical appearance to a greater or lesserdegree. Although the learning of suchstimulus-response connections is a simpleType 2 occurrence, the connections tend tointerfere with each other's retention (cf.Postman, 1961).

Type 6 - CONCEPT LEARNING,The learner acquires a capability of makinga common response to a class of stimuli thatmay differ from each other widely in physicalappearance. He is able to make a responsethat identifies an entire class of objectsor events (cf. Kendler, 1964).

Type 7 - PRINCIPLE LEARNINGIn simplest terms, a principle is a chainof two or more concepts. It functions tocontrol behavior in the manner suggestedby the verbalized rule of the form, "if Adthen h," where A and 12. are concepts. How-ever, it must be carefully distinguishedfrom the mere verbal sequence, "if A thenb," which may also be learned as type 4.

18

Type 8 - PROBLEM SOLVINGProblem solving is a kind of learning thatrequires the internal events usually called"thinking." Two or more previously acquiredprinciples are somehow combined to producea new capability that can be shown to dependon a "higher-order" principle.

Gagne attempts to show that each variety of learning beginswith a given state of the organism and ends with a differentcapability for performance. He believes, therefore, that thedifferences among these varieties of learning outweigh theirsimilarities. Gagne argues that the most important class ofconditions that distinguish one form of learning from anotheroccur in the initial state of the learner. More complicatedlearning, in effect, requires that some form of the previoustypes have already been achieved. To teach problem solving,for example, the previous types of learning, Types 1 through7, are prerequisites. If it is assumed that the varioustypes of learning described above constitute a valid way ofapproaching the problem of learning, it becomes more apparentthat in the achievement of any global educational objective,multi-media instruction must be considered.

McGehee and Thayer (1961) in discussing fads and fashionin modern training in industry, pointed out that in super-visory training the lecturing techniques became outmodedand were supplanted by the conference method of instruction.

Training directors accordingly became moreconcerned with proper arrangements of theconference room than with what actuallytook place in the conference. Conferenceswere held on a wide gamut of subjects suchas labor relations, how free enterpriseworks, and safety. The question wasnever raised as to the outcomes desiredor whether or not the conferences werenecessary to secure organizational goals.Similar situations exist in the use of thecase method, the incident technique, androle playing. Training directors and linemanagement often become so intrigued withtechniques that they lose sight entirelyof the purpose training should serve intheir organization. Then, when the parti-cular training fad fails to produce itsmiracle, it is dropped and supplanted by anewer fad.

19

Briggs, et al, (1967) have adopted the assumption in theiranalysis of multi-media instruction that "to supply the instruc-tional events needed for each type of learning and to displayinstructional stimuli required in the sensory mode and qualityneeded, various media (audio-visual) devices are of different-ial effectiveness, depending upon the exact learning require-ment imposed by the educational objective." Examples of mediainclude the teacher's voice, smile, or pat on the shoulder;books; charts; physical objects; pictures; sound tracks; TV;and sound-motion pictures. Such events as field trips andlaboratory exercises are composed of exposure to one or moreof these media for presenting stimuli. Once one specifiesin detail the instructional events and the stimuli required,he is ready to choose the media by which the stimuli may be

presented. Convenience, cost, reliability and ease of switch-ing from one medium to another should be considered, alongwith other factors, in making the choice. Briggs, et al,(1967) further state that "ideally, each behavioral objectivewould be stated in terms of a sufficiently limited scope ofinstruction so as to involve only one kind of learning." Forone reason or another, they cannot be broken down into anextended sequence of limited objectives, each of which wouldinvolve only one kind of learning.

To further complicate matters, there appears to be aninteraction effect among type of learning, method of instru-ction, and aptitude for learning. For example, Taylor andFox (1967), using Army trainees, demonstrated that performancein each type of learning (Type 2 through Type 7) was relatedto trainee scores on the Armed Forces Qualification Test (a

mental ability test). The tasks to be learned ranged fromsimple maintaining of a control panel (Type 2) through plot-ting a target on a map, given certain information (Type 7).These investigators found performances (e.g., fewer errors,quicker responses) were also related to training method. In

level-of-principles learning, method of instruction wascritical in whether the low aptitude group learned at all.

To some extent, alternate ways of describing learningparallel Gagne's types of learning. These include concreteversus abstract learning; rote versus problem-solving learn-ing; receptive versus discovery learning. Saettle (1968),in discussing the history of instructional technology statesthat:

The physical science concept of instructionaltechnology usually means the application ofphysical science and engineering technology,such as motion picture projectors, tape re-

20

corders, television, teaching machines....thephysical science concept of instructionaltechnology is that which casts materials(audiovisual) and machines (still and motionpicture projectors) etc., in nonverbal rolesand some of the more traditional media (lect-ures, books) in verbal roles. The assumptionunderlying this view is that nonverbal mediaare more concrete and effective, and that theperennial villain in the teaching-learningprocess is "verbalism" .This rationale hasled to an abstract-concrete dichotomy whichis, in fact, no dichotomy at all, since bothverbal and nonverbal media and/or signs varyalong an abstract-concrete continuum. It isnot true, for example, that the pictorial is

inevitably "real" or "concrete". It can behighly abstruse and abstract. What is more,whether we speak with words or pictures, wemust abstract if we are to generalize ordevelop concepts about the world in which welive.

Ausubel (1960) has also pointed out that:

It is frequently maintained that abstractconcepts and generalizations are forms ofempty, meaningless verbalism unless thelearner discovers them autonomously out ofhis own concrete, empirical problem-solvingexperience. Careful analysis of this propo-sition reveals, in my opinion, that it restson three serious logical fallacies: (a) astraw-man representation of the method ofverbal learning; (b) the prevailing tendencyto confuse the reception-discovery dimensionof the learning process with the rote-mean-ingful dimension; and (c) unwarranted,,LerjagrajjasUlga ffif ILA Aistinctive Aug. -

mental conditions at learning Anal thinkingin childhood .tig adolescence And adult life,.(Italics added)

Ausubel developed what he has labeled the "subsumption"theory in learning. Essentially, he presents the case forsubsuming the material to be learned by giving the learner"advance organizers". Consequently, the learner does notneed to discover the principle to be learned by examiningdiscrete facts; rather, he validates the advance organizerby Aulaipciainz the facts. Research has demonstrated the effec-tiveness of such an approach on several criteria of performance,particularly retention (Ausubel, 1960).

21

The development of instructional media is not tied tolearning theory in any clearly documented way (Saettler,1968). Briggs, et al (1967) point out that "there is competi-tion among the media producers for their media to have aprominent place in the total array of items to be used, in

the absence of a theory upon which justification could existfor teaching each type of educational objective by a mediumhaving special relevance for the kind of learning conditionsrequired."

Specifying the types of learning involved and utilizingmulti-media to achieve the overall objective call for theadoption of some type of strategy for instructional media,and content can be thought of as instructional management,strategy (Kapfer, 1968). Several writers (Kludt, 1967;

, Briggs, et al, 1967) adopted what was described as a "systemsapproach" for developing strategy in instructional management«The systems approach, a term that has come out of the aero-space industry, is essentially an attempt to deal with thetotal array of problems involved in setting up an inservicetraining program, by utilizing leveral conceptualizationsabout the relationships between educational problems andthe process of developing solutions«

Kludt points out that every job can be divided intothree parts: (1) the specialty of the individual; (2) theadministration, or mechanics, of the job; and (3) the "peopleaspect" of the job. Kludt argues that any program of trainingthat is set up, for any group, must take into considerationthese three aspects. The specialty of the individual is

essentially the skills required in his particular field ofwork. This may be typing and filing for a stenographer andin the case of an engineer, mathematics and design. The ad-ministration or mechanics of the job essentially involvesthose aspects of the job that are bureaucratized, such asthe paperwork, information storage, and the communicationchannels that must be organized and maintained on the job.The people aspect of the job refers to the interpersonalrelationships; the way people feel about each other, and theway they work with each other.

There are five kinds of inservice training which can betapped in dealing with these three parts of a job: attitudinal,organizational, managerial, technical training for professionalstaff, and vocational training. Using a PERT System (ProgramEvaluation and Review Technique, Federal Electric Corporation,1963), Kludt organizes the process of developing a trainingprogram. Figure 1 (on the following page) presents that scheme.

22

Figure

1

TRAINING PROGRAM UNIT PLANNING

AND IMPLEMENTATION

Check

Facilities

Determine

Need

Choose

Methodology

Check

Scheduling

and

Logisitics

Dry

Run(s)

Select

Training

Aids

Copyright

Carl B. Kludt 1967

Evaluate

I

Participants

Approval

by

Schedule

Conduct

Revise

-)

Decision

Makers

Evaluation

Completion

Relating _Learning Theory la he Continuing Education .91Rehabilitation Counselor

Although this report conceptualizes the rehabilitationcounselors's job activities in a manner different from Kludt'stripartite classification, it is an explication of the con-tinuing education of state VR counselors from a "systems"point of view. An earlier chapter defined what characteristicsof the counselor and the work milieu in the state VR settingwere considered in the SCERC program of research. Theseshould be considered in setting up any continuing educationalprogram. In this chapter an attempt is made to show therelevance of learning theory and the management of instructionalmedia to the continuing education of rehabilitation counselors.The next chapter will deal with the criteria problems inevaluating such educational experiences.

In the previous chapter, two dimensions of the continuingeducation of the rehabilitation counselor were delineated byclassifying it on a (a) through employment--during employmentcontinuum and (b) occupational level--position level continuum.These two dimensions are related to each other and to theabstract--concrete dimension discussed above. They are, in

one sense, dimensions of learning which are occupationallyoriented rather than stated in terms of learning theory assuch. However, they are further related to what is perceivedas an important distinction arising out of learning theorywith respect to instructional objectives. These objectives,mentioned earlier, are (1) concept development, (2) skill(s)development and (3) attitude--self awareness development.Although in the on-going continuing educational processsome change is going on in the adult learner with respectto all three objectives, the instructional objective in anylimited segment of the instructional sequence should emphasizeone rather clearly defined type of objedtive (Briggs, et al,1967). What remains to be developed then, in order to relatelearning theory to the continuing education of a rehabilitationcounselor, is a method for describing the activities whichthe counselor must perform in his job which can be integratedwith the job-oriented dimensions related to learning theory.

The role of the rehabilitation counselor has been various-ly described (McCauley, 1967; Muthard & Salomone, 1968;Patterson, 1957, 1968). Recurring in such descriptions hasbeen a theme about his duties as a counselor as well as acoordinator in the delivery of services. The wide continuumof counselor work behavior, for purposes of designing approp--iate learning objectives and media can usefully he describedas falling in five areas:

24

I. Counselor Behavior in, Client - Counselor Interaglim.In this area of activities, content focuses on

the repertoire of responses (whether conceptual,skill, or attitudinal) which the counselor shouldpossess in dealing with clients.

II. Counselor Behavior la Information Ersaggilirg.In this area of activities, content focuses on

the repertoire of responses (whether conceptual,skill, or attitudinal) which the counselor shouldpossess in collecting, interpreting and transmittinginformation critical to the job.

III. Counselor. Behavior, la Resource Procurement.In this area of activities, content focuses on

the repertoire of responses (whether conceptual,skill, or attitudinal) which the counselor shouldpossess in dealing with other professionals andthe community.

IV. Counselor, Behavior In Administrative, Work.In this area of activities, content focuses on

the repertoire of responses (whether conceptual,skill, or attitudinal) which the counselor shouldpossess in dealing with scheduling, caseload mana-gement, observing employee rules, etc.

V. Counselor Behavior j Professional Promotion.In this area of activities, content focuses on

the capability (whether conceptual, skill, orattitudinal) of the counselor for doing simple,descriptive research, at least for his own develop-ment, engaging in professional organizational work,etc.

The way is now clear to define more clearly segments oftraining experiences with designated instructional objectivesin the continuing education of rehabilitation counselors. Thisalso has implications for managing multiple instructional mediain a coordinated manner. (See Table 2).

25

Table 2

INSTRUCTIONAL MANAGEMENT GUIDE FOR CONTINUING

BasicForm

EQUCATIONAL CURRICULA

Learning SequenceObjective

Job ActivityArea

1. Concept Development 1. Counselor-ClientInteraction

1. Throughemploy-'ment

2. Skill(s) Development 2. Information 2. DuringProcessing employ-

ment

3. Attitude Development 3. ResourceProcurement

4. AdministrativeWork

5. ProfessionalPromotion

One learning sequence incorporating concept development,counselor-client interaction, through employment (1,1,1) mightbe a planned keeping of case notes on a number of mentallyretarded clients, for example, which are then discussed withthe supervisor. Alternatively, a sequence incorporating skilldevelopment, counselor-client interaction, through employment,(2,1,1) could be a series of tape recordings of counselingsessions with mentally retarded clients, to be criticallyevaluated with a supervisor. The sequence 1, 1, 2 could be anextension or on-campus class dealing with counseling theory.From the above table, it can be seen that 30 different combina-tions of objective, activity area, and basic form are possible.Since each activity area is comprised of numerous more specificactivities, the list of combinations can become almost endless.

More specific activities with:n each job activity areaare suggested in the following table:

26

Table 3

SPECIFIC COUNSELOR JOB ACTIVITIES

Activity Area Specific Job Activities

INFORMATION PROCESSING, *1. How do I talk to employers,physicians, educators, etc.,about clients?

*2. How do I use test informa-tion with clients?

3. How do I combine and eval-uate information?

4. What are the ethics involv-ed in information-process-ing?

5. What medical information doI need?

COUNSELOR-CLIENT INTERACTION 1. How do I behave during myinteraction with a client?

2. What should happen as aresult of such inter-action?

3. How do I begin and endinterviews?

*4. How do I use test informa-tion with clients?

5. What are the ethics involv-ed in using test informa-tion?

RESOURCE PROCVREMENT 1. How can I work as a teammember?

*2. How do I talk to employers,physicians, educators, etc.,about clients?

3. How can I educate community

27

organizations on rehabili-tation?

4. How can I most effectivelycommunicate with physicans?

5. What are the ethics involv-ed in using informationfrom other professionals?

ADMINISTRATIVE WORK 1. How do I keep and use caserecords?

PROFESSIONAL PROMOTION

2. How can I manage forms,case-notes effectively?

3. What purpose does thisagency requirement serve?

4. How do I utilize mysupervisor?

5. What are the ethics in-volved in my relation-ships with supervisors?

1. How do ,I contribute tomy agency's professionaltraining?

2. How do I contribute tomy profession's growthand organization?

3. How do I keep up with theprofessional literature?

What can I do by way ofresearch?

5. What are the ethics in-volved in my professionaldevelopment?

Note: The *'s indicate activities that are in more than oneactivity area.

28

It is not necessary in designing an effective continuing

educational program to develop mutually exclusive categorieseither among instructional objectives, among areas of jobactivities, or among basic forms for instruction. However,

if it is desired to apply what is known and relatively use-ful from learning theory, it is necessary to develop a guide

to coordinate the over-all continuing educational programso that the limited objectives within each training segment

are articulated and result in the outcomes expected by boththe individual and his agency. These limited objectivesshould work in harmony with each other toward some generalgoal of counselor change.

Instructional media and related devices can be des-cribed and classified in various ways to organize them for

effectiveness. On a micro to macro continuum they can bearranged so that they are interrelated and addressed tospecific or general objectives. If a three-day workshopis organized, for example, pieces of instructional hardware,films, lectures, discussion groups, and even programmedlearning packages might be incorporated into the total

presentation. The workshop itself might be thought of as

a component or "medium" in a still larger instructionalpackage. An instructor himself, as he delivers a lecture,can be considered an audio-visual device since he is both

seen and heard. If he requires students to attend dis-cussion groups, he is using a range of subordinate devicesfor the general learning experience for which he is

responsible. Rosse and Biddle (1966) summarize thispoint very succinctly when they state "although certainsimple media consist of but single devices (for example,a megaphone), the majority of media are systems with atleast several component parts. Even a chalk board, forexample, cannot be considered a medium until we haveanother device for writing upon it--chalk. When oneturns to recent innovations in media, one is impressedwith their complexity."

In the following sections on media management, thediscussion will center on the management of audio-visualdevices in constructing a continuing educational learningexperience. A learning exoerience shall ka defined Althe controlled exposure 2i A learner IQ Period sastimulation, AI she end. 2f which some evaluationinitiated 12 measure what, change has taken Aual. A

college course, for example, with a multiple-choicetest given at the end and a grade assigned, is a learningexperience by the above definition. Learning experiencesare defined as terminating when evaluation is completed,even though the evaluation may not be crucial or its results

29

assigned to the learner. In certain sequences of exposure,for example a programmed teaching machine, evaluation mayoccur at the end of each teaching frame when the studentmust respond to a question and immediately gets the correctanswer. This would be a "micro" learning experience. A

more "macro" learning experience might be a three-dayworkshop, with evaluation occurring at the end of thetotal experience. Continuous feedback or self-evaluationis a characteristic highly touted by manufacturers ofprogrammed teaching equipment. The same principle isbeing applied with the EDEX learning device (Edex Corpora-tion, 341 Moffett Blvd., Mountain View, California, 94041)in which groups of people can more or less continuallyrespond to a lecturer's questions. Each student responds,at his desk, by using equipment which records responses atthe lecture podium.

The Instructional Management Guide for ContinuingEducallau Carricula, Table 2 above, is addressed primarilyto the problem of combining learning experiences into anover-all program of continuing education for rehabilitationcounselors. However, in constructing a given learningexperience, there is a need for specifying what specificobjective(s) are being sought, the content, sequence,media for presenting content, and what evaluation is con-templated within and after the experience. Among schoolteachers, these are referred to as "lesson plans" or"syllabuses ",, depending on whether reference is made to agiven day's events in class or the entire course. A"curriculum" would be a guide to all courses and comparableto the guide presented in Table 2.

The following guide is presented as one useful way tospecify the parameters of a continuing educational learningexperience for rehabilitation counselors.

Table 4

INSTRUCTIONAL MANAGEMENT GUIDE FOR CONTINUINGEDUCATIONAL LEARNING EXPERIENCES

I. Over-all Objective at this, igianiu Experienc9:

II. Limes Objectives within this, Learning Experience:

III. Content ,Definition :'

A. Content:1. Occupational Level

2. Position Level

3. Job Level

B. Media, and farm for content:

C. Evaluation And Feedback:

IV. Scheduling:

A. Intra Learning Experience Scheduling:

B. Inter Learning Experience Scheduling:

The management of instructional media is important in theconstruction of specific continuing educational learningexperiences.

B. Media for Developing Conceots/Informatjon

For the adult, college-trained learner the research evidenceof the past forty years indicates unequivocally that concept dev-elopment (or the transfer of information) can occur with equaleffectiveness within learning experiences using differentcomponents of audio-visual devices (Briggs, et al, 1967; Dubin& Taveggia, 1968). Using recall of material to be learned asthe criterion, the results of such research have been generallynegative with regard to differential effectiveness of media.The learning experiences designed for concept development canbe grossly categorized into: (1) Varieties of face-to-faceinstruction (e.g. lecture, discussion), and(2) varieties ofindependent study (e.g., programmed instruction; correspond-

31.

ence; etc.). When comparing the general medium of face-to-face instruction with independent-study learning experiences,as well as the various approaches within these two types ofpresentation, research results have demonstrated no differ-ences on the criterion of content recall (Briggs, 1967;Dubin & Taveggia, 1968).

Given such research evidence, two questions become para-mount: What is common to different learning experienceswhich makes them equally effective? This is essentially thequestion of teaching-learning linkage; i.e., the common ele-ments of all teaching-learning experiences (Dubin & Taveggia,1968). What considerations other than those discernable inteaching-learning linkage should legitimately enter into thedesign of learning experiences for rehabilitation counselors?When answering this latter question consideration should begiven to such factors as cost and reliability, as well assources of possible learner discomfort and dissatisfaction.In this discussion of management strategies for instructionalmedia, an attempt will be made to answer the questions statedabove. The most relevant findings concerning certaintypes of learning experiences and media usage that mighttypically be considered in continuing education for conceptdevelopment will be summarized. On the question of teaching-learning linkage, however, there are some general researchresults that apply to all or at least most of the more specificmedia packages (Ausubel, 1960; Briggs, et al, 1967; Dubin &Taveggia, 1968; Lumsdaine, 1963).

I. Advance Orlvizers AA A ,reachini- Learninu Link,

In concept development or information transfer to theadult learner, the learner should be told at the outset whatprinciple or lawfulness he is supposed to perceive from thematerial. He then "subsumes" the material or facts by usingthese advance organizer(s).

2. Single-Conceot Presentation Asi Isachingza&sunlag link

The presentation of content in concept development or infor-mation transfer should aim at defining major concepts and deliv-ering them in a "single" concept fashion in so far as possible.After presenting relatively single concepts serially, thecontent can then be structured for integration of concepts.

32

Continous Feedback And Evaluation Al A Teachinz-LearningLink

The learner requires more or less continuous feedback as tohis status with regard to concepts or information. Such feed-back should allow him to correct misinformation, indicateremedial action, and allow him to skip certain already-knownmaterial or to include such material for additional enrichment.Evaluation and feedback is just as necessary for the "superior"learner as for the "poor" learner.

4. j4ul t I -Med i ,Presentation .21 jjacjithiziHraraam

In a given learning experience, multi-media presentationshould be considered so as to: (a) Transmit informationthough multiple senses more or less simultaneously;(b) presentseveral alternate explanations through both visual and audi-tory methods for particularly difficult or unfamiliar concepts;(c) retain learner interest and retard fatigue or boredom.

5. Sectioning at Learners Al A ing Link

Prior to a learning experience, evaluation of the parti-cipants should permit the grouping of learners, on signifi-cant correlates with the learning experience, so as to maxi-mize concept development and information transfer. Suchvariables as previous training, current work setting, per-sonal interest in content area, are variables that appearparticularly relevant to sectioning in the continuing edu-cation of rehabilitation counselors.

Managing Media in Face-to-Face Learning Experieggla forConcept Development Information Transfer,

Face-to-face learning experiences are essentially of thelecture type, ascussion-group type, or some combination ofthe two. If they are developed with the above teaching-learning links in mind, with the objective(s) coordinatedwith objectives of other learning experiences, they.can beeffective. Typically, such learning experiences are labelleda "workshop" or "institute" in their more macro form. Theyare currently a very prevalent form of learning experiencesfor rehabilitation counselors, although there is no researchevidence in the literature suggesting effective ways tostructure a workshop, or to utilize face-to-face experiencesin given content areas for rehabilitation counselors. Onesupposed major advantage of the workshop is that It willoccur at a locale with abundant resources (lecturers, library,etc.) for teaching a given content area. However, criteria

33

for determining the adequacy of a locale for a workshophave not been found.

Constructing face-to-face learning experiences andmanaging media within them, require great care and prepara-tion. The care and preparation is required because of theI) relative inaccessibility of major components in the learn-ing experience to participants for later review or re-play;

2) the relatively greater expense of time and money requiredfor bringing participants together in one location; 3) therelatively greater concentration of learning in a briefperiod of time; and 4) the tendency to provide content at theoccupational level with no,explicit applications at the jobor position levels. These factors are for special considera-tion when television, a type of face-to-face learningexperience, is used.

The lecture type learning experience offers many advant-ages in the management of instructional media for concept develop-

ment. Visual media such as films, slides, and the actual objectsthemselves, can be readily integrated into a le0.ure presenta-tion for groups, and thus the cost associated with them can bedistributed over more than one learner. The tutorial system,an extreme case of the lecture-type learning experience,would be an exception to this cost distribution rule. The

tutoral system is unavoidably an expensive system of training,with no support in research for its greater effectiveness whencompared to large group presentations (Dubin & Taveggia, 1968).More complex media, such as films, slides with pre-recordedaudio components, and film strips, are expensive to developand are not easily updated or changed; they usually requirespecial facilities and the use of highly skilled techniciansfor content development. Their use should be confined to criticalcontent areas that require a considerable amount of "visual"input. At times they may be used for a change of pace, andnovelty, but they hardly justify their expense on this basis

alone. The use of already existing films, etc. might sometimesbe a solution, but care should be exercised in judging theirrelevance to the objectives of the learning experience. Theextensive use of complex media might be justified in a situa-tion where the same lecture or workshop is given over a periodof years; but again, their rigidity with respect to beingeasily changed and updated would argue against their use overa very long period of time. Their expense, however, could beamortized over a greater number of learners in such a situation.

Other visual media, such as overhead projector slides, ordittoed or mimeographed handouts, can be just as effective invisual presentations as the much more expensive media mentionedabove. They possess the aeditional virtues of being relatively

34

inexpensive, as well as being more easily updated and changed.Handouts also have the important advantage of being retainedby the learner for later review and evaluation. The use of

blackboard is probably the most flexible and inexpensivevisual medium; however, it does not ordinarily permit theretention of original diagrams, etc., unless the learneraccurately records the material in his notes. Taking notestends to restrict the ability of the learner to react to thelecturer or material, as well as reduce his ability to givehis full attention to the ongoing auditory component of thelecture. Consequently, particularly important or difficultvisual material should be prepared as handouts to the learner,so that he can give his full attention to verbal explanationsconcerning them and can retain them for later review.

Ordinarily the lecturer himself provides the primaryauditory component in face-to-face learning experiences.However, if he is absent, or some of the material is relativelyeasy to comprehend, tape recordings might be used as part ofthe auditory media. The use of tape recordings permits theeasy replaying of material not comprehended in the firstlistening; they do not, however, permit spontaneous studentquestioning of the lecturer. More extensive use of taperecordings occurs in the independent-study type of learningexperience for concept development, and will be discussedlater. An important point here is that unless the lectureris working from a well-prepared lesson plan or syllabus, heis apt to vary considerably in what content he covers and theemphasis he gives material. This could make the auditorycontent relatively variable, and unreliable in the sensethat it could not be safely assumed the learner was exposedto certain material. As a result, the coordination of such alearning experience with the objectives of other learningexperiences may become difficult, if not impossible.

To increase reliability of content coverage, importantconceptual material should be pre-packaged in a suitable formand scrutinized prior.to face-to-face learning experiences.For example, a detailed and annotated syllabus should bedeveloped over key content. When using an existing courseat a university as one form of during-employment, face-to-facelearning experience, some idea of content can be gained fromreading the catalogue description or consulting the professor.For extension classes it is probably easier to request certaincontent structure when those attending are primarily from aVR setting, however.

Discussion groups, another form of face-to-face learningexperiences, are probably most effective for concept develop-ment, particularly at the occupational and job-level of train-

35

ing (McGehee & Thayer, 1961). When integrated with large-grouplecture learning so as to facilitate the explication oflecture material at the position-level of understanding, itseems reasonable to assume that they could be effective. To

be effective, however, attention should be given to the dis-cussion-group membership, i.e., type and number of personswithin the group, to the quality of leadership, and to theagenda. If the leadership and agenda of discussion groupsare not controlled, they are quite apt to fail to meet theirinstructional objectives. All members of the discussion groupassume the role of instructor at one time or another duringdiscussion; the content can become highly variable andirrelevant to the instructional objective of concept develop-ment if leadership and an agenda are not provided.

Harbridge House, Boston, Massachusetts, has utilized thediscussion group approach, apparently with some success,while training rehabilitation counselors and supervisorsfrom VR settings. A primary instructional medium withinsuch groups has been client case-study reports which thegroup members discuss in terms of case handling, informa-tion needed, etc. It is probable that discussion in mostsuch groups would be at the job-level or position-level ofpresentation; as a result, most members would feel suchtraining was "practical" and "concrete". With con4 t

being perceived as relevant to their jobs, greater learnersatisfaction and perceptions that it was a valuable learn-ing experience could be predicted. However, there is nopublished research data on how effectively such experiencesdevelop concepts or facilitate information transfer.Using such criteria, large group presentations in other adultsettings have been shown to be just as effective as small-group discussions (Dubin & Taveggia, 1968). However, learnersatisfaction and involvement in explicating occupational-level material in terms of their own positions are desirable;therefore, discussion groups, when well constructed, and led,would appear to be effective in meeting some of the continu-ing educational needs of rehabilitation counselors.

Group processes of the T-group (training group) varietyas developed by the National Training Laboratories, Bethel,Maine, or the Esalen Institute, Big Sur, California, arebeing widely utilized for sensitivity or human relationstraining (Campbell & Dunnette, 1968). Such training has theobjective of providing a laboratory for experimenting withnew behavior in dealing with others, of increasing thesensitivity of participants to the affective dimensionsof group behavior, and of providing individuals in the groupwith a means to assess their own feelings. Such a use ofgroups will be dealt with more fully in the section on

managing media in self awareness/dispositional instruction.

36

Manazing Media, in Ind_eDendent-;:tudv Learnirm Experivnces LULE

Concept Development su. Information, Transfer

The independent-study learning experience is an approach

to instruction.whereby the entire experience is pre-packaged

for self-instruction by the learner. Computers, machines or

books for programmed instruction, correspondence courses, taperecordings, pre-packaged course syllabuses with texts andreading lists, are some of the instructional hardware andforms used in such experiences. Research has demonstratedthat most such forms of instruction are as effective in con-cept development as the face-to-face variety when care is

taken to design them according to teaching-learning linkage(Dubin & Taveggia, 1968). The independent-study learningexperience, if well designed, also allows (1) greater flexi-bility in the rate of instruction, (2) decentralized approachto instruction (3) greater reliability in content coveragesince instruction is pre-packaged and relatively standardized.However, two factors can make independent-study instructionmore expensive than conventional approaches. These are in-

creased expense for content development and the involvementof complicated instructional hardware. Furthermore, once asubstantial investment has been made in these two items,important hazards result, including reluctance to revise andkeep the content and gadgets current, and failure in mainten-ance of the hardware.

Research evidence does not justify the expense of sophi-

sticated hardware. But if the decision to invest is made,

certain standards and precautions are for consideration: (1)The flexibility of the hardware in meeting several instruct-ional objectives should be evaluated; (2) there should beresponsible concern for the cost of developing ongoing con-tent and input; (3) the hardware should be capable of beingintegrated with other media for multi-sensory instruction;(4) there should be accessibility by all personnel in needof instruction who are to be included in the trainee group.Although independent machine-supported study formats usuallyallow instruction in a decentralized manner, thereby savingthe expense and time incident to bringing learners to acentral location, a format which is expensive to maintainand has costly input characteristics should be avoided be-

cause of its tendency to become moribund or incapable ofadaptation to varying objectives.

Teaching machines (programmed instruction) currentlyenjoy wide popularity, without convincing research in supportof them, particularly in their use in concept development inthe adult learner (Briggs, et al, 1967; Lumsdaine, 1963).

37

Uue to the lack of technical help as well as expense in

developing content, their role appears severely limited in

any global program of continuing education for rehabilitation

counselors. In certain rather highly technical areas of

knowledge, such as statistics, there appears to be a possible

role for teaching machines; since such knowledge is apt to be

unfamiliar to counselors, requiring greater reliance on the

teaching-learning links of single-concept teaching and

continuous feedback. However, provision to skip material

and seek other enrichment should be made for those who arefamiliar with some of the content material and are likely tobecome bored with a teaching machine.

Programmed instruction in its more macro form such ascorrespondence course lessons or a syllabus for readings,should be much more applicable and adequately effective in

the continuing education of rehabilitation counselors.

Through the use of tape recordings, printed supplementskeyed to the recordings, and suggested readings, effectiveteaching-learning linkage for independent-study learningexperiences can be inexpensively developed. This formatincorporates both audio and visual material. If the couns-elor-learner can listen to content material, with the voiceof the speaker providing a personal dimension and emphasisto content, and if he is required to react to diagrams orquestions on printed supplements, he should be able to avoidboredom and maintain interest. If he can be tested on contentwhich he apparently already understands reasonably well, he

can avoid undertaking units of training that would add little

to his knowledge and-understanding. Such an approach iscurrently the core of a program of research in a three-statearea being conducted by The University of Iowa Studies inContinuing Education for Rehabilitation Counselors. It will

be described in greater detail in Chapter V of this report.A similar approach has been reported in which New YorkUniversity, through the Institute for Physical Medicineand Rehabilitation, experimented with the tape-recordingapproach, utilizing it primarily to instruct physicans(Rusk, 1966). Unfortunately, the design of the New-YorkUniversity experiment did not provide for collecting evalu-ative data beyond the personal reactions of participantsto the method of presentation.

k.

38

"..9.0771,11,7771PvIre,14.

C. Media for Develapirm akiillaratigiaftga

Learning experiences with the primary instructionalobjective of skill development are usually in the form ofpractica, internships, apprenticeships, or training labora-tories. In such learning experiences, the major objectiveof their content is to allow the learner to practice orapply his vocational conceptual knowledge under supervision(Joint Liaison Committee, 1963). in one sense the learneris gaining additional concepts about how to apply his pro-fession's expertise, as well as learning how skillful hehimself is in performing his job-role.

Learning experiences designed to enhance vocationalskill or proficiency present certain unique problems. Todevelop such skill or proficiency, the individual learnersmust receive intensive, long-term, individual attention,which raises the cost of such instruction, particularly ifhis supervisor is a highly-paid professional person.Secondly, the content for such experiences are difficultto standardize; for example, it is almost impossible to insurethat the clients assigned to counselor-learners will be uni-formly easy or difficult to work with. Some client problemsor other events might not be available for all learners,making the content coverage considerably different fromlearner to learner. Thirdly, it is at the point whereknowledge is applied that controversy and diverging view-points in a professional field are likely to be generated.At higher levels of conceptualization there is typicallyconsiderable ambiguity in terms of implications for specificpractices, and professional persons can usually achievegreater agreement at those levels. Supervisors of counselingpracticum, for example, may emphasize or attempt to extinguishvarious responses of the rehabilitation counselor. Until thecounselor begins to understand that client problems canbe solved in several different, but equally effective ways,depending on what resources are available, he is apt to bein a high state of anxiety over the differences and contro-versies surrounding the application of his professionalknowledge.

In attempts to shorten learning experiences for skilldevelopment, and standardize content over learners, profes-sional groups have devised many ingenious audio-visual devicesand situations where stimuli are highly structured. In

aviation, for example, the Link-Trainer was developed forpilot training; providing an audio-visual device complexenough to create almost any flying situation in a simulatedmanner (Eckstrand, 1967; Melton, 1947). The use of suchdevices in the training of astronauts is highly advanced

39

as well, particularly for skill development in meeting sit-uations that literally do not exist on earth. The develop-ment cost of such devices are high and normally are pro-hibitive, unless the skill development is for a life-deathsituation where trial-and-error practice in the actual situ-ation would be unethical; or unless the costs of such devicescan be amortized over a large number of learners and years.

The more mundane forms of learning experiences for skilldevelopment in many occupations are focused on practicing insituations that are similar to those in which the learnerwill be employed. For example, social work, occupationaltherapy, physical therapy, counseling, and all medical special-ities provide a clinical practice phase of training for train-ees in their field.

The components of such clinical practice might include(1) specially made films, (2) role-playing sessions, (3) staff-ing sessions, 4) observation through one-way mirrors orclosed-circuit television, (5) written responses to selectedcase histories and other client information, as well as (6)actual experiences in relating to patients or clients.

The use of films and the problems related to their costand inflexibility has already been discussed.

Role-playing can be an effective and relatively inexpen-sive method of practice, particularly in the early stages ofclinical practice (Chesler & Fox, 1966; Corsini & Cardone,1966). The learner can find role-playing an important sourceof information on how he behaves during interaction, in asituation that does not threaten him as much as actual pract-ice. By having all learners in a clinical practice-learningexperience interview each other, the individual learner canalso be exposed to a considerable variety of interactionpatterns.

Staffing sessions, in which all learners, in turn,recapitulate their performance with clients for groupscrutiny, can also be an important source of information.The students can thus gain practice for staffing sessionsthey will later confront as practicing professionals. Arrangedon a regular basis, staffing sessions assure exposure of allstudents to a wider range of practical problems than thoseconfronted by each student with only several assigned clients.The audio-visual hardware can be confined, in such staffings,to a tape recorder and duplicated handouts.

The use of video tape or closed-circuit television wouldadd a visual component to help maintain student interest and

40

supply possibly important non-verbal information. However,

to construct an effective clinical practice requires primaryattention to teaching-learning linkage and not hardware assuch (Briggs, et al, 1967; Dubin & Taveggia, 1968). The

observation of certain events through one-way mirrors, orclosed circuit television can give all learners in suchlearning experiences some idea of how other professionalspractice the profession; incorporated with discussion groupor seminar type events, the learner gains some perspectiveon how he might experiment with his own behavior.

Written case histories are useful devices for providingstimulation designed to help increase learner skill or pro-ficiency, particularly in gaining some practice in clientdata interpretation, case recording, and hypothesis building.Such events require minimal audio-visual hardware. They arealso a useful evaluative device in providing the student withsome feedback on how well he handles such tasks in clinical-practice learning experiences.

Various simulation techniques for skill developmentrequiring less complex auido-visual hardware than a Link-Trainer, but more equipment than is found in a typicalclinical practice, have been increasingly utilized by severalprofessional groups. School administrators, for example,have experimented with "In-Basket" learning situations(Culbertson, 1962). In such situations, the learner is seatedat a desk and for a period of time, he must perform a set ofstandardized tasks. Letters, telephone calls, and personalinterviews must be coped with; he performs, in effect, aselected set of administrative tasks. In training lawyers,students are placed in a mock court, and attempt to conductmock trials, with students performing all roles. The similar-ities of suz-1 procedures with role-playing and psychodrama areobvious. They can be effective, but require a considerableamount of preparation and expense; the cost, in terms of thenumber of students being trained, can be prohibitive unlessused over a considerable period.of time.

Since the current research evidence does not indicatethat the more expensive audio-visual hardware is any moreeffective for skill development than the less expensive,more traditional devices (Briggs, et al, 1967; Dubin &Taveggia, 1968; Lumsdaine, 1963), it would seem most reason-able, at present, to utilize tape recordings, staffing sessions,duplicated handouts, case histories, role playing, and possiblyone-way mirrors, when funds are limited. Effective learningexperiences can be created in skill development, using severalof these less expensive media, as long as the experienceincorporates what is known about teaching-learning links.

41

D. Media. for Developing Self ions

To some degree, learning experiences designed to changeself-awareness, attitudes, or dispositions-to-act, are in the

province of counseling or psychotherapy. Most definitionsoffered on counseling and psychotherapy incorporate suchthoughts (Patterson, 1966). Therefore, the design of suchlearning experiences, where the explicit instructional ob-

jective is in this area, should incorporate an extra measure

of concern. The over-all continuing educational role of suchlearning experiences should be limited to carefully definedobjectives, and should be conducted by a qualified person. If

drastic changes in self-awareness, attitudes, or dispositions-to-

act are necessary in a counseling staff, then (1) agency recruit-

ment practices might be examined, or (2) agency demands on

the counselor in the performance of his job might be examined.

It seems reasonable that if an agency is selecting counselors

who exhibit relatively high social-service interest, areessentially free of disturbing interpersonal relationships,are allowed to perform reasonably autonomously as professionalcounselors, and are trained at least to the level of copingwith ordinary job-related events; attitudes and self-awarenesstraining has a complementary role of enhancing their currentwork patterns, not drastically altering them. Those counselors

in need of drastic personal alteration should seek such help

from sources not typically found in continuing educationalprograms. This might include individual psychotherapyor counseling to encourage finding other types of employ-ment where such drastic changes in attitudes and dispositions-

to-act are not required.

Learning experiences in developing self-awareness orchanges in dispositions-toact are typically of the labora-tory design, in which the content for the experience is thebehavior of the learners themselves. The content of suchexperiences may incorporate a job-task, such as caseloadmanagement, but its primary instructional objective is tofocus consciously and persistently on the feelings, attitudes,dispositions, and overt behavior of learners so as to in-crease their awareness of themselves as a component in per-forming such a job-task. At the other extreme, the learningexperience may be structured so that a group of learnersfocus on what is occurring in the on-going, face-to-facecontacts of individual group members. Here there is noarticulated, specific, job-related task in the content;rather, group members analyze each other's on-going behaviorin the group with a view toward possibly experimenting withdifferent interpersonal behavior if they so choose. Thislatter approach is a development of the "sensitivity train-

42

vo41,4,110,TWA,,wM'.

ing" or "basic encounter" type of learning experience, receiv-ing initial and continuing formulations from several sources(NIL Institute for Applied Behavioral Science, associatedwith the National Education Association, 1201 SixteenthStreet, Washington, D.C.; Esalen Institute, Big Sur, Calif-

ornia). The more generic term which appears to be appli-cable to many such learning experiences is "human relationstraining".

It is true that changes in dispositions-to-act,attitudessor seif-awareness are probably occurring inlearners during learning experiences designed primarilyto foster skills and proficiencies or concept development.Such experiences were discussed in the last two sections.For example, a learner during a practicum in counselingmay receive feedback on how his approach to a given clientis the result of his disposition to act a certain way. In

so far as such feedback becomes a large part of the contentin a learning experience for skill development, that experi-ence approaches an experience designed for change inlearner self-awareness and disposition-to-act. Whatchiefly characterizes learning experiences for changing dis-positional factors in the learner, versus concept or skilldevelopment experiences is (1) the conscious, explicit goalto establish feelings, motives, attitudes, or learner be-havior itself as the primary content of the experience; and (2)the conscious, explicit attempt to create an environment inwhich such content can be displayed, experimented with, andaltered.

The distinction of such learning experiences fromgroup psychotherapy or group counseling revolves chieflyaround the format or technology of achieving such a goal, andthe presumed clientele for such experiences, rather than goalsas such. Learning experiences for changing self-awareness ordispositions-to-act can vary considerably in format or instr-uctional technology, and thus become more or less indistin-guishable from the more traditional formats for psychotherapy,group or individual. When a trainer consciously engineers alearning experience with such goals in mind, he also assumesresponsibilities similar to those of the counselor or therapist.As the design of such learning experiences (1) diverge from ajob-task orientation, (2) focus more intently on learner feel-ings, (3) focus persistently on learner motives, (4) explicitlyrequire or coerce learners to become involved, (5) elicit anunusual amount of feelings or behavior which are correlatedwith socially undesirable acts, the trainer's responsibilitiesbecome greater. His responsibilities include (1) being ade-quately prepared to deal with such content, (2) a concern forconfidentiality and learner security, (3) a careful monitoring

43

of post-experience learner behavior so as to be available asa resource or to refer to an appropriate person, should the

need arise.

juSorial-Counseling Experience

The tutorial-counseling learning experiences for thecounseling staff subsumes individual face-to-face meetings acounselor might have with a supervisor or another counselorwith whom he is paired-off in a "buddy" system of instruction.The objective for such meetings allows discussion to center onthe feelings or dispositions within the trainee which aremanifest in a careful collection of job-related data on him.For example, when clients have completed receiving services,they could be asked to complete an exit questionnaire per-taining to dimensions of their counselor's behavior. Such

data could then be periodically reviewed with the counselor ina one-to-one relationship which focuses on the dispositionalfactors in the counselor which clients perceive. Alternately,data collected from tape recordings of counselor-client inter-action, case notes, amount and type of expenditures, etc.,could be utilized in such experiences.

The meetings would have a high informational or tutorialcomponent; however, they would also provide an opportunity forthe counselor to discuss his feelings concerning the data.Consequently, they would be patterned after a counseling-typeexchange to some extent. The counselor could receive feedbackat his next periodic session on how much change is taking place.Such experiences could be constructed as one part of a moremacro form of skill or proficiency learning experience; however,

the focus in tutorial-counseling experiences would remain onthe inner-events or dispositions of the counselor. Teaching-learning links should be incorporated in the design. Althoughthe research on the effectiveness of tutoring (Dubin &Taveggia, 1968) as well as counseling (Volsky, et al, 1965)is equivocal in regard to dispositional change, it is reason-able to suppose that tutorial-counseling experiences could bedesigned to be pa effective as other approaches that mightbe tried.

The audio-visual component of such experiences could beeffectively restricted to hard4are that is typically availablein a VR setting and relatively inexpensive. The use of taperecordings, mimeographed (or otherwise duplicated) handouts,could be utilized. Observation of the counselor, through one-way mirrors or TV circuits might be desirable, but not essent-ial. Personnel already skilled in counseling interactionwould be easily available in VR settings. With relativelybrief additional instructional training, such persons could

44

conduct this type of learning experience.

The limitations of such experiences would include therelatively time-consuming, and therefore expensive nature ofindividual instruction involving highly paid personnel.However, if they were based in district or area offices, it

would be possible to hold the scheduling and non-productivetraining time of such experiences to a minimum. There isalso the problem of using supervisors or colleagues in deal-ing with the affect or behavior of a co-worker from a dis-positional frame of reference. It is probable that thecounselor undergoing such a training experience would not beinclined to expose certain feelings or attitudes that wouldjeopardize his status as a co-worker or subordinate. Con-sequently, any plan or discussion concerning changes in thecounselor's self-awareness or dispositions-to-act shouldinvolve and be couched in terms of job-related changes inbehavior rather than psychopathology. It is assumed thatjob-related feelings, attitudes or dispositions being ex-hibited by the counselor are relatively available to him;he is, for the most part, able to experiment consciouslywith changes in personal dispositions-to-act which mightarise in tutorial-counseling learning experiences.

Desensitization-Modeling Experiences

The use of desensitization procedures, ranging from operantconditioning (Krasner & Ullmann, 1965) to Frankl's paradoxicalintention (Patterson, 1966) have been developed and utilized aslearning experiences in counseling and psychotherapeutic pro-cesses. Such experiences can be rather narrowly constructed,as in certain behavioral modification procedures (Krasner &Ullmann, 1965), or more broadly conceived in terms of con-fronting the learner with a fearful situation, along withemotional support, and changing a disposition-to-act in thismanner. Modeling techniques, closely allied in many respectsto desensitization procedures in both structure and goals,include role-playing (Chesler &.Fox, 1966) in the traditionalform as well as "fixed role" (Kelley,81955) and psychodrama(Moreno, 1964), as variations on such an approach.

The use of desensitization procedures in the more classi-cal modes of Skinnerian conditioning, found in certain behav-ioral-modification approaches (Krasner & Ullmann, 1965), donot appear feasible as a widely applicable approach to con-tinuing educational problems of a dispositional nature forrehabilitation counselors. Such procedures have generallybeen applied to individuals exhibiting a fairly visible andwell-defined disposition-to-act that is usually a barrier tofunctioning outside an institutional settIng. In their more

45

gross or macro form, however, desensitization procedures canbe thought of as placing the learner in situations that con-tain cues which elicit undesirable responses to beunlearned, with new responses substituted. Consequently, atrip to visit employers by a counselor, in the company ofanother counselor skilled in placement, can be structured topermit certain desensitization and the learning of new res-ponses. Much of what we classify as "gaining experience" ona job can be thought of as a series of informal desensitiza-tion experiences where new responses or dispositions-to-actin situations originally frightening are learned. With someadvance preparation, structure, and organized feedback, suchexperiences can be made more effective in changing attitudesor disposition-to-act.

The individualized nature of such desensitization pro-cedures, in which only a single learner is gaining from theexperience, as well as the relatively great nonproductivetime of traveling, waiting, etc., should encourage the use ofmore group-type experiences such as group tours of a factoryor a hospital. This reduces the unit cost of such proceduresby including more learners. However, the individualizedapproach is more readily combined with actually performinga service, such as finding a job opening or talking to apsychiatrist about a client, and can be thought of as athrough-emplovment type of experience. Other than the ad-vance prep6ration, as well as concern for structure andfeedback, its cost is absorbed to some extent by the serviceaspect. Group tours generally degenerate into lecture typeexperiences, with some observation of facilities or program;as such, they are effective in orientating learners, concept-ually, but they do not require extensive self-examination ordispositional change as such. If group-tour experiences areutilized they should be combined with and related to addi-tional experiences such as role-playing or other group pro-cesses to overcome this deficiency.

Modeling techniques of role-playing or psychodrama arein effect simulated desensitization procedures. Since dis-positional learning experiences are essentially of a labora-tory form, they present many of the problems arising inlaboratory experiences within a "natural setting". A labora-tory within a natural setting is apt to suffer from restrict-ion of scope of possible experiences, unreliability ofcontent, high unit cost, and excessive length of timeinvolved. Simulated experiences can be structured to involvegreater scope to situations that are to be experienced,greater reliability of content across learners, lower-cost,and shorter time to complete. However, they reduce the"realness" of situations, since they are to some extent

46

artifical. Flying a Link-Trainer is not quite the same asflying an airliner with people aboard. To assure transferof learning from simulated situations to real-life, jobsituations, especially when considering attitudes or dis-positions, requires skillful structuring.

There is also for consideration the "reentry" problem thatarises in sensitivity or human relations training because ofsome simulation aspects to such training. Furthermore, evenin modeling techniques the transfer of dispositional orattitude change to job situations requires additionalexperiences as a bridge to job-tasks.

Generally, since attitudes and dispositions are thecontent, the environment for such experiences should permitthe learner to feel relatively free of threat or coercionwhen displaying affect or when talking about his attitudes.In short, the atmosphere or context for content should bequite similar to the tutorial-counseling experience, with arelatively high degree of job-task orientation. The use ofaudio-visual hardware in desensitization-modeling experiencesin the continuing education of rehabilitation counselors canbe quite minimal.

Group Experiences

Group learning experiences for the continuing educationof rehabilitation counselors, with instructional objectivesin the domain of dispositional change, can be viewed alonga continuum related to the task assignment of the group. Forexample, the group might be highly structured with respect todiscussing their attitudes toward some specific job-task.On the other hand, the group might have no specific assign-ment, other than to try to understand and participate in theinteraction of the group. The latter is the frequent stane:sof human relations trainers (Bradford, et al, 1964; Campbell& Dunnette, 1968; Schutz, 1967) when initially instructingthe group as to its task. The very interaction of the groupitself becomes the content of the learning experience.

It is important that human relations traininz -groupmembers become relatively effective as instructors or trainersfor each other. Consequently it is usual for a set of rules tobe established and agreed to concerning the "feedback" whichthe group members give one another. The National TrainingLaboratory (NTL, 1968), for example, has developed thefollowing criteria for useful feedback:

1. It is descriptive rather than evaluative. Bydescribing one's own reaction, it leaves the

47

the individual free to use it or to use it as

he sees fit. By avoiding evaluative language,it reduces the need for the individual to res-pond defensively.

2. It is specific rather than general. To be toldthat one is "dominating" will probably not beas useful as to be told that "just now when wewere deciding the issue you did not listen towhat others said, and I felt forced to acceptyour arguments or face attack from you."

3. It takes into account both the needs of the re-ceiver and giver of feedback. Feedback can bedestructive when it serves only your own needsand fails to consider the needs of the personon the receiving end.

4. It is directed toward behavior which the re-ceiver can do something about. Frustrationis only increased when a person is remindedof some shortcoming over which he has nocontrol.

5. It is solicited, rather than imposed. Feed-back is most useful when the receiver himselfhas formulated the kind of question whichthose observing him can answer.

6. It is well timed. In general, feedback ismost useful at the earliest opportunityafter the given behavior (depending, ofcourse, on the person's readiness to hearit, support available from others, etc.).

7. It is checked to insure clear communication.One way of doing this is to have the receivertry to rephrase the feedback he has receivedto see if it corresponds to what the senderhad in mind.

8. When feedback is given in a training group,both giver and receiver have opportunity tocheck with others in the group the accuracyof the feedback. Is this one man's impressionor an impression shared by others?

Feedback, then, is a way of giving help. It is a correct-ive mechanism for the individual who wants to learn how wellhis behavior matches his intentions and it is a means for

48

z

establishing one's identity - for answering the question,"Who am I?"

Nonverbal'communication in the form of gestures or bodycontact may also be requested by group members in human rela-tions training to aid the process of feedback (Campbell &Dunnette, 1968; NIL, 1968; Schutz, 1967). Again, certainrules may be established concerning such nonverbal communi-cation. Striking a person in a way that might cause seriousinjury is prohibited, for example. In general, a groupmember may decline to engage in nonverbal interaction withanother member whenever he feels it might be destructive interms of his health or moral values.

The staging or environment of human relations trainingsessions are important aspects of such training. Typically,the training should be given in some relatively secluded area,which is free from any significant contact with nongroup members.The group may hold a training session extending over severalmeetings, and days, without ever leaving the locale oftraining. Group meetings may be of the marathon variety,extending over a period of many hours before sleep and foodare sought. The optimum length, structure, and type of groupmembers, for effective sensitivity or human relations train-ing, and the effects of this training are not well known atpresent (Campbell & Dunnette, 1968). For example, traininggroups are often composed of both men and women; experimenta-tion with one's interpersonal behavior with someone of theopposite sex appears to be an important dimension of train-ing in such groups. The current research (Campbell & Dunnette,1968) indicates mixed results on various criteria of change inthe dispositions-to-act of persons who have undergone humanrelations training. Much of the research on this type oftraining has been poorly done or is of the anecdotal variety(Campbell & Dunnette, 1968). More research is needed beforehuman relations training can be used prescriptively withpredictable outcomes.

The use of audio-visual hardware in human relationstraining groups is generally of the paper-and-pencil type.The use of mimeographed or printed materials developed froma sociometric viewpoint, where group members describe how theyfeel about each other have been used. Some materials relatedto decision theory where the group must work together and makedecisions, have been extensively utilized (Pfeiffer & Jones,1969) to aid the essential group process. There is no reportedresearch to suggest that more complicated media, such as films,could not be effectively coordinated with human relations train-ing; however, the additional cost factor would need to be ration-alized on the basis of types of participants. For example,

49

groups composed of mentally retarded participants who cannot

read, or a relatively unique group structuring of content

such as viewing a film of another group initially to expedite

the group process, has been tried in Vicarious Training Pre-

therapy (VTP) (Truax, 1966).

The use of human relations training groups requires a

trainer who is qualified to conduct such group learning

experiences. Since there are no professional or legalrequirements applicable to the trainer's qualifications,just as there are no current legal requirements with respect

to many occupational groups, including rehabilitation coun-selors, the situation is quite ambiguous. As a minimum, the

trainer should (1) be trained at a recognized institution such

as the NTL Institute for Applied Behavioral Science; or (2)

be a qualified psychologist, with some training and experi-

ence in group work; or (3) have a considerable amount of

training in group experiences at the graduate level; or (4)

have taken training as a trainer, under supervision within

human relation groups, from someone who qualifies in the

above categories. This is a very tentative guide and one

which lists the training in the order of its probably effect-

iveness in qualifying persons to conduct human relations

training.

Since human relations training often takes place in asecluded milieu and deals with the affect and behavior of the

learners themselves, the re-entry problems, or transfer-of-learning problems, are relatively great in such training

(Campbell & Dunnette, 1968). For that reason, it is required

that the trainer assume responsibility and be concernedwith the post-training experiences of the group members.The effects of human relations training should lead to moreadequate coping behavior outside the group; otherwise, it is

only a simulated experience in which people "turn-on" for

certain interpersonal."kicks".

The experimentation which goes on in human relationstraining during a continuing educational program for rehabili-tation counselors should be related to outside-the-groupexperiences that are job-task oriented. For example, consid-eration should be given to structuring such training' inrelatively brief blocks, interspersed with on-the-job tasksand observations of newly learned dispositions-to-act.Alternatively, provisions might be made to have tutorial-counseling experiences follow human relations trainingsessions, in order to facilitate the transfer of learning

to job tasks. The instructional personnel for such post-training experiences should have experienced human relationstraining themselves, to be most effective in facilitatingthe transfer of learning from simulated experiences to on-the-job experiences.

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ASK

E. Summary and Guidelines for Research And Practice

In general, research on instructional media has demon-strated that any format for training can be effective if de-signed according to what is known about teaching-learninglinkage. Such linkage can be briefly defined as (1) the useof advance organizers, (2) single-concept presentation, (3)multi-media display, (4) continuous feedback to and responsefrom the learner, and (5) sectioning of learners. A giventraining or learning experience should explicitly defineIts instructional objective primarily to be (1) the develop-ment of concepts or. information, (2) the development of skillor proficiency, or (3) the development of self-awareness or dis-posItional change. Evaluation procedures for learning experi-ences should be appropriate to the objective being sought.

The utilization of audio-visual hardware should takeinto account cost, reliability, and flexibility; since thereis no evidence that expensive equipment is any more effectivethan the less expensive modes of presentation and display.

For the adult learner, macro forms of learningexperiences, such as college courses, workshops, or corres-pondence courses, are of about equal effectiveness for con-cept development if designed according to teaching-learninglinks. Consequently, cost, reliability, and flexibility ofsuch macro formats should receive relatively great emphasis.

The design of laboratory experiences for skill andproficiency development, as well as attitude or dispositionalchange, can effectively include job-tasks under supervisionas well as simulation experiences, without resorting toelaborate audio-visual equipment.

The design of an effective continuing educational programfor rehabilitation counselors requires a curriculum-levelstructure which combines and coherently relates specificlearning experiences to job tasks. The more specificlearning experiences should reflect attention to teaching-learning links and, in so far as possible, meet the recom-mendations presented at the end of the last chapter.

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Table 5: Recommendations for Research and Practice

Factors to Consider Recommendations

1. A curriculum-level structureis needed for the continuingeducation of the rehabilitationcounselor.

A. The administrators ofVR agencies, with theircounselors, should deve-lop a comprehensive planfor a continuing educa-tional program.

2. The maintenance of a compre-hensive continuing educational B. A cumulative trainingprogram will require accurate record form should befeedback to administrators. designed and maintained

on counseling personnel.3. The construction of specific

learning experiences shouldincorporate teaching-learn-ing links as far as possible

4. With the adult learner,auditory and visual instruc-tion can be effectivelyhandled in several ways.The goal of multi-mediadisplay of content canoften be handled withrelatively inexpensivemethods.

5. Independent study methodsare as effective as face-to-face instruction forconcept development.

6. The design of laboratoryexperiences, for skilland proficiency develop-ment should capitalize onthrough-employment experiences.

7. Learning experiences forchanging counselor attit-udes and dispositionsshould be well definedin terms of goals. The roleof such learning experiencesis quite restricted.

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C. Agencies should utilizeavailable universitiesand colleges to purchasepre-packaged learningexperiences according toagency specifications.

D. Agencies should conductan inventory of instruc-tional resources forpossible inclusion ofexisting resources intoa comprehensive continu-ing educational program.

E. The use of expensiveaudio-visual hardwareshould be avoided.

F. For developing concepts,workshops or centralizedmeetings should be avoid-ed, unless their relativeexpense can be rational-ized in terms of uniqueresources. Generally,prepackaged, independent-study procedures, pre-pared according toagency specifications,can proceed at districtlevels.

G. The use of special forms,the use of supervisorypersonnel trained inhandling specific learn-ing experiences, andattention to teaching-'earning links should beencouraged in designinglaboratory experiencesaround the actual taskswhich counselors performwhile giving services.

H. The use of learningexperiences for chang-ing counselor attitudesand dispositions shouldbe job-task oriented,with a goal to enhancecurrent work behavior,not to alter persona-lity characteristics.

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IV, The Relating of Continuing Education for RehabilitationCounselors to Goals and Outcomes

A. Introduction

Although the major intent in this chapter will be todevelop a framework for discussing criteria and measurementproblems in measuring the effects of continuing education,another brief discussion of concepts about the learningprocess itself is necessary. Only concepts of learning whichmake more visible the accompanying criteria and measurementproblem:, are selected for discussion.

Learning is an inferred process which is inferred fromchanges in the behavior of the person or organism studied.This idea is developed by several authors (Stroud, 1959,among others) but P4owrer (1960) develops the idea quite clearly:

Learning itself makes for a sort of indeterminancy in thebehavior of living organisms, i.e., it makes them, fortu-nately, changeable. We assume, of course, that there is

a certain lawfulness about this changeability, thiscapacity for being modified by experience. Everyonehas sensations; everyone, on the basis of immediateexperience, knows what tastes, odors, colors, andsounds are like. But it seems that no one ever hasa "sensation" of learning. Therefore, this phenomenonhas the status of a construct and is knowable onlyinferentially psychologists were obliged toturn their attention, more seriously than ever before,to the phenomenon of learning. Behavior is clearlyand manifestly subject to modification, change. How,precisely, does this come about? That, was the question.

Chester Harris (1963) has compiled a very useful book ofreadings concerning the pitfalls of measuring behavioral changestatistically. He states:

Although they are found in numerous guises, it appearsthat the dilemma encountered in change measurement canalmost all be identified with three basic ones. Thefirst of these may be called the over- correction --under - correction dilemma. (This dilemma includes suchstuff as regression effect, correlations of errorcomponents, etc.--our comments.) The second dilemma,and the one that is perhaps most widely recognized asa dilemma, may be called the gozgligtLtapr--invaliditydilemma. other things being equal, the higherthe correlation between pre-test and post-test, the

54

lower the reliability of the difference scores.Accounting for the other horn of the dilemma isthe even more elementary fact that the lower thecorrelation between two tests, the less they canbe said to measure the same thing. The thirddilemma is one which researchers have tendedcarefully to ignore. the 2h/licaliAM=IMIligQI-jvism dilemma. (The assumption that equal scorechanges on tests, at any pont on the scale,measure equal changes of behavior--our comments).

There are several important nonstatistical problems con-nected with the inferring of learning through measuring changein behavior. For example, what behavior does one measure orexpect to change after the learning experience has takenplace? Should the counselor know more? Be able to do some-thing better? Have a different attitude? Expected behaviorchanges can be grouped into the areas of (1) greater infor-mation or concept development, (2) greater skill or pro-ficiency in performing a task, and (3) greater self-aware-ness or change in personal attitudes or dispositions. Aspointed out in the previous chapter, the management ofinstructional media requires that the area of behavioralchange be specified with some detail and a sequence oflearning experiences be used in achieving change in thatarea. The measurement of continuing education also re-quires the specification in some detail of the behavioralarea in which it is proposed to find change.

A second problem in measuring change is that many timeschanges of a test point or two are unimportant in pre-postmeasures even though they may be statistically significant;they are uninterpretable in any practical way. It may betrue that after a learning experience a group of peoplescore, on the average, two points higher than anothergroup exposed to a different sequence. But the behaviorof these groups in day-to-day practice is indistinguishable,and the lower group still performs adequately, i.e., the lowerperformance still constitutes competence or mastery in a givenarea. How much practical meaning is there in the additionalmastery as measured by a greater change--on the average-- oftwo points on a multiple-choice test?

A third problem is connected with the issue of whetheror not one should try to measure change in "typical"behavior, or to measure behavior that occurs mainly in a"crisis" context. Quite conceivably, training effectsfrom some learning experiences are exhibited only in a"crisis" situation, but cannot be routinely detected in thetypical behavior of the learner. Consequently, a crisis-

55

oriented evaluation procedure must be created in order todemonstrate the effects of such learning.

Finally, there is the problem of relating the criteriaused to evaluate training effects to the ultimate productof a helping agency. Unfortunately, the ultimate productof a state VR agency, which might be grossly described asservices that allow a client to rehabilitate himself, isitself a complex criterion, poorly understood at present,and little researched (Muthard & Miller, 1966; Muthard &Miller, 1968). The use of such a criterion directly toevaluate the effects of continuing education would oftenbe expensive, even if most facets of this criterion wereagreed to and well defined. Use of immediate or inter-mediate criteria is often necessary in evaluating trainingeffects because the use of the ultimate criteria is in-feasible. Such immediate or intermediate criteria mightbe supervisor ratings, case file data, test scores, orsatisfaction ratings by clients on services they have rec-eived (Muthard & Miller, 1966). However, studies by Mut-hard and Miller (1966, 1968) have demonstrated that inter-mediate criteria of rehabilitation counselor performancein state VR agencies are relatively independent of eachother; they examined supervisor ratings, number of caseclosures, client ratings of their satisfaction with thecounselor as well as job satisfaction scores from counselorsthemselves. Therefore, there is some basis for assuming thatthe complex job role performed by the rehabilitation counselorhas several relatively independent dimensions. Each dimensionof this job role will probably relate to an ultimate criterionin a different way. This necessitates a model of evaluationwhich can present an effective relationship between a compositeset of intermediate criteria with a composite set of ultimatedimensions.

The measurement and criterion problems connected withmeasuring the effects of learning experiences are somewhatunique in each of the three instructional areas: Concept,skill, and disposition. Before discussing these relativelyunique aspects, reference must again be made to the funda-mental definition of a learning experience.

AS earlier defined, a learning experience is the con-trolled exposure of a learner to a period of stimulation at theend of which evaluation is initiated to provide feedback. Amicro learning unit might then be considered to be a singleframe in a programmed text. A macro unit could be a three-day workshop. The key in defining a learning experience iswhen the instructor assumes a change that he is interestedin has probably occurred; this assumption is operationally de-

56

fined by the fact that he is implementing an evaluation andfeedback procedure to measure the extent of change, For example,a professor could ask a question after every statement in eachlecture. lie typically, however, merely gives mid-term andfinal examinations in his course. By such evaluation proce-dures, he demonstrates at what points he wants to measurethe chanzes j Li interested ia. With only two examinations,he in effect has two learning experiences, by this definition,although they are related or "chained" together in the entirecourse.

The question arises as to whether evaluation toprovide feedback to the learner (a teaching-learning link) isthe most useful evaluation for relating learner change tointermediate or ultimate agency-product criteria.Agency administrators Alg interested in change which improvesor increases their product; trainers must also 1,21 interested,in evaluating change and providing feedback to learners inorder to develop an effective learning experience. The twosystems of evaluation for job-oriented criteria as well aseffective learning experiences are not necessarily the same.At certain points, however, they should be highly related,whenever they are not actually the same. Otherwise thereemerges the paradoxical situation of showing change from alearning experience that is unrelated to a job-orientedcriterion. At times this may not be particularly important,since the evaluation used to measure change in a learningexperience might be primarily for instructor and learnerfeedback. It would be unreasonable to assume that such achange, by itself, would relate to an ultimate criterion.How reasonable is it, for example, to relate the answer toone frame of a programmed text to a criterion of clientsatisfaction?

In addition, it is quite possible that certain learningexperiences are negatively related to certain dimensions ofan agency-product criterion. For example, a given learningexperience on counseling theory might be inversely relatedto the number of cases closed as rehabilitated. This mightresult from the fact that a counselor begins to see individ-ual clients more frequently; to change his face-to-faceinteractions with his clients to some extent. His newapproach is based on the premise that he is improving onsome other dimension of the agency-product criterion, suchas strengthening the personal coping behavior of the client.However, this would have to be demonstrated. An agencyadministrator valuing high numbers of cases rehabilitatedmight become unhappy with a learning experience which leadsto a decline in number of cases rehabilitated, particularlywhen such learning experiences are unsupported with evidence

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as to their effect on other highly-valued dimensions of an

ultimate agency-product criterion.

It is apparent that certain criteria for evaluatingcontinuing educational learning experiences for a counselor

in state VR agencies are the same criteria used to evaluate

his job performance. Such criteria can be classified as (1)

satisfactoriness criteria and (2) satisfaction criteria(Heron, 1954; Dawis, et al, 1964). Satisfactoriness criteria

are those related to how satisfactorily the counselor is per-forming from the agency point of view. Is he producing

enough rehabilitations? Uoes he schedule appropriate medical

examinations? These are only two questions that might be

asked in determining the level of satisfactoriness. Satis-

faction criteria are those related to how satisfied the

counselor is when he is performing his job. Such criteria

would include expressed job satisfaction, and possibly the amount

of counselor turnover. both types of job performance criteria

are probably related to each other, since the counselor who felt

that agency satisfactoriness criteria were unreasonable wouldbe apt to be dissatisfied, leave the agency, etc.

In developing job performance criteria for evaluatingcontinuing educational learning experiences, considerationmust be given to developing norms on criteria of satisfactori-

ness and satisfaction for each of the three instructionalobjectives areas: Concepts, skill(s), dispositions. When the

criterion is ultimate in nature, the same criterion can beutilized for all three areas; when it is more immediate, it

may be relevant to only one instructional objective. A dis-

cussion on certain critical aspects of developing norms isnecessary to clarify problems in norm development as it

relates to the continuing education of the rehabilitationcounselor.

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Models for Competence Norms,

Models for developing norms are logical structures whichlead to some procedure for "partitioning" objects or people(Flanagan, 1950). The essential goal of "partitioning" objectsis to develop some idea of "quality", "mastery" or "competence"in the object or person being measured. The question of"precision" in the partitioning procedure is a critical one,and has led to various models and procedures for constructingnorms. For example, the assignment of letter grades tostudents (A, B, C, etc.) assumes greater precision than pass/fail. The assignment of letter grades may be based on forcinga given class of students into a normal curve, constructed withtheir final examination scores. Students who score at variouspoints in this curve receive a letter grade of some kind. Thepass/fail approach may be based on their achieving a certaincritical score on an examination. Those who achieve thisscore or more, pass. Those who do not, fail. One partitioningprocedure is rooted in "relative" performance of all students.The other is rooted in the test performance itself, with acritical score established on some other ground besides rela-tive student performance (Popham & Husek, 1969). The mostsuitable model for developing norms on criteria for continuingeducational experiences, should develop pass/fail or what islabelled the "competence" norm for evaluation. This is parti-cularly true in the current situation where little researchand agreement on criteria, and the lack of trained manpower,requires the basing of criteria norms on grounds other thanrelative rankings of counselor performances within theinter-counselor performance.

The task of developing competence norms on job performancecriteria, with known relationships to continuing educationalexperiences, raises two important questions.

B. Criteria 21 Satisfactoriness Aad Satisfaction

The criterion question has no simple answer when the jobperformance of the rehabilitation counselor in the state VRagency is involved (Muthard & Miller, 1966). To a great extent,the selection of ultimate criteria or standards for counselorperformance requires value judgments, not empirical evidence.However, once a selection is made, empirical evidence must becollected which substantiates how well a counselor is meeting agiven criterion if it is to be used to measure the effectivenessof continuing education. Uhen no such norms are available, thealternatives are (1) to eliminate it as a criterion.or (2)measure the components of the rehabilitation process that arethought necessary and that must exist before desirable out-comes on the criterion are possible. That is, by indirect

evidence on rehabilitation process components, the chances ofcertain outcomes on ultimate criteria can be maximized eventhough they are not measured directly. For example, supposean agency defines an ultimate criterion for counselorperformance as:

Annually processing as many clients as possibleinto jobs which the clients find satisfying andperform satisfactorily. For this to occur at anacceptable rate among clients which are "closed- -

rehabilitated", there are components in thedelivery process which must exist. Among others,these components include (1) development of avocational plan with the client through individ-ual interviews; (2) the purchase of outsideservices; (3) the intervention of the counselorwith other agencies and the community whereappropriate.

Once the ultimate criterion is stated, the intent is tonorm the rehabilitation process components for developing avocational plan, the purchase of outside services, andcounselor-intervention behavior as necessary intermediatecriteria. Such rather global criteria are further reduced

to measurable and morat2Lad dimensions of counselor per-formance; these are related to continuing educational experi-ences. In making the very important link between intermediatecriteria and ultimate criteria it is highly desirable tocollect data on ultimate criteria, at some point, to see ifthe pattern of current counselor job tasks (components in thedelivery system) are achieving acceptable outcomes on thecriterion.

Dawis, et al, (1969) demonstrated in a follow-upsurvey of clients given service by the Minnesota state VRagency that "at the time of follow-up (which, for some, wasas long as five years after closure), 810 of the rehabilitatedformer DVR clients were employed, an increase of 53% over theiremployment rate at acceptance." These employed former DVRclients were, on the average, just as satisfied with their jobsas their co-workers, and, on the average, earned annual incomesthat were only $450 lower than their co-worker counterparts.However, both the DVR clients and their co-workers had averageannual incomes which were considerably lower (more than $2000lower) than the average U.S. annual income ($7236 in 1968).These data on dimensions connected with the ultimate criterionfor the Minnesota VR agency permit some knowledge of how wellthe current delivery of services is performing. If it isdesired to maintain the current counselor job-task pattern,in order to maintain and possibly improve ultimate criterion

60

outcomes such as presented above, continuing education can berelated to counselor performance at the intermediate level.

C. LagIgLgmgat Problems

There is a difference between a criterion concept and acriterion measure (Cureton, 1951). A criterion measurereflects some important aspect of the criterion concept;it is the norm which exists with regard to performance onthe criterion. For example, the criterion concept might be"development of a vocational plan with the client throughindividual interviews." A criterion measure of that conceptmight be, "Can successfully utilize the Dictionary of Occupat-ional Titles in finding related occupations from a standard-ized set of client case-histories". If the counselor's skillin using the D.O.T. is selected as one criterion measure fordeveloping a vocational plan, it begins to have immediateimplications for continuing educational experiences and theircontent.

Although individual learning experiences must haveinstructional objectives as primarily concept development,skill/proficiency development, or disposition change, theobjective of all training is to develop counselor job skills.Criterion measures for evaluating the overall continuing educa-tional program should be related directly to the evaluation andcounselor feedback for key skill learning experiences Thatis, conceptual and dispositional learning experiences should"funnel-into" certain skill learning experiences, at the endof which the counselor demonstrates job competence on criteriameasures related to ultimate criteria. Criteria measures arehierarchical in form just as learning objectives are hierarchi-cal when achieved in a well integrated, continuing educationalprogram. This can be diagrammed as in Figure 2:

61

Figure 2

Hierarchy of Criteria In a Continuing Educational Program

Ultimate Criteria Measures

A.Process ComponentCriteria Measures

A

Skill LearningExperiences

ConceptualLearningExperiences

B.

Process ComponentCriteria Measures

Skill LearningExperiences

DispositionaLearning

Experiences

ConceptualLearningExperiences

C.

Process ComponentCriteria Measures

Skill LearningExperiences

ConceptualLearningExperiences

DispositionalLearning

Experiences

DispositioneLearning

Experiences

Hopefully, it is clear that(1) intermediate criteria forcounselor job performance, (2) the evaluations for key learningexperiences in skill development, and(3) supervisor monitor-ing of the counselor's performance can all come together in

62

the behavior of a given counselor with a given client. Typi-cally, supervisors in VR settings monitor the case recordingsof a counselor, the number of plans written in a period oftime, the number of closures, etc. However, a structure ofsupervisory monitoring should be developed related directlyto critical intermediate process criteria for counselorperformance and be a part of key, skill-learning-experiencefeedback to counselors as well. This requires the trainingand involvment of VR supervisors in the continuing educationof counselors, at least in critical skill-learning experiences.A more detailed discussion of this can be deferred to the sub-section on Problems IA Measuring tg Effects 21 LearningExperiences for Skill/Proficiencv ilgyelooment, below.

Another critical aspect of measuring and monitoringcounselor performance on intermediate rehabilititation processcriteria is to demonstrate that content in the continuingeducational program are related to competencies on suchcriteria. Two considerations in this regard are (1) contentof material that all adult human beings (including counselors)can be expected to know without such training; (2) the norm-ing of competence should be based on "specialized" behaviorand not on behavior routinely exhibited by all adult humanbeings, whether or not they are counselors.

Counselors are busy people who cannot afford to spendtime covering material which is "obvious", and ordinarilymastered prior to formal training. As counselors, they mustperform many common-sense acts which stem from knowledgepossessed by most adult human beings; to norm such behaviorfor competence on job-performance criteria would not allowany discrimination among those taking the training and thosenot taking such training. In the controversy which hasdeveloped around the use of support personnel and using theuntrained person in lieu of the professional, trained person(Lucas & Wolfe, 1968; Truax, 1968), such considerations asthese have generally been ignored. Training can be justifiedif related to (1) rapidity with which competence is achieved,(2) specialized behavior (e.g. acting in a "crisis"), or (3)rate of successful rehabilitations. These effects shouldnot be obscured with poorly selected norms on criteria thatdo not require formal training.

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Problems, is map...Luria& Iha Effects pl Learning Experjences for

Concept Development

Typically, concept development in the formal learningsituation is measured through content recall. The learner

might be required to recall material through written exami-nations such as multiple-choice or essay tests as well asorally in recitation (Briggs, et al, 1967). Such examinationprocedures have often been condemned as leading to "mereempty verbalism" when divorced from an immediate opportunityfor the learner to practice the concepts he has learned. The

validity of this charge, particularly with regard to the adult

human being, is difficult to establish (Ausubel, 1963). The

design of such learning experiences can include skill ordispositional learning as a component of a more macro experi-ence. This would allow the learner in a continuing educationalprogram to apply at a position level, material presented at anoccupational or job level. Since concept development can beeffectively accomplished in relatively large groups, with anadherence to teaching-learning linkage, it would be unwiseand much more expensive to incorporate a large component ofconcept development in skill or dispositional learningexperiences that require costly "laboratory-type" settings.The basic problem is in measuring the effects of learningexperiences for concept development on job-performance crit-eria which are not oriented toward counselor verbalizationsas such. However, most norms developed on counselor job-performance criteria will include some counselor verbal

response. For example, the counselor might be invited todiscuss what he sees as a client problem, or his caserecordings might be examined to develop some idea of hisperformance.

Counselor behavior, other than how he describes whathe is doing, enters into evaluations of counselor performanceat the conclusion of skill-learning experiences and into thesetting of norms on rehabilitation process criteria. He

must be evaluated with regard to how he uses concepts onwhich he bases his responses to clients during individualinteractions, in contacts with employers, and when takingother actions. From such observations he might be in-structed (given new concepts) to change parts of his be-havior; but the primary intent is to change the behavior,not merely to provide him with new ways to describe hisbehavior.

Because of the "indirect" relationship between learningexperiences for concept development and the measurement ofjob-performance criteria, evaluations of such learningexperiences are confined primarily to counselor feedbackon whether or not the content was understood.

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Problems .1A Measuring, the Effects of Learning Experiences for,Skill /Proficiency, kayalumrat.

The evaluation of job "skills" or "proficiencies" arebased on a counselor's behavior more operational and global in

nature than his verbalizations on what he knows or thinkshe is doing. Almost any response he might make as a pract-icing counselor could enter into the evaluation process ofsome skill-learning experiences as well as the norming ofjob-performance criteria. The evaluation of skill-learningexperiences is complicated by commonly recurring problemsin the teaching of job skills, when the evaluative observa-tions must be made of "global" job behavior. If the learn-ing experience is a through-employment, clinical-practicetype experience, content reliability may become a problem.For example, the counselor learner may be exposed to only alimited variety and range of clients, thus making impossiblea valid evaluation of his job skills with a representativearray of clients and client problems. On the other hand,if a simulated, "laboratory-type" learning experience witha contrived setting for evaluation is constructed, theproblem arises of how well such simulation will result intransfer of learning to the counselor's actual work behavior.

In recent years, micro-teaching (Aubertine, 1967;Kallenbach, 1966) as well as micro-counseling (Ivey, et al,1968) have been used to construct successful skill-learningexperiences for teachers and counselors which successfullyfocus on individual important dimension of the over-all jobskill being sought. This is consonant with the desirableteaching-learning link of single-concept presentation. Theevaluation process is simplified when micro skill-learningexperiences are utilized, since observation is restrictedto only one component of the total pattern of behavior thatis to be eventually developed. For example, a skill-learn-ing experience could be restricted to the behavior of thecounselor in his initial interviews with clients. The intentis to focus on specialized counselor behavior in initialinterviews, not on counseling skill in general. Several suchmicro-learning experiences can focus on different aspects ofcounselor behavior and thus cover a whole range of subskillsnecessary for more global job skills.

Restricted micro-learning experiences for skill develop-ment, however, may not individually represent a globalcounselor job-performance criterion, such as "developingvocational plans." It is a difficult task to integrate andcoherently relate several micro experiences to more generalcounselor performance. The effect of any one learningexperience may not affect counselor competency in a compli-

65

cated activity until a cumulative effect is achieved by

several micro-learning experiences. For example, developingsuccessful vocational plans with clients involves more thanthe initial-interview behavior of the counselor; severalskills are involved and he may not perform well in develop-ing vocational plans until he receives additional trainingin those several skills.

Finally, evaluation instruments for counselor job skillsor proficiencies are apt to be crude indices or measures ofglobal counselor skills. They usually involve the use ofobserver ratings or judgments which are subject to measure-ment error for many reasons (Guilford, 1954). The detectionof training effects from micro-learning experiences is therebyeven more remote due to "noise" in the evaluation process.

To offset such problems to some extent, a VR agencyshould (1) develop skill-learning experiences that are microto the extent that fairly explicit measures of performance canbe developed, (2) develop simulated experiences to supplementarough-employment experiences, (3) involve counselor super-visors in a training program to provide more valid instructionin and evaluation of skill-learning experiences for theircounselors.

aigaram in Measuring he Effects 91 Learning Experiences forUisoositional Change.

The measurement of job-related, training effects fromlearning experiences designed for dispositional change ismost difficult (Campbell & Dunnette, 1968). In a logicalsense, there is a widespread agreement that worker "dis-positions" influence work performance. On the other hand,research on relating worker dispositional traits to workperformance (Super & Crites, 1962; Ghiseli, 1966) or theeffects of various dispositional training experiences on workperformance (Campbell & Dunnette, 1968) has produced conflict-ing, but primarily negative results. The use of crudeinstruments for measuring dispositional variables, the re-striction of worker dispositional variability at the time ofemployment, the possibility of worker compensation throughother dispositions, and just poor research design have allcontributed to such results.

If the recommendation is followed that the role oflearning experiences for dispositional change be limited inthe continuing education of counselors in VR settings, themeasurement problems connected with their outcomes will notbe difficult. However, in maintaining counselor moraleand job satisfaction, as well as in helping with job-related

66

fRelings that are a barrier in performing specific job-tasks,such experiences do have a role to play.

Although criteria of counselor satisfactoriness havereceived the most attention in the previous discussion onmeasuring continuing educational outcomes, criteria forcounselor satisfaction must also be employed in measuringoutcomes. It appears that dispositional learning experienceswould have the most direct influence on counselor job satis-faction, as well as continuation on the job. Since theassumption is made that persons employed and retained ascounselors are essentially free of disturbing interpersonaldispositions, desirable counselor dispositions toward speci-fic job-tasks will probably come about as a result of ade-quate concept and skill learning experiences. When this doesnot occur, some consideration should be given to designingdispositional learning experiences which focus on counselorfeelings, values, and attitudes that are related to perfor-mance of given job-tasks, such as contacting employers.In one sense, this type of dispositional learning experiencewould be a micro-learning experience as previously discussed.The intent would be to focus learning experience content ondispositional factors connected with a restricted job-task.As a result, micro-learning experiences for dispositionalchange would be easily incorporated with skill and con-ceptual learning experiences that are similarly restricted.

Certain dispositional learning experiences not speci-fically related to job-tasks could be designed to maintaincounselor job-satisfaction, morale, and continuation on thejob. Such experiences could be designed to allow counselors,supervisors,,and administrators to share feelings and values,and to experiment with their behavior toward one another.Improved communication between levels of VR personnel, agreater sensitivity and empathy for each others' feelingsand concerns, greater job satisfaction, and less counselorturn-over could result from well-designed dispositionallearning experiences of this nature. Although changes onsome agency-product criterion may not occur, e.g., morerehabilitations, barriers and friction within the agencystructure itself might be reduced so that the agency be-comes a more desirable place to work.

The instruments typically used in evaluating disposi-tional training are ratings by peers and supervisors, orself-revelatory devices such as questionnaires, or persona-lity tests. Their susceptibility to error from varioussources, which introduces "noise" in the evaluation ofdispositional change, has already been mentioned in the

67

previous sub-section. The evaluation of micro-learning fordispositional change as part of a more macro experience,utilizing conceptual and skill training, could be accomp-lished as part of the evaluation at the end of the skill-learning experiences.

An Illustrative Evaluation, at Counselor Skill and Competencyin Initial Interviewing

Suppose as part of the continuing educational programfor counselor-client interaction, a VR agency developed thefollowing three learning experiences.

Learning Experience 1: Explaining Factors, that Regulate(Concept) Counselor - Client Exchanges durinz

the Initial Interview.

The design of this learningexperience might include (a) a listof appropriate readings, (b) the useof a resource lecturer, (c) discussiongroups, and (d) the use of illustrativetape-recordings or video-tapes.

Learning Experience 2: Unjsz,ItawLglin Yourself LE a Part, j(Dispositional) Counselor-Client Exchanges during sha

Initial Interview

The design might include (a) role-playing, (b) group events where disposi-tional factors are discussed and experi-mented with, and (c) the making of taperecordings with clients for identifi-cation and critique of counselor dis-positions that are operating.

Learning Experience 3: The Practice at Counselor Behaviot(Skill) during the Initial Interview

This learning experience mightrequire that the counselor make tape-recordings of initial interviews aswell as complete a special critiqueform on each interview to explainhis actions and plans. The taperecordings and forms would enterinto the evaluation of his compe-tence on one aspect of the criterion"developing a vocational plan."

68

To keep unproductive training time to a minimum, and tointerfere least with the counselor's work schedule, theseexperiences should be based in district or area offices. Theuse of pre-packaged materials would allow many of the eventsto be performed by the counselor as he could fit them into hisschedule. Group meetings to hear a lecture, discuss readingsor deal with dispositional factors would be the only eventsrequiring that several counselors be scheduled at the sametime.

From the evaluative data generated during the skill-learning experience (Learning Experience 3), the counselor'scompetence could be measured, with recommendations that herepeat parts of such training if necessary. Once he isjudged competent, re-evaluation in this area may not occurfor a period of years. A cumulative training record cardcould be maintained on counselors to record training needsand plans for re-evaluation.

Critique forms for counselor-client interaction can bedeveloped as part of a skill-learning experience. The purposeof such forms is to focus the attention of the supervisor andcounselor-trainee on the behavior of the counselor as he isinteracting with the client. Figure 3 is an illustration ofone simple SCERC critique form that is to be tested in furtherresearch in The University of Iowa's Studies in the ContinuingEducation for Rehabilitation Counselors. This research, alongwith the current study, is discussed in Chapter 5.

69

Figure 3

SCERC Counselor-Supervisor Critique Form

Counselor Manifest Interview Behavior Schedule forTape Recorded Observations

Counselor:

Interview

Client Characteristics:

Date:

Observed Segment: From To

Sex Age Disability

Counselor Response Problem1. Declaration 1. Too long

2. Questions 2. Irrelevant

3. Switch 3. Premature

4. Reflection 4. Too late

5. Continuation Response 5. Poorly phrased

6. Unnecessary

7. Omitted

8. Other

Counselor Response Problem Time 2 Response(circle as needed) (circle as needed)

1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Supervisor:

Date:

Recommendation:

70

Uistrict or area supervisors in state VR settings could betrained in the use of such a critique form as part of a skill-learning experience for counselors. The cumulative trainingrecord card of counselors could reveal how many hours ofsupervised interaction the individual counselor has received.The forms, after being used in individual conferences betweenthe supervisor and counselor, could be filed with the counse-lor's cumulative training record card to provide informationon the counselor's more specific behavior in such supervisedinteraction during past periods. Even if the counselor wereto be supervised in only five interactions with differentclients in the course of a year, he could begin to recognizesome of his most common mistakes, the points in the interviewat which they are apt to occur, the type of client he ishaving most trouble with, and his needs for further training.uver the course of several years, the effects of such train-ing and evaluation would become cumulative. The counselor'scompetence on a rehabilitation-process criterion couldbe expected to become more definitive as the training andevaluative record became more extensive. Relating the con-tinuing education of rehabilitation counselors in state VRsettings to outcomes on job-performance criteria is then aPrqQgll, not a single event in time.

U. Summary and Guidelines for Research and Practice

In summary, relating continuing educational outcomes to job-performance criteria for the rehabilitation counselor in stateVR settings is complicated by (1) lack of research and agreementon ultimate agency-product criteria, (2) relative independenceamong intermediate criteria of counselor performance, (3)difficulty in directly relating the effects of concept develop-ment and dispositional change to more global job-performancecriteria, and (4) difficulty in constructing norms on job-performance criteria that are meaningful in some practicalway.

71

Table 6Recommendations for Research and Practice

Factors to Consider Recommendations

1. Job-performance criteria forrehabilitation counselors arehierarchical, ranging fromimmediate to ultimate inscope.

2. Continuing educationalexperiences for rehabili-tation counselors arehierarchical, and culmi-nate in actual job skills.

3. Norms on counselor job-performance must bemeaningful in a practicalway.

72

A. Periodically, an agencyshould examine the pro-ducts of its currentdelivery-of-services,to ascertain the via-bility of the systemas a whole.

B. Job components in therehabilitation process,that are believed nec-essary for desirableoutcomes on ultimatecriteria should benonmed for measuringthe effects of continu-ing educational experi-ences.

C. The evaluation processfor concept developmentand dispositional learn-ing experiences shouldbe primarily for learnerfeedback.

U. The evaluation processfor skill-learningexperiences should betied most directly tointermediate criteriafor counselor performanceon necessary rehabilita-tionprocess components.

E. Competence norms, basedon a "mastery concept"rather than "relativeperformance", should bedeveloped.

4. Job-performance criteriafor rehabilitation counselorscan be criteria of satisfactor-iness or satisfaction.

F. Competence norms shouldfocus on specialized,job-oriented skill in

rehabilitation-processcomponents not ordinarilypossessed by most adulthuman beings.

G. Counselor evaluation onjob-performance criteriashould be a cumulativeprocess, not a singleevent in time.

H. Micro skill experiencesthat allow the develop-ment of explicit compe-tence in rehabilitation-process componentsshould be developed.

I . Statistical treatment ofevaluative data shouldbe primarily descriptive.Statistical help can bepurchased after a basisfor competence norms isestWished.

J. Dispositional learningexperiences, primarilyfor intra-agency communi-cation and functioning,should be measured oncriteria of counselorsatisfaction. Uispositi-onal learning experiences,focusing on the perform-ance of a specific job-task, should be measuredas part of a skillexperience.

L

V. Studies in Continuing Education for Rehabilitation Counselors:

Past, Present, Future

A. dackRround plf Pro iect

The continuing education of the rehabilitation counselor in

state VR agencies has been and continues to be a matter ofincreasing concern (Vocational kehabilitation Administration,1966; Harbridge House, 1963). It can be expected that asagencies employ greater numbers of untrained counselors andsupport people (Lucas & Wolfe, 1968), and assume new rehabili-tation missions with disadvantaged persons and others, theconcern and problems connected with agency continuing educa-tional programs will be greatly magnified. The program,Studies in Continuing Education for Rehabilitation Counselors(SCERC), was begun at The University of Iowa in September, 1966,to aid in finding some answers to the growing problems in VR-agency continuing educational efforts.

In the first year of the project, an ongoing review of theliterature made it increasingly apparent that comparing differ-ent training formats for concept development in rehabilitationcounselors would not be productive. Earlier research on train-ing formats had documented the complexity of the many variableswhich leads to results not definitive in any practical sense.Chapter III of this monograph presents a more detailedexplanation of why this is so.

The SCERC research staff decided to build, as an initialstudy, an experimental approach to concept development in therehabilitation counselor which could be easily implemented inan agency continuing educational program. In addition, it wasto be constructed according to what was already known fromlearning theory about teaching-learning linkage. Finally,the approach was to be tested in state VR agency settings inorder:

1. To develop information on how selectedcounselor, district office and statecharacteristics are related to know-ledge gains and supervisory ratings ofcounselor performance in such a plannedcontinuing educational approach;

2. To compare this approach to continuingeducation with what is currently avail-able as inservice training in agencysettings;

714

To provide a long-term test situationfor developing new training materialformats, for evolving effective train-ing materials through feedback fromcounselors and evaluations of theirperformance.

B. Method La Current Studs

Develooment gf Learning Units

The SCERC approach to concept development for counselorsin state VR agencies involves a series of 30 learning units.Each unit consists of a tape-recorded auditory presentation,with printed supplements requiring counselor responses thatare keyed to the auditory component. Once a counselor hasfinished a learning unit, he may keep the printed supplementsfor later review. The units are relatively independent ofeach other and, for the most part, can be taken in any sequence.Each unit focuses as much as possible on only one topic ofrelevance to the work of the counselor. Each unit generallyrequires no more than an hour to complete.

From an initial list of 112 topics, the training direct-ors from the three states providing the field testing (Illinois,Iowa, Minnesota) helped select the thirty topics that werefinally developed into learning units; they did this by rank-ing topics by the degree of relevance for their agency. Thetopics covered in the final set of thirty learning units arepresented in Appendix A.

In constructing each learning unit, the teaching-learninglinks are incorporated as much as possible. In the beginningof each unit, advance organizers are included in an attemptto present the learner with an overview of what is to follow.Content is both heard and seen, particularly when diagrams orschema can help clarify the auditory presentation. The learneris asked to respond to printed questions or solve problemswhen these are appropriate.

Prior to taking any learning units, counselor subjectswere given a 300-item information test. The 300-item test wascomposed of thirty subtests, made up of ten key questions oneach learning unit. Each counselor received a profile of hislearning unit test scores, indicating which units coveredmaterial with which he was relatively unfamiliar. This feed-back allowed counselors to "section" themselves and avoid unitcontent they already understood or had mastered.

Each counselor in offices where the learning units were

75

installed also received a loose-leaf type of catalog which

contained instructions on how to take learning units, a

aescription of content in each unit, and provided a place to

store notes and printed supplements after taking a learning

unit.

A learning unit evaluation form was developed (see

Appendix Li) to be completed by counselors after taking alearning unit. This form provides the counselor and the SCERCresearch staff with the means to assess various dimensions of

of the content and presentation. Such forms are mailedperiodically to SCERC headquarters at The University of Iowa.

Selection ,mod Development sat Field Test liies

The state-federal rehabilitation agencies in Illinois,

Iowa and :linnesota were involved in providing field testing

of the learning-unit approach. These states were selectedprimarily because of (1) relatively close proximity to SCERC

headquarters, (2) being medium-sized (100-150 counseloragencies), and (3) willingness to cooperate. The directors

and training directors from these three states were madeacquainted with the project's broad outlines at a three-dayconference at The University of Iowa. The conference pro-vided the SCERC staff with much feedback on relevant topicsfor development, as well as probable problems in data collec-

tion. At the conclusion of the conference, training directors

were provided with materials for explaining the project todistrict or area supervisors as well as to the counselors in

their states.

From district or area offices where the supervisors and

counselors volunteered to participate in the study, the SCERC

staff designated seventeen offices as "treatment" offices andfourteen as "control". A list of the treatment and control

offices are given in Appendix C. The designation of officesas "treatment" or "control" was accomplished after supervisors

completed a questionnaire (see Appendix U) giving personaldata on the supervisor and his office. From these data, arelatively comparable group of urban-rural offices, trained-untrained supervisors, and trained-untrained counselors wereassigned to the treatment and control groups. The treatmentoffices received the set of thirty learning units after theinitial testing of counselors was accomplished; the controloffices, of course, did not. Treatment offices currently havea total of 29 supervisors and 109 counselors. Since thelearning units are being monitored for an entire year,December 1968 to December 1969, the number and identity ofsupervisors and counselors fluctuates as personnel leave orchange jobs.

76

For each office participating in the study, a ResearchHelper was trained at a central meeting held in each of thethree states. The treatment office Research Helpers, usuallya senior clerk in the office, were instructed in (1) in managingthe learning units, (2) the testing of counselors, particularlynew counselors in the office, and (3) the reporting of resultsto SCERC headquarters. Control office Research relpersreceived similar instruction except for managing the learningunits. Each Research Helper also received a manual whichprovided written instructions for reference when back in theoffice. kesearch helpers are being paid a token honorariumfor their participation in the project.

Testinz And Data, Collection la Initial SCERC Study

An overview of the sequence in data collection duringthe initial SCERC study is provided in Table 7.

Table 7An Overview of Data Collection in the Initial SCERC Study

Instruments Completed Time ofAdministered on Administration

1. kinnesota ImportanceQuestionnaire (Weiss,et al, 1964)

2. Wonderlic PersonnelTest (Wonderlic, 1967)

3. Adjective Checklist(Gough, 1952)

4. Counselor Questionnaire(see Appendix E)

All counselors When enteringin treatment into projectand controloffices

All counselors When enteringin treatment into projectand controloffices

All counselors When enteringin treatment into projectand controloffices

All counselorsin treatmentand controloffices

77

When enteringinto project

5. SCERC InformationTest

6. Supervisory Ratings(See Appendix F)

7. Cumulative trainingrecord card (seeAppendix G)

8. Learning UnitEvaluation Forms(see Appendix

9. Case file data, suchas number of closures,plans, etc.

10. Supervisor'sQuestionnaire(see Appendix 0)

All counselorsin treatmentand controloffices

All counselorsin treatmentand controloffices

All counselorsin treatmentand controloffices

Counselors intreatmentoffices

All counselorsin treatmentand controloffices

(a) When enteringinto project,

(b) at the end ofof six months,June 1969,

(c) at the end ofproject year,December 1969

(a) When enteringinto project

(b) at the end ofsix months,June 1969,

(c) at the end ofproject year,December 19E9

Maintained overthe course ofof entire projectyear by ResearchHelpers

After counselorcompletes alearning unit

Collectedperiodically

All supervisors When enteringin treatment into studyand controloffices

As stated earlier in this Chapter, data collected duringthis initial SCERC study will be utilized to provide informationon (1) how selected counselor, district office, and statecharacteristics are related to knowledge gains and supervisoryratings of counselor performance in such a planned, continuingeducational program, (2) how this approach to continuing educa-tion compares with what is currently available as inservicetraining in agency settings, and (3) how to develop a long-termtest situation for developing new training material formatsfor evolving effective training materials, through feedback

from counselors and evaluations of their performance.

78

As Table 7 indicates, data collection in this initialSCERC study proceeds throughout the year. Except for thecompletion of Learning Unit Evaluation Forms (which are partof the treatment), counselors in both treatment and controloffices are tested and other data are collected on them in asimilar manner. Jhenever a counselor is promoted to supervisoror leaves a treatment office, he is dropped from the study atthat point. Jhenever a counselor is recruited or transfersinto a treatment office he is allowed to begin taking learn-ing units after the initial battery of instruments are com-pleted. Counselors who are recruited during the study yearin control offices also complete the instruments for thestudy.

kesearch Helpers, on a quarterly basis, mail reproductionsof the Cumulative Training Record Card to SCERC headquarters.Such cards are a record of all training that counselors mightbe taking during the study year; for counselors in treatmentoffices, this includes SCERC learning units. A duplicate setof Cumulative Training Record Cards are maintained at SCERCheadquarters by posting from these quarterly reports.

All data are being processed in a form which allowsanalysis on electronic equipment. Results of these analyseswill be made available in future SCERC reports.

C. Future Plans

The initial SCERC study has focused on conceptual develop-ment in the continuing education of rehabilitation counselorsin state VR settings. It is planned to develop an approachto a skill-learning experience for counselors in such settings,which will focus on the initial interview behavior of counsel-ors, and be designed according to teaching-learning linkage.This learning experience will involve (1) training a selectedgroup of supervisors in the three-state test area, (2) usingseveral learning units already developed on counseling con-cepts from this initial study and others, and (3) incorporat-ing tape recorded observations of counselor behavior as acomponent of the learning experience. In utilizing the samethree-state (Illinois, Iowa, and Minnesota) test area, muchof the data collected during the initial study will haveapplication in this future study as well. It is plannedthat such skill-learning experience will be tested in thefield during the 1970 calendar year.

Epilogue

The continuing education of rehabilitation counselorsis an area of great importance and concern. The many problemsas well as potential benefits in an effective program of

continuing education merit broad programs of research andinformation exchange. The SCERC staff welcomes inquiriesand information from researchers and administrators on in-service training projects they might currently be engaged inor contemplating. Written communications should be addressedto:

SCERCCollege of Education

Rehabilitation Counseling ProgramEast Hall

The University of IowaIowa City, Iowa 52240

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Moffitt, J. In-service education for teachers, Washington,D. C., Center for Applied Research in Education, 1963.

Moreno, J. Psychodrama, (3rd Edition, Vol. 1), New York,deacon House, 1964.

Mowrer, 0. Learning theory and behavior,, New York, JohnWiley & Sons, 1960.

Muthard, J. and Miller, L. The criteria 2L9Ltiral ill =habili-tation counseling, College of Education, University of Iowa,1966.

Muthard, J. and Miller, L. Perceptions of rehabilitationcounselor behavior, Personnel and Guidance Journal, 44,517-522, 1966.

Muthard, J. & Miller, L. The rehabilitation counselorLaiial scale, Studies in Rehabilitation Counselor Train-ing, Joint Liasion Committee, 1968.

Muthard, J. & Salomone, P. The roles and functions ofrehabilitation counselors: a preliminary report., MadisonLectures on Vocational Rehabilitation, University of4isconsin, 1968.

Nelson, C. Using television for in-service education,National, Elementary Principal, 44, 39-42, 1964.

NTL Institute for Applied Behavioral Science, associatedwith the National Education Association, 1968 ammmexReading Book, 1968.

Olshansky, S. and Hart, W. A study of curricula:psychologists in vocational rehabilitation or vocationalrehabilitation counselors? Journal f Rehabilitation,33, 28-29, 1967.

Patterson, C. H. Counselor or coordinator, Journal fRehabilitation, 23, 13-15, 1957.

Patterson, C. Rehabilitation counseling: a professionor a trade? Personnel and Guidance Journal, 46, 567-571,1968.

Patterson, C. Theories at gpunseling an A psychotherapy,New York, Harper & Row, 1966.

Pepinsky, H. & Pepinsky, P. Counseling: theory andPractice, New York, Ronald Press, 1954.

Pfeiffer, W. & Jones, J. A handbook at structuredexperiences for human relation's training, Iowa City,Iowa, University Associates Press, 1969.

Popharn, W. & Husek, T. Implications of criterion-referenced measurement, Journal of Educational Measure-ment, 6, 1-8, 1969.

Postman, L. The present status of interference theory,In Cofer, C. (Ed.), Verbal learning and, ygrbal behavior,New York, McGraw-Hill, 1961.

Pavlov, I. Conditioned reflexes, London, OxfordUniversity Press, 1927.

Roberts, R. and Renzaglia, G. The influence of taperecordings on counseling, Journal at Counseling Psych -ology, 12, 10-15, 1965.

Robertson, G. Education for the practicing physicianin a hospital without house officers, Journal, of theMaine Medical Association, 52, 41-43, 1961.

Robertson, G., Pyke, H., & Friedlander, E. A postgraduate educational television series for practicingphysicians in the state of Maine; a preliminary reviewand report of initial evaluation, Journal of the Maine,Medical ,association, 56, 41-43, 1965.

Rosenberg, 3. and Usdane, W. The TOWER system: voca-tional evaluation of the severly handicapped for train-ing and placement, Personnel and Guidance Journal, 42,149-152, 1963.

Rossi, P. & 3iddle, 3. (ed.) The new, media and education,Garden City, New York, Doubleday & Co., 1966.

C7

,Wsk, H. (Project Director) A study of the, feasibility21 tape recording for, teaching rehabilitation, Finalreport (RD-761), Institute of Physical Medicine andrehabilitation, New York University, 1966.

Saettler, P. A history 21. instructional technology,New York, McGraw-Hill, 1968.

Sakata, and Sinick, U. Do work samples work?lahabilitation Counseling Bulletin, 8, 121-124, 1965.

Schutz, W. slay, New York, Grove Press, 1967.

Shaffer, L. & Shoben, E. Ihl psychology g_t AgllialLgtnn,Boston, Houghton Mifflin, Second Edition, 1956.

Shartle, C. Occupational information, New York,Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1946.

Sheeley, W. Methodology in post graduate psychiatriceducation, American Journal 2f Psychiatry, 122, 494-97,1965.

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National Defense Today, Technical Report S-1, U. S. ArmyBehavioral Research Laboratory, 1967.

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Taylor, B. Factors influencing in-service teachereducation programs, Journal at Educational Research,52, 336338, 1959.

Taylor, J. & Fox, U. Differential approaches tca training,Human Resources kesearch Office, George Washington University,Professional Paper No. 47, 1967.

88

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Truax, C. The effects of supportive personnel as counselor-aides in vocational rehabilitation, Professional Bulletin,Vol. 8, No. 4, National Rehabilitation Counseling Associa-tion, 1968.

Vocational Rehabilitation Administration, Increasing thesimply 2f gualified rehabilitation, counseling personnel in

state, vocational, rehabilitation agencies, U. S. Departmentof Health, Education and Welfare, 1966.

Vol sky, T., Magoon, T., Norman, W., & Hoyt, D. The, out-comes 2f counseling and PsvchotheraPv, Minneapolis,University of Minnesota Press, 1965.

Wasson, R. and Strowig, R. Counselor isolation and someconcomitant perceptions, Journal f Counseling, Psych,., 12,

133-140, 1965.

Wasson, R. and Strowig, R. Professional isolation andcounselor role, Personnel apd Guidance Journal, 44, 457-460,1965.

Jeiss, U., Dawis, R., England, G., and Lofquist, L.Construct validation studies of the Minnesota importanceQuestionnaire, Minnesota Studies in Vocational Rehabili-tation, University of Minnesota, Bulletin 41, 1964.

Nonderlic, E. Personnel selection procedure, Northfield,Illinois, E. F. Wonderlic & Associates, 1967.

Woolsey, F. Two way radio conferences for post graduatemedical education: four years of experience with a newmethod of presentation, Canadian Medical AssociationJournal, 82, 717-719, 1960.

Worledge, C. Teaching nursing by television, Journal2f Nursing Education, 5, 33-37, 1966.

Wright, G., Smits, S., Butler, A., and Thoreson, R.A survey, of counselor perceptions, Wisconsin Studiesin Vocational Rehabilitation, Monograph II, 1968.

Underwood, B. Laboratory studies of verbal learning,In Hilgard, E. (Ed.), Theories af learning and instruction,Sixty-third yearbook, Chicago, National Society for theStudy of Education, 1964.

Lajonc, k. Social osvcholoRy: An experimental approachBelmont, California, tiadsworth, 1966.

89

Unit No.1-0011-0021-0031-0041-0051-0061-0081-0091-0101-0111-0121-0131-0141-0151-0161-0171-0182-0012-0022-0032-0042-0052-006

2-008

2-009

2-010

2-0113-0013-0023-003

APPENDIX A

SCERC RESEARCH AND TRAINING PROJECTTHE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA

TitleJob Analysis in PlacementIntelligence TestsInterest TestsScholastic and Achievement TestsMultiple Aptitude Tests I

Personality TestsAssessing Client Work InformationUnderstanding NormsUnderstanding Basic StatisticsUnderstanding Medical TerminologyAnatomy & Physiology I

Anatomy & Physiology IIAnatomy & Physiology IIIThe ArthritidesPsychological Aspects of DisabilitiesPriviledged CommunicationMultiple Aptitude Tests IIInitial InterviewCollecting Information From the ClientTest InterpretationUsing Occupational InformationDealing with the Third PersonDealing with Dependent and HostileClientsDealing with the Mentally RetardedClientCounseling Stratagies: A DevelopmentalModel0ev. Client Explor. Behavior and Voc.PlanningClient TasICAssignment and Follow-upOccupational InformationPre-Vocational EvaluationPlacement in Vocational Rehabilitation

90

University of Iowa

SCERC Learning Unit Evaluation Form

Counselor's Name

Office Location (Town)

Code Identification of Unit Just Completed

Date

Each time an individual completes a Learning Unit in the SCERC project being conductedby the University of Iowa,

this Critique Form is to be completed and given to the Research Helperat the local agency office.

She will forward it

to the University of Iowa..

The purpose of the critique is to help the University staff

evaluate the Learning Unit and

possibly revise it.

Please check the statements below thatcome nearest to expressing the way you feel.

Strongly

Can't

Strongly

Agree

Agree

Say

Disagree

Disagree

1. What was covered

in this Learning

Unit will be use-

ful in the work

of a Rehab. Counselor.

..

2. The speed with which

the ideas were

presented in this

unit was about right

..

3. This Learning Unit

was easy to understand

..

4. The supplement(s)

helped to make tnis

Learning Unit effective.

.

5..everall, the method

of presentation of

this topic was effective

..

6. What other general evaluative

comments do you have concerning this Learning Unit?

Item Comments

APPENDIX C

TREATMENT OFFICES CONTROL OFFICES

ILLINOISAlton

ILLINOISBelleville

Carbondale Chicago Heights

Jacksonville Peoria

Mount Prospect Quincy

Rockford

Rock Island

Springfield

IOWA IOWACouncil Bluffs Cedar Rapids

Davenport Ues Moines Center

Des Moines District Office Ottumwa

Fort Dodge Sioux City

Oakdale

Waterloo

MINNESOTA MINNESOTAMankato Duluth

Minneapolis Brainerd

St. Cloud Rochester

St. Peter Virginia

92

1. Name

3. Office

4. Age

APPENDIX D

University of IowaS C E R C SUPERVISOR QUESTIONNAIRE

(Confidential)

General Information

2. Date

State

5. Marital Status:

6. Sex: Male Female

SingleMarriedSeparated or Divorced

----Widowed

Educational Information

7. Educational level you achieved:

Completed High SchoolSome CollegeCompleted CollegeSome Fist Graduate M.A. M.A. Plusph.D./Ee.n.

8. Date first degrfse granted

9. Date last degree granted

10. Undergraduate major

11. Major field in graduate school

12. What was your undergraduate grade point average (based on a 4-point scale)?

13. Which of the following describes the extent to which the current inservicetraining program for supervisors helps you in performing your job.

1. Rarely2. Sometimes3. Frequently4. Generally5. Almost Always6. No inservice training program offered by the agency for supervisors.

14. What formal training have you taken in the past calendar year?

1. Work in a local college or university, e.g. class work or correspondent2. Workshops or institutes3. Taken no formal training4. Other (specify)

J3

Employment Information

15. Years of experience in all types of counseling or personnel work.

16. Years of experience as a rehabilitation counselor.

17. Years of experience as a rehabilitation counselor in a D.V.R. setting.

18. How many years have you worked as a supervisor in a state rehabilitationagency?

19. How many counselors do you supervise?

20. On the average, in an ordinary month, how many scheduled personal interviews

does each counselor have with you for help with job-related problems?

21. On the average, in an ordinary month, how many scheduled group meetings do

you have with your counselors for help with job-related problems?

22. On the average, to what extent do you think your consultation with counselorsis of major help in their solving job-related problems?

MINIMMI111. Rarely2. Sometimes3. Frequently4. Generally5. Almost Always6. I do not consult with counselors

23. What is the population of the area served by your office?

24. How many clients have been closed rehabilitated by your office during theyear ending June 30, 1968?

25. Do you have an office library that is indexed and available to counselors?

Yes No

26. What inservice training programs are available to counselors in your office?

Class work in a local college or universityWorkshops or institutesCorrespondence coursesOther (specify)None

27. How many resource people have you used for the inservice training of yourcounselors during the past year?

94

28. For counselors to get promotions (or pay increase) in your agency, rank thefollowing items ("1" equals most important, etc.):

1. Being in the right place at the right time.2. Conforming and playing politics.3. Engaging in further training.4. Producing 26-Closures.5. Having a master's degree in Rehabilitation Counseling.

29. Which professional meetings did you attend during the last year?Check those which apply)

None APA APGA ARCA NRA NRCA NASW Other (specify)

State

Regional

National

30. In which professional groups have you held office?

31. What professional journals do you read?

I thoroughly read

I casually read

32. All things considered, which of these statements comes nearest to expressingthe way you feel about your job?

I like itI am indifferent to itI dislike it

33. How much of the time do you feel satisfied with your job?

All of the timeMost of the timeA good deal of the timeAbout half of the timeOccasionallySeldomNever

SEND COMPLETED FORM TO:

Studies In Continuing Education for Rehabilitation CounselorsCollege of EducationUniversity of Iowa311 Grand AvenueIowa City, Iowa

52240

SCERC-SQF-6/7/68-100 95

University of IowaS C E R C COUNSELOR QUESTIONNAIRE

(Confidential)

General Information

1. Name1MMMIMIMMOI.... ..3. District Office

4. Age...,

6. Sex: Male Female0111111.1.110

7. Father's Occupation:

2. Date

State

Professional or ManagerialSkilledSemiskilledUnskilled

APPENDIX E

5. Marital Status:

SingleSepa7mted or DivorcedMarriedWidowed

8. Father's Education:

.1111111

Educational Information

9. Educational Level You Achieved: (check)

Completed High SchoolSome CollegeCompleted CollegeSome Post GraduatePh.D./Ed.D.

M.A. M.A. Plus

Grade SchoolSome High SchoolCompleted High SchoolSome CollegeCompleted CollegePost Graduate

10. Date first degree granted

11. Date last degree granted

12. Undergraduate major

13. Major field in Graduate School

14. What was your undergraduate grade point average (based on a 4-point scale)?

15. What formal training have you taken in the past calendar year?

1. class dork in a local college or university2. workshops or institutes3. correspondence course work4. formal training5. other (specify)

36

- 2

16, In being promoted (or getting a pay increase) in your agency, how would yourank the following items ("1" equals most important, etc.).

Being in the right place at the right time.Conforming and playing politicsEngaging in further training.Producing 26-closures.Having an M.A. degree in Rehabilitation Counseling.

17. The following describes the extent to which the total current inservicetraining program helps me in performing my job:

1. Rarely 2. Sometimes 3. Frequently 4. Generally 5. Almost Always

18. For each activity listed below, circle a letter to indicate how well your previouetraining, from different sources, has helped you in performing that activity:

A - Not HelpfulB - Of Very Limited HelpC - Usually HelpfulD - Very HelpfulE - Have had no training/experience in this

Training taken Training taken Experiencefrom a college from an agency on-the-jobperson person

ABCDE ABCDE ABCD 1. Finding a specific job for aclient.

ABCDE ABCDE ABCD 2. Dealing in face-to-face contactswith client's emotions.

ABCDE ABCDE ABCD 3. Using test results to guide aclient.

ABCDE ABCDE ABCD 4. Using medical reports to guidea client.

ABCDE ABCDE ABCD 5. Dealing in face to face contactswith client unrealism in jobchoice(s).

ABCDE ABCDE

ABCDE

ABCD 6. Being able to formulate a planfrom client information.

ABCDE ABCD 7. Being able to handle personalproblems and prejudices in worksituations.

ABCDE ABCDE ABCD 8. Using psychological reports toguide clients.

ABCDE ABCDE ABCD 9. Reading and understandingresearch reports.

ABCDE ABCDE ABCD 10. Maintaining productive contactwith referral sources and otherprofessionals.

97

3

19. How many books, which you use on your job, do you have in your personal

library?

Erpilmtr_lt Information

20. Years of experience in all types of counseling or personnel work

21. Years of experience as a rehabilitation counselor or worker

22. Years of experience as a rehabilitation counselor in this agency ,Mm23. In an ordinary work month, as part of your job, how many miles do you drive?

24. Taking your total weekly working hours into account, please rank the following

activities according to the amount of time you spend on each. (Give that

activity taking the most of your time a rank of 1 and the least a rank of 4,

etc.)

1111110.1111.1. Face-to-face contacts with clients

2. Locating jobs, developing referral sources, and related

community work

3. Contacting other professionals (social workers, etc.)

4. Recording, administrative meetings, etc.

25. On the average, how many hours each month do you put into inservice training

activities?

26. To what extent does your supervisor help you with job-related problems?

1. Rarely2. Sometimes3. Frequently4. Generally5. Almost Always

A

27. Which professional meetings did you attend during the last year?(Check those which apply.)

State

Regional

National

None APA APGA ARCA NRA NRCA NASW Other (specify)

.1.

owEIIIMN

90

11

28. In which professional groups have you held office?

29. What professional journals do you read?

I thoroughly readworm= =V .11=1111=2

I casually read_

30. All things constder3d which of these statements comes nearest to expressingthe way you feel about your job?

I like it.

I am indifferent to it.I dislike it.

31. How much of the time do you feel satisfied with your job?

011111

All of the time.Most of the time.A good deal of the time.About half of the time.Occasionally.

M Seldom.ellNever.

SCERC Supervisory Rating Blank

Supervisor's Name

APPENDIX F

I

An important aspect of the Studies in the Contin2ing Education of

Rehabilitation Counselors is periodic supervisory ratings of counselor per-

formance. An attempt has been made to make such ratings as easy as possible,

without sacrificing undue accuracy. To complete such ratings, please take

the following steps:

1. List the names of all counselors you supervise in the centerspaces provided on the rating sheet.

2. You are asked to rate each counselor on five dimensions of his

performance.

01.11114111

A In getting along with co-workers and supervisorsB In managing his time and caseload wellC In communicating his ideas well, both verbal and

writtenD In making effective use of other resources

(community and professional)E In acting on his own to increase professional

knowledge and skill

3. For each dimension, (A through E), evaluate how much improvement, if

any, the counselor needs at the current time. Needed Improvement is

defined as:

No Improvement = In supervising this counselor, you found

no instances in which he has not performedas you expected.

Some Improvement In supervising this counselor, you found

a few instances in which he has notperformed as you expected.

Much Improvement = In supervising this counselor, you found

many instances in which he has notperformed as you expected.

4. Make a check (X) in the appropriate box indicating the neededimprovement for each dimension.

5. After rating your counselors, please use the spaces in front of

each dimension in step 2 above, to rank order them in terms of

how important you think they are for getting the rehabilitation

counselor's job done. (That activity which is most important

is ranked "1"; next most important "2", etc.)

A=In getting along with co-workersand supervisors

B=In managing his time and case-load well

Counselor

C=In communicating his ideas well,both verbal and written

D=In making effective use of otherresources (community & professional)

E=In acting on his own to increaseprofessional knowledge and skill,

Needs:A

Ii No Improvement (..)

Some Improvement

tMuch Improvement

Needs:C D ELj Li No Improvement

Some Improvement

a Much Improvement

.71 E_ No Improvement 9. No Improvement

Some Improvement 1111 ti Some Improvement

Much Improvement

_J No Improvement 10.

I Eli Some Improvement E=1

:2] P1 Much Improvement

No Improvement 11.

Some Improvement

Much Improvement

No Improvement 12.

III Some Improvement

Much Improvement

L-1 Much Improvement

LIIN

L.1 LIL.

1=1"

No Improvement 13.

Some Improvement

Much Improvement LI

No Improvement

Some Improvement

Much Improvement

No Improvement

Some Improvement

Much Improvement

No Improvement

Some Improvement

Much Improvement

No Improvement

Some Improvement

Much Improvement

No Improvement 14. 1 Ill II No Improvement

LSome Improvement U LI Some Improvement

LiMuch Improvement Li Li Much Improvement

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