Developing Helping Skills In An Online Environment

There is minimal consensus on the pedagogy of teaching interpersonal skills to undergraduate students entering the helping professions. This is problematic as many bachelor-level social workers and addiction counseling students have not consistently been taught interpersonal helping skills, yet many will enter the workforce post program completion. For those programs that have transitioned to online, the question arises as to whether students can meet the learning objectives of skill-training in an online environment. The study examined students' mastery of content knowledge of students and their helping skills based on Carkhuffs' ratings of skills. Another research goal is to process my teaching experience as the instructor who developed and taught the online course. This study used a mixed-method that utilizes pre- and post-test design and action research. The t-test of pre and post scores on knowledge and skills showed that there were significant differences on students' skills. The results from the action research data sources suggest that helping skills can be developed in an online environment when instruction includes a dynamic learning environment including sessions with modeling, practice, and feedback. This study informs practitioners about the challenges with transferring skill-based material to an online format and the technology challenges that must be managed to facilitate learning in this new environment.