Learning, Development, and Retention of Knowledge in Works' Lambie and Mullen - Annotated Bibliography Example

Graduate Counseling Learning, Development and Retention of Knowledge of Glenn W.Lambie, Department of edu Child, Family, & Community Sciences, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, 32816-1250. E-mail: glenn.Lambie@ucf Kara P. Ieva, Department of Educational Services, Administration, and Higher Education, Rowan University Patrick R. Mullen, Department of Child, Family, & Community Sciences, University of Central Florida Glenn W. Lambie, Kara P. Ieva, and Patrick R. Mullen (2013). Graduate counselling Student’ learning, development, and retention of knowledge: A qualitative study of 52 graduate counselling students’ knowledge of ethical and legal knowledge. A journal of the Scholarship of teaching and learning, vol.13 No. 4, October 2013, pp.54-67 The authors of this study investigate the level of ethical and legal knowledge as well as the social-cognitive development of counselling students. This is done at three intervals that is; first, before the students started their counselling ethics course, secondly, immediately after they completed the course and finally, four months after they had completed the course. The authors acknowledge the complexity of counselling as a discipline (Lambie et al, 2013). They describe it as a process that is dynamic and interactional. So as to deliver ethical and effective services to clients with who have various needs, one is therefore required to have precise knowledge and disposition. The study reorganizes that there are limitations in the investigation of effective pedagogy in counselling preparation programmes which is meant for promoting the knowledge and social-cognitive maturity of the students. The authors sought to identify the changes in counselling students in as far as the ethical and legal knowledge is concerned. This is done at the three points. The study was basically examining the student’s learning, retention of knowledge as well as their developmental growth. In order to create a context for the study, the authors reviewed two constructs which scholars consider as importance. These are ethical and legal knowledge and the social-cognitive development. This choice was informed by the necessity for sound ethical and legal as well as the ability of students to utilize their acquired knowledge in delivering services accordingly to clients. Besides that, the students are required by CACREP to have the proper mastery of the existing ethical standards as well as demonstrate the same during professional service delivery (Lambie et al, 2013). The authors reviewed a number of common ethical and legal concepts which are a requirement for counselling student’s ethical practice. These are for example, confidentiality and privileged communication, negligence and malpractice, due process, abuse of children and the elderly amongst others. The authors establishes that various methods may be used in preparation programmes for counselling students. They identify that use of text books is a common method of dissemination. The study acknowledges that such pedagogical strategies as lectures and focused group discussions can be as well used by instructors to support student’s ethical and legal knowledge. The authors further acknowledged that there exist a correlation between the counselling student’s application of ethical and legal knowledge and the level of their cognitive development. The study seeks to identify potential implication for pedagogy in graduate counselling preparation programs. To achieve this, it examines how counselling ethics influence student’s acquisition and retention of knowledge as well as development growth. The authors also investigate the potential differences in as far as student’s learning, retention of knowledge and developmental growth is concerned. This is in a bid to ascertain whether or not there are pedagogical factors that influence students. The two research questions that are investigated by the authors are; first, are there differences in counselling student’s level of ethical and legal knowledge and social-cognitive development at the three points during and after their preparation programme? Secondly, are there mean differences in graduate counseling students’ ELK and SCD scores who are enrolled in two different sections of counseling ethics courses? The study used a sample of fifty-two graduate counseling students who study in a large metropolitan university located in Southeastern United States. The participants’ names and identification information was not collected and it was done on a voluntary basis. The authors introduced the study and then administered the data collection packets. This was at three different points of time; first, during the first class meetings of the counseling ethics courses in mid-May, secondly, during the final class meetings of the two counseling ethics courses in early August and finally, four months after the completion of the two ethic courses that is in mid-December. The authors asked participants to write down the number of their envelope somewhere in their personal effects. During the last class meeting, the participants collected the envelopes containing the same informed consent and data collection instruments. These envelopes corresponded to the number they wrote down during the first class meeting. At the third point of data collection, all the students enrolled in the two counseling courses were called upon to complete the assessment instrument. The usable data that was collected was 63.4%. The mean age of 52 students who participated is 25.54 years (SD=4.54; range, 21- 41 years. men were 13.5% while women were 86.5%. Ethnic representation was as follows; Caucasian, 67.3% and other including African American, Asian/Pacifica Islanders, Latino American as well as Native American, 32.7%. Students enrolled in the counseling course for the Mental Health and or Marriage and Family Counseling track were 32 that is 61.5%. Students who participated in the study and were enrolled in the ethics course for School Counseling track were 20 that is 38.5% of the total (Lambie et al, 2013).. The two instructors for the counseling ethics courses applied multiple educational strategies in order to support their student’s learning and development during the 13 weeks preparation programs. They employed four specific teaching strategies which included; course readings, lectures, group discussions and role plays. In addition, the instructors employed scaffolding in order to support the student’s learning and developmental growth. The outcomes of student’s learning were evaluated through both formative and summative assessments. This was done through weekly quizzes on the assigned readings of the two counseling ethics textbooks. The authors noted the results of the study as follows. The students enrolled in the counseling ethics for School Counseling track scored higher on the post-test ELICA and the follow-up ELICA that those students in ethics course for Mental Health and or Marriage and Family counseling track. The students in the counseling ethics course for the Schoool Counseling track had higher pretest WUSCT TPR scores than the students in the course for Mental Health and or Marriage and Family Counseling track. The authors also concluded that students increased their ELK scores during their experience in the counseling ethics courses and retained their ELK four months after completing their course. However, their social-cultural development did not change during the seven month period. Finally, they found out that students scoring higher in SCD four months after completing their ethics courses possessed higher levels of ELK after completing their courses and a semester later. The authors note that findings identified a significant increase in the student’s ELK from before completing an ethic course to the completion of the course and the students’ retained their knowledge acquisition. They concur that the correlation between student’s SCD and ELK acquisition and retention of learning scores suggest that counseling preparations programmes should promote these two desirable student qualities. The results of the study imply that student’s ELK may be increased and retained based on their participation in the ethics course among others. The limitations of the study was on the restrictive sampling method, as well as the time series design. Reference Lambie, G. W., Ieva, K. P., & Mullen, P. R. (2013). Graduate counseling students’ learning, development, and retention of knowledge. Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 13(4), 54-67. Read More