Faculty Contact Information:
Instructor: Dr. Thomas Schmidt
E-Mail Address: tschmidt4@faculty.ed.umuc.edu | |
Consultation:
| I am available after class, via e-mail, and by appointment. | |
Required Texts and Readings:
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Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, APA.
Neukrug, E. (2003). World of the Counselor. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.
Neukrug, E. (2003). World of the Counselor Workbook. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.
Sperry, L., Carlson, J., and Kjos, D. (2002). Becoming an Effective Therapist. Boston: Allyn & Bacon. [Chs. 1-3 of this text, which is also used in PSYC 534, PSYC 514 and GUCO 510, will be covered in this class.] | |
Supplementary Readings:
| All graduate students should be prepared to utilize the UMUC online library at http://www.umuc.edu/library/.The library contains a large number of full text academic journals that are free of charge and immediately available. The library homepage also contains a number of links related to improving students’ research and writing skills. | |
Recommended Journals:
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Course Description:
| Historical, philosophical, psychological, and sociological basis of counseling in different settings(school, agency, and community) and with different populations will be explored. Intervention strategies, theoretical models, working contexts, relationships to other professions, ethics, obstacles to service delivery, and personal qualities of counselors are reviewed. Students may receive credit for only one of the following courses: PSYC 502 or EDCP 610. | |
Course Goals:
| This course introduces students to the field of counseling including specializations, professional ethics, relevant credentialing legislation, and current issues. It also provides an introduction to the basic counseling theories and skills. | |
Course Objectives:
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The objectives of this course are for students to gain an information base and demonstrate competence in:
- The historical antecedents and current definitions of the counseling profession.
- The standards of counseling as a regulated profession including awareness of professional issues, ethics, and credentialing.
- The theories and basic counseling and interpersonal skills of communication associated with the counseling relationship.
- An understanding and appreciation of various populations with whom counselors work and a multicultural and diversity focus in counseling skills and advocacy.
- Familiarity with appropriate assessment procedures, community resources and intervention strategies and skills, and awareness of the specialty areas of counseling and their various settings.
- An awareness of future trends, particularly the expanded role of technology, and emerging concepts and theories in counseling.
- Enhanced self-awareness of personal strengths, interests, and abilities.
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Grading Information:
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Grades for this course will be assigned as follows:
A 92%
B 80 – 91%
C 70 – 79%
F Below 70%
Please note that Bowie State University does not use "D" for graduate students. The grade "F" is used to designate academic failure. "FN" is used to designate failure for non-completion. Grades of Incomplete or Withdrawal are governed by UMUC-Europe policies. For further details, please refer to the UMUC-Europe Graduate Catalog, available in your local Education Center or online at http://www.ed.umuc.edu/general_info/publications/catalogs. | |
Course Requirements:
Graduate school at the masters level focuses on helping students obtain the education needed for success as professionals in their chosen fields. Thus, UMUC-Europe Graduate Programs and Bowie State University share the common goals of promoting excellence in academic scholarship through thoughtful inquiry and the skillful application of knowledge and theory for the betterment of society. In order to maximize your graduate educational experience in general and this course in particular, you are required to complete the following assignments and assessments:
Mini Exams: 3x 20 points each...........................60 points
Workbook Assignments: 3 x 15 points each................45 points
Reaction Papers: 3 x 10 points each.....................30 points
Meeting with a Helping Professional: 1 x 15 points......15 points
Personal Issue and Theory Paper: 1 x 100 points........100 points
Total Points...........................................250 points | |
Description of Course Requirements:
Participate in classroom discussions: You are expected to come to class prepared to engage in all discussions in a professional and informed manner. Usually this requires two to three hours of additional for every hour of a face-to-face class and approximately ten hours of preparation per week for a DE class.
Write graduate level papers or case studies: You are required to conduct professional-level research, including appropriately citing works of others and avoiding plagiarism. Resubmission of course work from previous classes (whether or not taken at UMUC, UMUC-Europe or BSU), partially or in its entirety, is not acceptable in this course and will result in an automatic failure on the assignment. Plan on committing approximately 150 hours over the duration of this course to producing professional level deliverables.
Personal Issue and Theory Paper (100 points): For this assignment you will identify a personal issue. You will then attempt to develop insight into this issue based on the theories and concepts we are discussing in class. You will then develop a theory on how people change and write an APA-styled paper describing your theory. You will also need to support your ideas with the work of theorists discussed in class, using at least one primary source. Complete details regarding this assignment will be provided.
Reaction Papers (10 points each): You will be expected to write three, 3-5 page (typed and double-spaced) reaction papers related to your experiences in class and classroom activities. You will assess your own thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in experiential activities and report your observations of critical behaviors and possible thoughts and feelings of others. Specifically, you will:
a. describe your own self-awareness gained through participation in the class activity*;
b. discuss your observations of critical behaviors of others' involvement in the activity;
Plus you will do two of the following:
c. describe elements of a helping relationship (e.g., attending skills, effective responses, questions, etc.) and applicable techniques that you used and/or observed, or that might have been appropriate to use;
d. and describe your personal strengths and areas of improvement as a potential counselor
Reaction Papers are due at the start of Saturday's class the following weekend.
3 Mini-Examination(s)(20 points each): The examination process in this class will assist you in developing the writing and critical thinking skills necessary to successfully passing the comprehensive exam required of all graduate students. The questions used for this course will either be taken directly from past comprehensive exams or written as though to be included on a comprehensive exam.
Workbook Assignments (15 points each): You will be asked to complete three assignments in the Neukrug Workbook. Workbooks will be submitted at the beginning of Saturday's class and they will be returned on Sunday.
Meeting with a Helping Professional (15 points): For this assignment you will meet with a helping professional of your choice (e.g. a counselor, psychologist, or a religious leader). The topic you discuss with this individual is entirely up to you. A hand out with specific questions for you to address prior to, and after, meeting with the professional will be provided from which you will write a short paper.
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Course Schedule:
All reading assignments listed are from the Neukrug book. Readings from the Sperry, Carlson, and Kjos book will assigned as required.
FIRST WEEKEND: Saturday, October 22, 2005
Chapter 1 The Counselor’s Identity
Chapter 2 A History of the Counseling Profession
Chapter 3 Standards in the Profession
FIRST WEEKEND: Sunday, October 23
Chapter 4 Individual Approaches to Counseling
Chapter 5 Counseling Skills
Assignments Due:
Personal Issue
SECOND WEEKEND: Saturday, November 5
Chapter 6 Family Counseling
Chapter 7 Group Work
Assignments Due:
Mini-Exam 1
REACTION PAPER #1
Workbook assignment #1
Meeting with a Professional Paper due
SECOND WEEKEND: Sunday, November 6
Chapter 8 Supervision
Chapter 9 Development Across the Lifespan
Chapter 10 Abnormal Development, Diagnosis, and Psychopharmacology
THIRD WEEKEND: Saturday, November 19
Chapter 11 Career Counseling
Chapter 12 Testing and Assessment
Chapter 13 Research and Evaluation
Assignments Due:
Mini-Exam 2
REACTION PAPER #2
Workbook assignment #2
THIRD WEEKEND: Sunday, November 20
Chapter 14 Theory and Concept of Multicultural Counseling
Chapter 15 Knowledge and Skills of Multicultural Counseling
FOURTH WEEKEND: Saturday, December 10
Chapter 16 School Counseling
Chapter 17 Community Agency Counseling
Chapter 18 Student Affairs Practice in Higher Education
Assignments Due:
Mini-Exam 3
REACTION PAPER #3
Personal Issue and Theory Paper due
FOURTH WEEKEND: Sunday, December 11
Chapter 19 Going to Graduate School, Getting a Job
Chapter 20 A Look Toward the Future
Wrap up
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Academic Policies:
Note: Any written assignment in this course may be submitted to TurnItIn.Com. This statement constitutes prior notice.
The official university policy on Plagiarism and Academic Dishonesty can be found at http://www.umuc.edu/policy/aa15025.shtml. Section I.C. states: "Faculty may determine if the resubmission of course work from previous classes (whether or not taken at UMUC), partially or in its entirety, is acceptable when assigning a grade on that piece of course work. Faculty must provide this information in their written syllabi. If the resubmission of course work is deemed to be unacceptable, a charge may not be brought under this Policy and will be handled as indicated in the written syllabi."
Please refer to Description of Course Requirements for specific information on how resubmissions will be treated in this course and to the UMUC-Europe Graduate Catalog for information on the following:
Academic Integrity
Course Load
Exception to Policy
Grade Appeal Process
Make-up Examinations
Nondiscrimination
Students with Disabilities
Hard copies of the catalog are available at your local Education Center. | |
Faculty Bio:
| Dr. Schmidt graduated from the University of Iowa in 1983 with a B. S. degree in Psychology. Shortly after graduating from Iowa, Dr. Schmidt joined the Air Force and spent 3 years at RAF Bentwaters, UK where he earned an M.Ed. degree in Counseling from Boston University in 1989. After leaving the Air Force, Dr. Schmidt worked in crisis, inpatient, outpatient, partial hospitalization, and day treatment programs with people experiencing a broad spectrum of mental health and addiction issues, who ranged in age from adolescents to older adults. Since earning his Ph.D in Educational Psychology with a concentration in Counseling Psychology at the University of Connecticut in 2002, Dr. Schmidt has been teaching undergraduate psychology courses at Eastern Connecticut State University. | |