Syllabus for PSY-331-OL
INTRODUCTION TO COUNSELING
Description | Objectives | Materials | Structure | Assessment | Grading | Strategies
The purpose of this course is to provide you with the opportunity to examine these areas of counseling and to introduce you to this profession. This course should serve as a foundation for other counseling courses.
Through studying Introduction to Counseling, you should be able to:
You will need the following materials to do the work of the course. The required textbook is available from the college's textbook supplier, MBS Direct.
Required Textbook
Introduction to Counseling is a three-credit online course, consisting of five (5) assignment modules. You are required to participate in five (5) graded class discussions, complete five (5) written assignments, and take a proctored midterm examination. In addition, you are required to prepare and submit two papers: (1) a written report based on your observation of a counseling agency and (2) a final project. For further details on these requirements, see the sections that follow.
Consult the course Calendar for assignment due dates.
Consult the course Calendar for assignment due dates.
Written Assignments
The five (5) written assignments in the course are built around associated chapters in the textbook.
Take the time to familiarize yourself with the written assignment questions for each assignment module before you begin that module's reading assignments. Your answers to the assignment questions should be well developed and convey your understanding of the course materials. Formulate responses in your own words (do not merely copy answers from your reading materials), citing text materials where appropriate and in an appropriate manner.
Prepare your written assignments using whatever word processing program you have on your computer. Include your name at the top of the paper, as well as the course name and code and the semester and year in which you are enrolled.
Before submitting your first assignment, check with your mentor to determine whether your word processing software is compatible with your mentor's software. If so, you can submit your work as you prepared it. If not, save your assignment as a rich-text (.rtf) file, using the Save As command of your software program. Rich text retains basic formatting and can be read by any other word processing program.
You are required to visit a counseling agency (e.g., a shelter for the homeless, a rehabilitation center, a college counseling center, etc.) and write a report based on your observation of the agency.
The report must be 3–5 pages in length (typed, double-spaced) and should include descriptions of the type of agency, its purpose, the counseling provided, and the staff structure. See the Agency Report area of the course Web site for further details.
If you are not sure of the appropriateness of a particular agency for your report, contact your mentor to discuss your choice before making a decision.
Go to the Submit Assignments area of the course website to submit all written assignments.
See the Student Handbook for additional help regarding preparing and submitting assignments located within the General Information section of the course website.
Online Discussion Forums
Introduction to Counseling requires you to participate in five graded online discussions, in addition to an ungraded "Introductions" forum in module 1.
Communication with the mentor and among fellow students is a critical component of online learning. Participation in online discussions involves two distinct activities: an initial response to a posted activity and subsequent comments on classmates' responses. Meaningful participation is relevant to the content, adds value, and advances the discussion. Comments such as "I agree" and "ditto" are not considered value-adding participation. Therefore, when you agree or disagree with a classmate, the reading, or your mentor, state and support your agreement or disagreement. You will be evaluated on the quality and quantity of your participation. Responses and comments should be properly proofread and edited, professional, and respectful.
Deadlines for posting discussion threads on the class Discussion Board are given in the course Calendar.
For posting guidelines and additional help with discussion board assignments please see the Student Handbook located within the General Information section of the course website.
Midterm Examination
You are required to take a proctored midterm examination. See the Calendar for the official dates for your midterm exam week.
The midterm is a closed-book, proctored exam. It is two hours long and covers material from textbook chapters 1–10. The exam consists of four (4) essay questions.
For the midterm, you are required to use the College's Online Proctor Service (OPS). Please refer to the "Examinations and Proctors" section of the Online Student Handbook (see General Information area of the course Web site) for further information about scheduling and taking online exams and for all exam policies and procedures.
Exams are administered in the Midterm Exam area of the course Web site. Consult the course Calendar for the official dates of your midterm and final exam weeks.
Statement about Cheating
You are on your honor not to cheat during the exam. Cheating means:
- Looking up any answer or part of an answer in an unauthorized textbook or on the Internet, or using any other source to find the answer.
- Copying and pasting or in any way copying responses or parts of responses from any other source into your online test. This includes but is not limited to copying and pasting from other documents or spreadsheets, whether written by yourself or anyone else.
- Plagiarizing answers.
- Asking anyone else to assist you by whatever means available while you take the exam.
- Copying any part of the exam to share with other students.
- Telling your mentor that you need another attempt at the exam because your connection to the Internet was interrupted when that is not true.
If there is evidence that you have cheated or plagiarized in your exam, the exam will be declared invalid, and you will fail the course.
Final Project
In lieu of a final exam, you are required to complete a final project (worth 20 percent of your course grade).
The final project asks you to choose a counseling specialty and to complete a 5–7 page paper (typed, double-spaced) on a specific problem related to that specialty. The project entails two stages:
Stage 1: Prepare and submit either a detailed sentence outline or a rough draft of your paper to the mentor for comments and feedback (worth 5% of your course grade).
Stage 2: Complete and submit the final paper (worth 15% of your course grade)
Please see the Final Project area of the course Web site for further details.
Your grade in the course will be determined as follows:
To receive credit for the course, you must earn a letter grade of D or higher on the weighted average of all assigned course work (e.g., exams, assignments, discussion postings, etc.).
You will receive a score of 0 for any work not submitted. Letter grades for online participation, written assignments, and examinations are based on the following numerical grades:
| A | = | 93-100 |
| A- | = | 90-92 |
| B+ | = | 88-89 |
| B | = | 83-87 |
| B- | = | 80-82 |
| C+ | = | 78-79 |
| C | = | 73-77 |
| C- | = | 70-72 |
| D | = | 60-69 |
| F | = | Below 60 |
First Steps to Success
To succeed in this course, take the following first steps:
Study Tips
Consider the following study tips for success:
To stay on track throughout the course, begin each week by consulting the course Calendar. The calendar provides an overview of the course and indicates due dates for submitting assignments, posting discussions, and scheduling and taking examinations.