THE USE OF E-LEARNING PLATFORMS AS A SUPPORT AND TRAINING ENVIRONMENT FOR THE GROUP-LEARNING-PROCESS: PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES IN THE FIELD

OF ON-LINE COUNSELLING TRAINING

Rainer Gehrig
Universidad Catlica San Antonio Murcia (UCAM) Guadalupe-Murcia (SPAIN) gehrig@pdi.ucam.edu

Abstract The evolution of ICT and its transforming impact on education produces an increase and the presence of e-learning based programs. Virtual learning environments recommend new competences and allow different experiences. In this experienced based contribution, the author introduces in the questions of training and learning in the specific field of counselling as a very sensitive communication field and the new ICT options. Analyzing experiences of the last three years in the educational organization and realization of the training with students of different countries (Spain, Peru and Colombia), the abstract shows technological and personal challenges, limits and some creative solutions.

Keywords
Innovation, technology, E-Learning, counselling, Social Development, on-line training.

1. Training Counselling for Social Development (CSD)

Since 2005, the Catholic University San Antonio Murcia (Spain) offers an 18 month Master Program on Social Development with a module on counselling. The training goal of the module is to sensitize and empower students for future communicative practice focused on face-to-face relationships in the field of counselling and Social Development. Methods and contents linked with Social Development of groups (Community Work and Community Development) are treated in the module of Social Education. It is not the goal of the module to train future online counsellors a field with a broad discussion in the last years [1] and new research approaches [2]. The discussions in this field and the evolution of online counselling services led to modifications in the ACA Code of Ethics (chapter A12 Technology Applications)[3] and in the United Kingdom since 2006 to the foundation of the Association for counselling and therapy online (ACTO) for members of the BACP. Generally there exists a recommendation not to work online as a newly trained therapist and the special training courses in UK or Canada are only opened to experienced therapists. In the field of Human Social Development, the Christian holistic education paradigm and the goal to promote better sustainable living conditions had been the main argument and the fundamental decision to include this module in the design of the master program. In this vision development, communication skills and counselling appear as naturally related aspects and a corrective supplement of macro political and economic theories.

1.1 Educational Planning of the Module CSD

The Module of Counselling with a working load of five ECTS contains two sections: Section A) with the basic person centred communication knowledge (theory and practice of helpful face-to-face relationships) and section B) with theories about learning, self-help and behaviour modification. In section A) the module is divided into three sequences: Sequence One: Ground Contact: personal experience group building and contact with the e-learning environment. The first step is a fixed dated

introductory on-line video conference with basic information about the concept of counselling and the design of the module presented by the teacher. After the conference, the students receive access to the E-learning Platform and a first educational instruction (open personal reflection about experiences in the field and a designed form to fill out with positive and negative dimensions of counselling in the triangle of counsellor, client and other external conditions). The sequence finishes with an encounter of subgroups organized by the teacher in different Chat rooms. The task is to elaborate a consensus about the dimensions of counselling using their experiences conserved in the form. Results are sent to the teacher and form part of the working materials during the next sequences. Sequence two: construction and practice of counselling: counselling theory personal and group experiences. The main accent of the program is the large local training weekend (Thursday afternoon till Sunday morning or two short weekends) where students get in deeper contact with counselling theory and realize a detailed training program (mix of group and individual exercises, sensitivity trainings for the communication on empathy, self- and foreign-perception, triad roll play etc.). Sequence three: supervised practice to deepen the link between theory and practice. The last sequence settled in the e-learning environment is a fixed dated process during six to eight weeks with weekly encounters in the Chat room. The learning goals are to intensify the developed theory of the local training and to put in practice the reflections about counselling in face-to-face relationships under the supervision of the teacher. A secondary learning field is the communication practice and dynamics of the group. Students tasks are the obligatory participation, a previous elaboration of an individual practical case of counselling and a feedback after the encounters about the learning progress and the observed difficulties. The participants send their practical case to the teacher before the analysis and use for the training during the virtual encounter (Chat sessions). The Chat sessions include exercises and practice. The experiences explained in this contribution refer to the third sequence of the module.

2. Virtual Learning Environment: UCAM E-learning platform

The Department of Computer Science developed an own E-Learning platform (Virtual Campus) as a secondary support and communication tool for the teacher and the Universitys mostly presence study programs. This reduced platform, password protected and part of the Universitys secure Web, offers basic elements for unidirectional static content uploaded by the teacher for lectures and exercises of the students: a bulletin board, contact information (phone, e-mail) and working areas with documents like the study program, exercises, web links and other materials in PDF, WORD or PPT. The bidirectional communication tools are e-mail, a Chat-application based on Java for the text based synchronous communication and Forums for the permanent asynchronous communication, both moderated by the teacher. Actually the platform does not offer the possibility for multimedia materials, videoconferences or VoIP. The Forums are used for debates between the students and the teacher about a formulated question linked with the thematic unit or to clarify doubts. Apart of the independence from time and space, the advantages of the Forums for the participants lie in the durability of the contents. The Java Chat-application is designed as a simple text based synchronous communication moderated by the teacher without the possibility to conserve the content, neither print it nor copy. Transmission interruptions or delayed connection produce the loss of data and content. Participants only view the content in relation to their connection time. If a participant connects later, he only can view the content uploaded or transmitted during his connection time without the possibility to recover earlier or later content.

3. Teachers experiences in the third educational sequence

For the third educational sequence as well as for every e-learning process it is necessary to clarify first the goals, then the learning steps, the activities and its transformation into a schedule. The work in virtual environments reveals specific needs and conditions for the organization of online trainings like the technical experience of the teacher in the use of the e-learning platform, the capacity to imagine problems that could affect the training process and a variety of solutions. One basic condition is the stability of the connections mostly more a problem on the student side in rural areas than on the teachers side in the University (exception could be the home based moderation by the teacher with a critical provider in rush hours). Another basic requirement is the possibility to localize the participants and the teacher by phone. The communication channel by phone is important for an urgent technical support, an assessment related to the process and content as well as for urgent critical situations

(students showing a deep personal impact and a clear disconnected sign). The phone connection is more useful than a simultaneous text based communication by email because it avoids the delay in the reception of the messages and offers a more personal contact. A third basic condition is the organization of the schedule. It is necessary to plan with a period of at least two weeks between the first communication/instruction and the start date of the encounters in the Chat room. Normally at the end of the second sequence the teacher explains in short terms the third sequence and searches the commitment of the participants in the fixing of the dates, hours and the tasks. This strategy underlines the responsibility of the participants, builds up a feeling of togetherness in the distance period of the virtual environment and offers the possibility for the teacher to avoid periods of doubts.

3.1 Instructions as a basic elements before and after the training sessions
In virtual environments, text based instructions replace the oral and direct presentations of the teacher. These documents are crucial for the dynamics of the process, because they serve as openers and motivators, offer orientation and solutions for problems that could appear and transmit security: basic communication skills that educators transmit personally in the classroom! The difference is that presentations in virtual environments meet its receivers not only in different places but also separated in time. Daily e-mail with doubts, questions and finally a second version of the instruction can be reduced with a broad time investment in the working out of the instruction. Useful instructions offer a clear structure, an easy reading type and size with enough space (1,5 lines) and avoid more than two or three pages for the training sessions (excess of information). If the instruction includes a task, it is helpful to add an example. Thinking on the difficulties students can have with the instruction, a resume of the main steps at the end of the instruction should be included. During the written explication, sentences like, it is not necessary to , only clarify doubts, too. The first instruction offers a schedule for the sessions, the recommendation to check the technical aspects (Java Platform) and the access. The participants have to choose a date for their case presentation and communicate it to the teacher. The final schedule with names and dates is published on the bulletin board. For the personal case during the training sessions, students receive an example from other courses and this second instruction underlines the training character, the need of the text material only in a reduced version of a dialogue excerpt (two or three pages) and not the whole case. The third instruction includes orientations for the personal reflection and the learning process. The students fill it out and send it back after the training session where the own case was analyzed by the group (normally up to three days after the session). This allows the teacher to keep in contact with the evolution of the learning process and the personal difficulties of the students (for example how to deal with different point of views and critics). As a general procedure with a temporary space of at least 14 days the instructions are sent to the participants by e-mail with the notice to confirm reception and uploaded to the bulletin board (PDF downloadable format for large documents). This double communication strategy avoids possible information loss by damaged or full e-mail accounts, strong SPAM filters etc. The individual counselling cases are available three or four days before the Chat session. This offers and forces a by time preparation of the students in the best case and the worst case unprepared participants.

3.2 Group design and activities

One of the biggest problems in the training course is the group size during the simultaneous communication in the Chat room. Experiences show that it is hardly impossible to moderate a Chat room with its characteristics of a training session on counselling with more than 12 simultaneous participants. Short writers and long writers, fast writers and slow writers, active and passive participants create a communication dynamics which need to be structured by the moderator. It seems not effective to maintain a laissez-faire Chat room with such a number of participants. The basic structure developed for the training session is a 90 minute frame with changing activities on full group level leaded by the teacher and on subgroup level and couple work without moderation. Single activities are not included. They form part of the previous personal work and the reflections after the sessions. The goal is to stimulate the group possibilities for the process. An arrival sequence at the beginning allows to reconnect and to concentrate the participants attention on the theme. It includes mostly a very short welcome ceremony, the repetition of some facts as an introduction and preparation for the case work. The next step is a communication exercise for all. The intention is to permit participants with a high motivation their articulations, shy participants have the possibility to take ground contact slowly, and the delayed can embark without causing too much trouble. The third step is the work with the case in one Chat room and the opportunity to subdivide the group in couples or

triads to deepen some relevant aspects of the case in relationship to the theory and practice of counselling in different Chat rooms. A very clear short instruction is necessary about the process, the participants of the subgroups, the tasks and the time frame. The role of the moderator is a mixture between a strong organizer of communication like a chairman with a fixed schedule and a soft moderator which opens communication activities in reduced subgroups. The technical environment of the e-learning platform offers this possibility with the Chat rooms in other modules. The teacher with administrator rights can visit the subgroups as a silent visitor or participate in the dialogue. Opening several windows of the Java application, it is possible to participate simultaneously in all Chat rooms. After the work in subgroups students continue in a full group encounter with the opportunity to pronounce a feedback about the process and the results. This sequence finishes with a summary by the teacher as a bridge to the next theme, case or exercise for all. The division into subgroups is a very powerful tool for the communication process. As in real groups it offers the chance to work separated on different aspects or on the same aspect with different configurations (men/women, ethnics; intercultural perspectives, experienced people and beginners etc.). In virtual environment the subgroups can communicate faster without the need to be moderated and increase in this way the active participation level. The mix between subgroups and the total group avoid the disconnection and difficulties with attention during the training session. The activities finish with the closing ceremony (feedback about the training session, goodbye and small talks like some news etc.).

3.3 Challenges and Solutions

In Latin-American culture the welcome and starting rituals are very extensive and the delayed connection a result of the flexibility on participation. In virtual environments this behaviour causes more problems, because if everybody expresses its greeting, the screen is full of messages and there is a bigger cut in the process. There is an informal agreement with the participants to be on time, to reduce the welcome ceremony and the teacher as moderator can realize in representation of the group the welcome communication, including a short indication about the process at the moment. A second observation is that the processes in virtual environments need more time, because of the explications, signs of comprehension and the written communication. The overlap of the sentences and write errors difficult the communication, too. The miss of nonverbal communication reduce the teachers sensibility for the participants and need to be replaced in parts by active and leaded communication by the teacher, short inquiries and comments. This means a higher level of participation by the teacher and a slower communication dynamics. Participants without experience in Chat rooms are slow and need more time to react and tend to present large elaborated written sentences, not spoken sentences transformed into written words. Very experienced communicators show an active role and reduce with their speed others possibilities to engage. Chat rooms normally offer informal, short term daily language with quick changes between the participants. These styles appear in training sessions too, including comments and exaggerations with some kind of ironical or harming communication. The solution is to establish a new netiquette and to break with some communication styles. At the same time the moderator organizes the communication in the Chat room threw the distribution of the communication turns for different participants. Research reveals the importance of time and previous online experience in the field of counselling, too [4]. Actually the Chat application offers no possibility to copy the dialogs or to print them it is a demanded tool by the teacher and students, because it allows further work with some aspects appeared in the chat and the chat could be used as a basic material for the evaluation of the participants. Delayed or absent students on some dates could recover the lost dialogues and keep the contact with the process. The question which appears here is the security of the data and the use of it. As an actual solution teachers use a diary with notices before and at the end of the Chat sessions with the relevant information, but not as a copy of all the content. For the exercises it is recommended to write first all instructions and materials in text format (word) and place the document on your desktop screen. You can use now the copy and paste possibility to introduce easily the content during the Chat session. This avoids time loss and writing errors, and teacher can pay the attention on the group. The time zone differences between Europe and Latin-American present another difficulty for the simultaneous training. During the week there is a possibility to realize a simultaneous chat, for example between Peru and Spain at 10PM (local hour Spain) when participants of Peru (Lima) have their midday break. Better possibilities offer the weekends, for example on Saturdays (5PM local hour Spain, 10AM Peru). In general the time zones and its differences are a handicap, especially for the programs with a lot of part time students.

Very useful is a final feedback at the end of each session where the difficulties can be expressed by the participants and the profit and advances in the process.

4. Students view
Students without experiences on Chat rooms start the sessions with curiosity, but feel insecure in this environment. Their experience grows during the training sessions and mostly all finish with a feeling and impression of success. Participants without experiences on computer feel lost and with lot of difficulties. They show a low motivation level, can not follow the communication speed and preserve silence or participate with few delayed communications. There is a need for initiation or special training on computer abilities or other non e-learning form. Experienced users feel and appreciate the difference and the depth of this training in comparison with the diary chat culture. Group dynamics increase towards a sensation of a proper community in the Chat room and online encounters. Some students use the experience to start Chat conversations with other participants of the Master program with the goal to exchange information, to work out some tasks and to stay in contact. The local training before the online sequence is a very useful preparation for the further online work. Because of its intensive character, the students establish confidence between each other, create a motivation for the distance process and feel in touch. The online training widened the communication possibilities and overcomes the local distance frontiers. Most of the students show a high acceptance of this training method and prefer this simultaneous form instead of static content, but they wont miss the local training sequence and the roll play activities.

5. Conclusions
The use of e-learning platforms as a support and training environment for the group learning process in the field of counselling presents no serious difficulty, but technical and personal challenges which reclaims a organized process based on competences in the field. In my opinion, the importance of nonverbal communication for the counselling process and the specific dynamics of face-to-face situations exclude this training environment as a possibility for the education of counsellors. In the module and master program with part-time students in different countries, it is a useful and effective tool to support the local training sequences. This avoids higher costs for the students and the university. At the same time it forms part of an education on modern communication skills in a growing IT user group.

References
[1] Mallen, M; Vogel, D. and Rochlen, A. (2005): The Practical Aspects of Online Counseling: Ethics, Training, Technology, and Competency. The Counseling Psychologist 33, 776-818. Kraus, R; Zack, J. and Stricker, G. (Eds.) (2004): Online counseling: A handbook for mental health professionals. San Diego, CA: Academic Press. [2] Chang, T, Yeh, C.J. and Krumboltz (2001): Process and outcome evaluation of an on-line support group for Asian American male college students. Journal of Counselling Psychology 48, 319-329. [3] American Counseling Association (2005): Code of Ethics. http://www.counseling.org. [4] Mallen, M; Vogel, D.; Rochlen, A. and Day, S. (2005) Online counselling: Reviewing the literature from a counselling psychology framework. The Counseling Psychologist 33, 819-871.