This study focused on the use of technology within CACREP approved counselor education programs throughout the United States. The procedure for this project was handled totally online. An initial e-mail was sent to 146 possible participants to request corrected addresses or names, if necessary, and to alert them to the coming introduction and invitation to participate in this survey. There were 44 respondents who agreed to take part in this project. They were given a password to the survey instrument and directed to the researcher's web page. From there, they clicked on a button visible on the first page that took them to the password page of the survey instrument. They then completed the survey consisting of fill in the blank; yes, no; open-ended questions; and multiple choice questions and hit the "submit" button to indicate that they were finished. Literature pertaining to the use of technology in general as well as in counselor education programs was extensively reviewed. This demonstrated the current movement in education toward alternative delivery methods for course instruction. The results indicated that counselor educators are aware of the increase in the use of technology in programs, but were not as convinced of the effectiveness of this method of course delivery. Though most were comfortable with PowerPoint presentations by faculty and students, participants were not widely accepting of classes online, or broadcast via satellite. / Ph. D.

Computer technology is developing so rapidly that the extent to which it is being utilized by counselors and counselor educators in their work is virtually unknown. The purpose of this study was to assess how much and in what ways counselor experts believe computer-related technology (CRT) is being utilized by professional counselors today. An additional purpose of this study was to determine projected use of CRT by the year 2008.Data were collected by means of a modified futures Delphi method in which a panel of 21 counselor experts comprised of one group of counselor educators, three groups of counselor practitioners, and one group of computer technologists completed three rounds of questions. The study, which was conducted entirely on the World Wide Web, requested Likert-type ratings of 53 generic work-related tasks in eight task categories for frequency of CRT use to accomplish the tasks and reasons for the selections. In addition, panelists rated ten specific CRT tools for frequency of use, and supplied written examples of current and future CRT use by counseling professionals.The findings of the study indicate counselors and counselor educators are using a large variety of CRT tools, including word processors, spread sheets, a variety of software programs, e-mail, chatrooms, listservs, databases, and other web-related tools to assist them in over half of job-related tasks today. Experts forecast CRT use by counselors will significantly increase by the year 2008, when professional counselors are expected to utilize CRT for at least 90% of their work-related tasks.It is suggested that findings of this study may provide an important foundation for much needed research investigating potential differences between therapeutic work accomplished with the help of CRT and traditional therapy, i.e., face-to-face therapy, in which computer technology is not utilized. Finally, results establish the need to implement and promote computer skills training and competency assessments in counselor education programs. / Ph. D.