Distributed Education and the Role of Online Learning in Training Professional Psychologists.

Abstract

Distributed learning and its allied concept, distance education, have the potential to move graduate training beyond the physical classroom, providing "anytime" and "anyplace" educational opportunities to new groups of learners as well as to students in traditional campus-based programs. It is argued that the focus on online learning activities found in distributed learning institutions is most compatible with a model of pedagogy that emphasizes, among other things, asynchronous small group discussions, collaborative problem solving, reflective inquiry, competency-based outcomes, and the facilitator role of the instructor. The article concludes with suggestions for and challenges regarding the application of computer-based learning tools to the training of clinical psychologists. KJELL ERIK RUDESTAM received his PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Oregon. A diplomate in clinical psychology and a fellow of the American Psychological Association (Division 12), he is associate dean at Fielding Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara, California. His research interests include suicide, the process of change, research methodologies, and training models in distributed education.

Promoting Social Capital, Empowerment and Counter-Stereotypical Behavior in Male and Female Students in Online CSCL Communuties

“…Moreover, online groups can understand group developmental phases better, since they can go back and see, for instance, how decisions were taken and how conflicts were resolved, while F2F students have to rely on their notes and memories, which are often more partial and incomplete. More studies are needed to confirm our outcomes, however these initial results indicate that online collaborative learning can indeed be used to increment different kinds of professional competencies as theorized by authors such as Rudestam (2004). Collaborative learning did promote new friendships among students, initially more in the F2F settings, as we had hypothesized, indicating that social capital may be more easily built in settings that can also benefit from nonverbal communication (Kiesler & Sproull, 1992).…”

“…We could measure their initial level of social capital and explore whether students who do join a school online community already start out with higher levels of social capital, or whether intense use of the community online actually favors the growth of social capital or whether both hypotheses can be confirmed. Since bridging and bonding social capital have been shown to be positively related to school performance, (Israel, Our results will have to be duplicated with different samples, especially with males, since that our university psychology population was primarily of female students, but they do offer some support to those who underline that collaborative learning online should not be considered a "series B" educational setting (Boling & Robison, 1999;Lundin & Magnusson, 2003), but one that can also improve graduate and professional training Rudestam, 2004) and favor students' social efficacies, empowerment, and counter stereotypical gender communication styles. The implications for educational institutions are clear: they should offer students who cannot attend regular graduate F2F seminars, graduate CSCL learning opportunities to increase not only their professional knowledge and skills, but also their social efficacy and their social networks.…”

“…We believe that both collaborative learning modalities and asynchronous communication patterns favor the development of a less conflicting atmosphere. As Rudestam (2004) theorizes, asynchronous computer mediated environment may favor the developments of meta-skills of critical analysis, of giving and receiving feedback, and managing time. Online students understand how group dynamics evolve, whether or not the instructors explicitly favor it.…”

“…Supporters of CSCL maintain that the social interaction available online can produce interpersonal effects even superior to those found in F2F groups (Biuk- Aghai & Simoff, 2004) and that it has the potential to provide new first class educational opportunities to teach even professional skills, normally taught only in F2F graduate programs. For instance, Rudestam (2004) underlines that certain key features of CSCL such asynchronous small group discussions, collaborative problems solving, reflective inquiry, competency based outcomes and the facilitator role of the instructor could be very helpful in the training of clinical psychologists. Several authors underline that learning professional skills in asynchronous small group discussions online, through the new internet platforms that make available all course materials and record all exchanges among participants could offer to online students additional advantages, by creating "a permanent written record of the entire classroom experience as an ongoing source of reflection, evaluation and learning" (Rudestam, 2004, p. 428).…”

Instructional Planning in Online Universities in Korea: Considering Student Stressors and Demographic Variables

“…Numerous cyber and digital universities have established technological systems and learning centers to provide robust media servers for the streaming of prerecorded or live classes. Many of these learning programs have focused on the delivery efficiency of the learning materials, and issues concerning online learning programs have been addressed in the online learning sciences [8], [33], [34], [37], [38]. Few studies have explored the mental health and well-being of online university students, however.…”