Argosy University, Chicago

COURSE SYLLABUS

PP7661

Seminar in Self-Assessment

Fall 2011

Faculty Information

Faculty Name: Dr. Valerie Harrington

Campus: Chicago

Contact Information:

Office Phone Number: (312) 799-1691

E-mail:

Office Hours: By appointment (On campus Fridays)

Short Faculty Bio: I received my doctoral degree in Counseling Psychology from Temple University in 2001. My professional interests include child and family development, maternal mental health, professional burnout, professional competency/ ethics, and systems theory.

Course Catalogue Description:

This small group seminar meets weekly for one and one-half hours for one semester. In addition, students will meet individually with the instructor at the beginning, middle, and end of the semester. The focus of the meetings will be on the evaluation, development, and support of self-assessment, as an identified area of competency for psychologists. Self-assessment skills will be addressed specifically in the domains of relationships/interpersonal functioning, professionalism, delivery and response to feedback, management of personal stressors, and recognition of areas for growth/ development.

Course Pre-requisites: Requires permission of program chair for enrollment. Enrollment in this course may be required by the Student Professional Development Committee (SPDC) as part of a remediation plan, may be recommended by the faculty advisor or program chair, or may be self-selected by a student. In the case of a high demand for the course, priority enrollment is determined by the program chair.

Required Texts:

Gilroy, P., Carroll, L., & Murra, J. (2002, August). A preliminary survey of counseling

psychologists' personal experiences with depression and treatment. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 33(4), 402-407.

Norcross, J. (2005, November). The Psychotherapist's Own Psychotherapy: Educating and

Developing Psychologists. American Psychologist, 60(8), 840-850.

Pope, K.S., Sonne, J.L., & Greene, B. (2006). What therapists don’t talk about and why :

understanding taboos that hurt us and our clients. Washington, DC : American Psychological Association.

Technology: Pentium III CPU/ Windows 98; 128MB RAM printer; Microsoft Office: Acrobat (full version); Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 (PC), 5.0 (MAC), or Netscape Navigator 4.08; Norton Antivirus.

Course length: 11 Weeks

Contact Hours: 15 Hours

Credit Value: 0 Credits

Course Objectives:

Course Objective / Program Goal / Method of Assessment
To evaluate and strengthen student capacity for self-assessment, defined as the professional competency which includes the specific skills of self-awareness, self-reflection, self-understanding, and self-evaluation. / 2-Intervention / Class/Individual Participation
Journal
Professional Development Plan
To teach specific strategies in self-assessment and to apply them to specific domains of professional behavior, including, but not limited to: relationship/interpersonal skills, professionalism (i.e. documentation, timeliness, professional appearance), delivery and response to feedback (with peers, faculty, supervisors, colleagues), management of personal stressors (i.e. health concerns, family problems, financial burden), and recognition of areas for growth and development. / 2- Intervention / Class/Individual Participation
Journal
Professional Development Plan
For each individual to articulate how preferred coping styles manifest in times of mild to severe stress, and how such coping behavior may impact professional relationships (clients, peers, supervisors, faculty) and professional functioning. / 2- Intervention / Class/Individual Participation
Journal
Professional Development Plan
For each individual to identify cultural and contextual factors which may impact competency in self-assessment, perception of competency by others, and manifestation of preferred coping styles. / 2- Intervention,
3- Diversity / Class/Individual Participation
Journal
Professional Development Plan
For each individual to develop a plan for professional development which addresses areas for growth identified and incorporates skills learned in the course. / 2- Intervention / Class/Individual Participation
Journal
Professional Development Plan

Instructional Contact Hours/Credit

Students can expect 15 hours of instructional engagement for every 1 semester credit hour of a course. Instructional engagement activities include lectures, presentations, discussions, group-work, and other activities that would normally occur during class time. Instructional engagement activities may occur in a face-to-face meeting, or in the eclassroom.

In addition to instructional engagement, students can expect to complete 30 hours of outside work for every 1 semester credit hour of a course. Outside work includes preparing for and completing readings and assignments. Such outside work includes, but is not limited to, all research associated with completing assignments, work with others to complete a group project, participation in tutorials, labs, simulations and other electronic activities that are not a part of the instructional engagement, as well as any activities related to preparation for instructional engagement.

At least an equivalent amount of work as required in paragraph above shall be applied for other academic activities as established by the institution, including laboratory work, internships, practica, studio work, and other academic work leading to the award of credit hours.

Format:

Individual meetings will be scheduled separately, and may or may not be during the same day and time as the group meetings. Individual meetings will address content discussed in class, as well as provide an opportunity to address issues students may feel reluctant to address in a group setting. Group meetings will emphasize an interactive learning environment, with small group discussion, group or dyadic activities, and role play tasks. Didactic presentation and written exercises will also be integrated.

Expectations and Assignments: Attendance at all group and individual class meetings is required. Readings are required and described in the course schedule. Additional readings may be recommended. Additional exercises/ homework may be assigned.

All material discussed within the time boundaries of the group is to be regarded as confidential by members. The only exception to this rule will be when a clear danger to self or others is indicated by the shared material.

However, as this is a course in an educational setting, group progress or group issues may be discussed with other faculty. The instructor may provide feedback regarding a student’s class performance to that student’s advisor, or referring faculty, during the course in addition to a final evaluation. Feedback and evaluation may consist of the instructor’s observations on class attendance, behavior, or written performance, but will not consist of sharing of any personal information, unless, as stated above, a clear danger to self or others is indicated.

Journals: All students will keep a journal during the class. Journal entries will be structured and pertain to topics discussed in each class. Journals will be turned in to the instructor on two occasions during the semester for review and feedback. Students are asked to remember that the journals will be read by the instructor and not to include any personal material in their entries that they do not want to disclose to the instructor. Journals may be handwritten or typed. A hard copy of the journal entries must be turned in; this assignment may not be turned in via email.

Final Project: The final project for the class will be an individual professional development plan, in which aspects of self assessment addressed in the course will be integrated. This plan will be presented as a written paper, following the outline described below. The plan will be composed of four sections: self-awareness, self-reflection, self-understanding, and self-evaluation. In the first section (self-awareness) students will discuss one or two specific areas in which they have recently developed awareness, or would like to further develop awareness. Examples may include recognition of preferred coping styles or relationship patterns, awareness of cultural or racial biases, awareness of anxieties or fears, or awareness of conflicts between personal beliefs and professional role. The choice of topic or topics will be determined in collaboration with the instructor. In the second section (self-reflection), students will reflect on how this issue impacts their role as a student and future professional, considering ethical challenges, and impact on peer, supervisory, and client relationships. In the third section, (self-understanding), student will discuss cultural and contextual factors which may impact their own behavior, challenges that may exist now or in the future, and steps to take to maintain the desired level of awareness both personally and professionally. Finally, in the fourth section (self-evaluation), students will complete an evaluation of their own ability to self-assess their functioning.

Course Evaluation: The course is graded on a Pass/ Fail scale. Successful completion of the course will be determined by the following: attendance, participation, and thorough completion of assigned tasks. Journal assignments will be evaluated based on timeliness, and attention to assigned topic. Journals will not be evaluated on writing quality, editing, or organization. The final project will be considered successfully completed if all sections are addressed thoroughly, and the student demonstrates an integration of the four components of self-assessment. Students will not be graded on disclosure of personal or family information, and such information is not required to be disclosed in any assignment. However, students are expected to be open and honest about feelings and thoughts as they are discussed, and to consider thoughtfully how personal struggles may impact professional experience.

Students referred to this class may be required to complete this course as a part of a remediation plan. Students who do not meet criteria to pass the class will not be considered to have completed their remediation. However, students may exert a good faith effort in the course, effectively complete all assignments, and still not meet necessary requirements to proceed with professional training. In this case, the student would pass the class, and the instructor would make written recommendations regarding future remediation and/or program advisement.

All students receive a detailed written evaluation at the end of the course. Evaluations will be provided to the student and a best effort will be made to provide an opportunity for the student to review and discuss the recommendations and comments therein with the instructor. Evaluation forms will also be sent to the academic file in lieu of the course commentary form. For those students referred directly by an advisor, remediating committee, or other faculty, a copy will also be sent to that person or persons.

Library Resources:

Argosy University’s core online collection features more than 21,000 full-text journals, 23,000 electronic books and other content covering all academic subject areas including Business & Economics, Career & General Education, Computers, Engineering & Applied Science, Humanities, Science, Medicine & Allied Health, and Social & Behavior Sciences.All electronic resources can be accessed through the library’s website at www.auchicagolib.org. User IDs and passwords are distributed during orientation, but can also be obtained at the circulation desk, calling 312-777-7653, or by e-mail at .

In addition to online resources, Argosy University’s onsite collections contain a wealth of subject-specific research materials searchable in the Library Online Catalog. Catalog searching is easily limited to individual campus collections.Alternatively, students can search combined collections of all Argosy University Libraries. Students are encouraged to seek research and reference assistance from campus librarians.

Information Literacy: Argosy University’s Information Literacy Tutorial was developed to teach fundamental and transferable research skills, including selecting sources appropriate for academic-level research, searching periodical indexes and search engines, and evaluating and citing information. In the tutorial, students study concepts and practice them through interactions. At the conclusion of each module, they can test their comprehension and receive immediate feedback. Each module takes less than 20 minutes to complete. Please view the tutorial at http://library.argosy.edu/infolit/

Academic Policies: Academic Dishonesty/Plagiarism: In an effort to foster a spirit of honesty and integrity during the learning process, Argosy University requires that the submission of all course assignments represent the original work produced by that student. All sources must be documented through normal scholarly references/citations and all work must be submitted using the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 5th Edition (2001). Washington DC: American Psychological Association (APA) format. Please refer to Appendix A in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 5th Edition for thesis and paper format. Students are encouraged to purchase this manual (required in some courses) and become familiar with its content as well as consult the Argosy University catalog for further information regarding academic dishonesty and plagiarism.

Scholarly writing: The faculty at Argosy University is dedicated to providing a learning environment that supports scholarly and ethical writing, free from academic dishonesty and plagiarism. This includes the proper and appropriate referencing of all sources. You may be asked to submit your course assignments through “Turnitin,” (www.turnitin.com), an online resource established to help educators develop writing/research skills and detect potential cases of academic dishonesty. Turnitin compares submitted papers to billions of pages of content and provides a comparison report to your instructor. This comparison detects papers that share common information and duplicative language.

Americans with Disabilities Act Policy:

It is the policy of Argosy University to make reasonable accommodations for qualified students with disabilities, in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). If a student with disabilities needs accommodations, the student must notify the Director of Student Services. Procedures for documenting student disability and the development of reasonable accommodations will be provided to the student upon request.

Students will be notified by the Director of Student Services when each request for accommodation is approved or denied in writing via a designated form. To receive accommodation in class, it is the student’s responsibility to present the form (at his or her discretion) to the instructor. In an effort to protect student privacy, the Department of Student Services will not discuss the accommodation needs of any student with instructors. Faculty may not make accommodations for individuals who have not been approved in this manner.

The Argosy University Statement Regarding Diversity:

Argosy University prepares students to serve populations with diverse social, ethnic, economic, and educational experiences. Both the academic and training curricula are designed to provide an environment in which students can develop the skills and attitudes essential to working with people from a wide range of backgrounds.