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  • Hevern (1994) Faculty Supervision of Undergraduate Field Experience Coursework APA

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    Vincent Hevern
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    Faculty at 268 schools (53.6% qf a random national sample of 500 US undergraduate psychology programs) replied to a survey of field experience courses with 199 of the respondents (74.3%) indicating such courses were offered. Results found that these faculty saw four major benefits for such courses: Integration of Academic Learning; Career Exploration and Vocational Enhancement; Promotion of Social Conscience and Value Commitments; and Growth in Maturity and Psychological Autonomy.

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    Faculty at 268 schools (53.6% qf a random national sample of 500 US undergraduate psychology programs) replied to a survey of field experience courses with 199 of the respondents (74.3%) indicating such courses were offered. Results found that these faculty saw four major benefits for such courses: Integration of Academic Learning; Career Exploration and Vocational Enhancement; Promotion of Social Conscience and Value Commitments; and Growth in Maturity and Psychological Autonomy.

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    15 Ansichten11 Seiten

    Hevern (1994) Faculty Supervision of Undergraduate Field Experience Coursework APA

    Hochgeladen von

    Vincent Hevern
    Faculty at 268 schools (53.6% qf a random national sample of 500 US undergraduate psychology programs) replied to a survey of field experience courses with 199 of the respondents (74.3%) indicating such courses were offered. Results found that these faculty saw four major benefits for such courses: Integration of Academic Learning; Career Exploration and Vocational Enhancement; Promotion of Social Conscience and Value Commitments; and Growth in Maturity and Psychological Autonomy.

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    Faculty Supervision of Undergraduate Field Experience Coursework: Demographics and Objectives Vincent W. Hevern, S.J. Le Moyne College Paper Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association, Los Angeles, CA, August, 1994. Faculty at 268 schools (53.6% of a random national sample of 500 US undergraduate psychology programs) replied tw a survey of field experience courses with 199 of the respondents (743%) indicating such courses were ‘offered. Results compare major demographic and professional characteristics of faculty supervising such courses against undergraduate psychology faculty nationally. A four-factor solution is reported following an analysis of the ratings of the faculty supervisors judgment of the importance of 35 educational goals for field-based education (N = 183). Factor-derived summary scales were examined with items involving Integration of Academic Leaming and Career Exploration and. Vocational Enhancement rated significantly more important as goals than items involving the Promotion of Social Conscience and Value Commitments or Growth in Mutuality axl Psychological Autonomy. In view of several recent proposals for expansion of experiential forms of education in undergraduate psychology, the strengths and weaknesses ‘of this professional teaching role are discussed, particularly regarding negative peer support and the need to formulate “alternative learning objectives. Whether they be called internships, practca or field work, field placement or field experience courses. in psychology have emerged over the past quarter-century as prominent options in the undergraduate curiculum of many departments. While Kulik (1971) reported that only 445 of responding psychology departments offered atleast a weekly hour of field work to undergraduates in 1969, VandeCreek and Fleischer (1984) indicated that 65% of their national sample of psychology departments claimed to have a practicum option by 1981, the year of their survey. The benefits of this form of active learning have been reaffirmed by various commentators (Hutchings. & Watadorf, 1988; Jensen, 1988; Mathie et al., 1993) while proposals for strengthening and extending this component of the undergraduate psychology curriculum have received endorsement in a variety of venues, eg. the ad foc task force of the American Psychological Association (APA) fon the lute psychology curriculum (McGovern, rut Halper, Kimble, eKeachie, 1991) and the Curriculum Workgroup of the 1991 APA National Conference on Enhancing the Quality of Undergraduate Education in Psychology (the "St. Mary's Conference"; Brewer et al., 1993). Learning objectives enunciated for field experience courses within the overall psychology curriculum are broad. Some authorities believe that such courses are particularly well-suited to integrate a variety of more specific learning goals deemed central to the education of psychology majors. For example, the 1991 St. Mary's Conference charted six sets of goals for the entire undergraduate psychology curriculum: attention to human diversity, a broad and deep knowledge base, ‘methodological competence, effective communication skills, sensitivity to ethical issues and practical experience and application. The last set of goals were suggested to involve “opportunities for [students] to integrate research, theory, and practice by applying their knowledge and skills..in real-life situations .. [and] students should learn about various professional careers in psychology and ‘associated fields." (Brewer ef al, 1993, p. 171). The Curriculum Workgroup of the St.Mary's Conference further proposed a hierarchical, four-level structure for the entire psychology curriculum including “integrative experiences” at the fourth and highest level. Internships are ‘one of three alternative forms recommended. for such integrative experiences (research projects supervised by a faculty member or a capstone course are the other proposed forms) (Brewer eral, 1993, p. 175-176). ‘Similarly, recent proposals by the APA-sponsored «a hoe task force on the undergraduate curriculum reaffiemesl the importance of an “integrating senior-year project or seminar" which might "be completed in an applied field Author Notes. The author wishes to express his ‘appreciation to the Research and Development Committee of the Le Moyne College Faculty Senate who supported this research in pant through the award of a Summer Rescarch grant. The author also is very grateful to the many department chairs and faculty who provided the data of this study so willingly and in such depth. Bill Holmes, Shawn Ward, and Krys Yaworsky provided helpful comments Correspondence concerning this paper should be addressed to Vincent W. Hever, 8J, Psychology Department, LeMoyne College, Syracuse, NY 13301 or via e-mail al hhevern@maple.lemoyne.edu setting off campus (e.g, a mental health agency or a ‘corporate personnel office), om campus (e.g. & university peer counseling service), or in a research setting.” (McGovern er al, 1991, p.603). Further, they also recommended that’ all undergraduate psychology majors enroll in an additional experiential course, termed an "interpersonal skills and group process laboratory," designed "to develop students’ ability to work in groups” (McGovern er al., 1991; McGovern, 1992). Indeed, this laboratory course, ideally taught before the senior ‘year, fought “to be combined with a community-service ‘component in the field; such a field-related laboratory course "would give psychology majors an opportunity to apply interpersonal problem-solving and decision-making skills, develop their leadership potential, and provide career-related insights" (McGovern et al., 1991, p. 603). ‘These recent efforts to define the future of the undergraduate psychology curriculum place clear emphases ‘upon experiential modes of leaming, a commitment increasingly shared by other disciplines; the Association of American Colleges has termed this direction in undergraduate education "the challenge of connecting Jeaming" both across the curriculum and beyond the academy into the wider world (Project on Liberal Learning, ‘Study-in-Depth, and the Arts and Sciences Major, 1991, especially, pp. 14-17). Despite an emerging consensus regarding the importance of such forms of undergraduate education, there isa relative absence of research concerning such experiential modes of leaning within the undergraduate psychology major; there are few available empirical data which profile demographic factors and academic roles played by those faculty who supervise this approach to learning. Further, it is not possible to with any certainty how closely the diverse leaning objectives proftered for field experience coursework by various commentators and national panels of psychologists actually coincide with the goals sought by ‘current faculty in actual sections of these courses. The latest survey of field placement courses in psychology generated from a national probability sample is now overa decade old (VandeCreck & Fleischer, 1984) while. more recent efforts at research appear to be either nonexistent or burdened by. significant sampling biases and other limitations (albert, 1993). Hence, recent proposals encouraging the continuance and even expansion of field- related coursework in undergraduate psychology have been ‘made in the absence of any broadly empirical foundation assessing past and continuing efforts. ‘The current study was undertaken in order to remedy some of the lacuae in the empirical literature by soliciting data from a national sample of faculty who supervise undergraduate field placement courses. Data were sought in order to gain an understanding of three general sets of questions. First, who are the faculty who actually serve as supervisors and academic instructors in current field placement courses? Secondly, what goals and objectives do they endorse for their current efforts in field- based education? Finally, how do these faculty go about reaching these objectives and goals, ie., what approaches to learning, methods of instruction, or other educational strategies do they employ within these courses? The ‘current study focuses upon the first two sets of issues: (I) faculty demographics and academic status and (2) faculty goals and objectives. Method Three survey instruments were developed to gather data about supervisory faculty and their approaches to the field placement course. A two-page questionnaire, Profile of Faculty Supervisor (Profile), sought data on basic demographic and faculty status characteristics. A second two-page questionnaire, Characteristics of the Field Placement Course (Characteristics), requested information about the faculty member's department as well as ‘demographic characteristics of and approaches to grading in the course itself. A third instrument, Goals and Objectives of Faculty Supervisors (Goals), obtained faculty ratings regarding (1) the importance of 35 goals and (2) the frequency of 21 types of activities which have been noted as important or useful for such courses within the literature (Brewer et al., 1991; McGovern et al., 1991; also, see Ware & Millard, 1987, passim). Respondents required 20 to 30 minutes to complete these instruments. In a two-wave mailing in the late summer and early fall of 1993, survey instruments were sent to the psychology department chairs at 500. colleges and "universities inthe United States. They were asked either to pass on all survey materials to a faculty member supervising an “undergraduate field placement course in Psychology" or to complete themselves two instruments, the Profile and Characteristics form, if a faculty member ‘was not available but such a course was offered in the department. For the purposes of this study, a "field placement course" was defined as one "whose primary focus is the experiential engagement of undergraduate students a a site or sites outside the school classroom and for which such students eam academic credit in Psychology through their college or university." Schools ‘were randomly chosen from a comprehensive listing of 1282 institutions offering the baccalaureate degree with major , or concentration in “psychology” (Peterson 1992). Responses were received from 268 schools or 53.6% ‘of the departments contacted. This participation rate ‘compares very favorably with other national surveys employing a mail solicitation methodology (e.g., the 1992-1993 Undergraduate Department Survey of the APA achieved an overall response rate of 46.7%, Cooney & Griffith, 1994) and exceeds the 30-50% return rate usually reported for questionnaires distributed in tis fashion (Bush & White, 1985; Matlin, 1989). Compared to the known characteristics of the initial solicitation sample, no signi- Hevern (1994, August) Faculty Supervision of Field Experience Coursework 2 a Table 1 Catalog Course Ties for the Field Placement Course 2 nfemship. a a9 Practicum. 82 271 Field Experience(s) 25 © 130 Heldwork, Feld Work 7 89 Field Placement 9 47 Cooperative Education or Study 6 31 Community Psychology 6 3n ties Narnes (og. Stor Couns, ‘Applied Psych 2 us Muttiple Courses at School or Offered at Different Levels within the Psychology Curriculum 2 ns Note. N= 192 (7 respondents did not provide these date.) Secaxse of multiple Couset n the tome department. the ercentoge lates mare than 100%. ficant differences in response rates were found on the basis ‘of school size or location (x? (9, N = 268) = 16.03, ns) or the competitive level of undergraduate admissions at these institutions (x2(5, N = 268) = 3.73, ns). Results A total of 199 schools (74.3%) indicated they offered some type of field experience course. Among the others, 35 schools (13.1%) said they had never done so, 21 schools (7.8%) once did but no longer presented a course, 3 schools (1.1%) were planning to establish one in the near future and 10 schools (3.7%) retumed survey materials without noting the status of such courses. As Table 1 details, these courses are variously titled in school atalogs: internship" (34.9%), practicum’ (27.1%), “field experience(s)" (13.0%), and "fieldwork/feld. work” (8.9%) are the four most commonly-used course title descriptors (N = 192). Multiple field courses (e.g., both & “practicum” and an “internship” course with differing catalog course numbers) or similar courses offered. at different levels of the curriculum (e.g., as a 200-, 300-, ‘and 400-level course) were reported by 11.5% of schools (N = 22 of 192 respondents). The percentage of schools ‘currently offering afield experience course is a significant increase over the 65% rate reported in 1984 by VandeCreck and Fleischer and closely matches the 75% of 4-year schools that indicated the availability of “field experiences (Girected experiences in mental or other hospitals, nursery schools, legal agencies, etc.)" in the 1992-1993 APA survey of undergraduate departments (Cooney & Griffith, 1994, Table 12): From the 199 schools with such courses data were provided directly by 185 faculty supervisors (93.0%; 23 of these were also department chairs) while department chairs in 16 schools who were not faculty supervisors themselves (8.0%) supplied information on the Profiles and Characteristics forms only. Eight respondents (4.0%) failed to indicate their status (faculty supervisor or department chair or both) though they did provide demographic and other data about themselves, their departinents and the field placement course. Demographic and Other Characteristics. Who serve as faculty supervisors and how do they compare with other colleagues within their departments? The ‘current study contrasted characteristics of faculty supervisors with the national sample. generated by the 1992-1993 Undergraduate Department Survey by the American Psychological Association (APA; Cooney & Griffith, 1994), This APA-sponsored study has been chosen here and elsewhere as a benchmark in comparisons since it is the latest narional portrait of the undergrduate professorate in psychology. As Table 2 shows, significantly more faculty supervisors (93.5%) indicated they were full-time members of their departments compared to full-time appointments among undergraduate faculty nationally (73.8%), 26199) = 6.32, p<.001 Table 2 Demographic Characteristics of Facully Supervisors ‘Compared to Psychology Faculty in the 1992-1993 ‘APA Undergraduate Department Survey APA Curent 1992-1993 Characteristics @ ce Appoiniment Full-Time 93.5 73.8 Part-Time/Adjunct 3.0 26.2 Other/Missing 35 Gender Maio 53.6 64.8 Female 43.4 35.2 Ethnicity CaucasianWhite 928 12 African-American 2.0 3.9 Asian-American 1.0 1.8 Hispanic as)? 16 Other or No Response: 45 15 (able Contec) Hever (1994, August) Faculty Supervision of Field Experience Coursework 3 Note: Alldota shown are percentages 2 Curent study N= 194 (Gender 6199 Cthnicly & Appointment Stats, 1» 1992-1998 Undergraduate Department Suvey (APA) N= 9638 Geonden 8 N= 9313 €hnict) Data were colcuated fiom responses by fouryear schook nl, Table of the 992.1990, APA Suey oF Uncorgroducte Dogars (Cooney & Giffin, 198, Cooney & Grfth (1984) Included on ‘Hispanic’ cotegory ther ettnicftocel cotegerer whorocs the curent Suny Sed tesponden'sf they were Coucason or Aficarr ‘American and sibrequertyeutes about Hepani etnicy m GTeeparcte question. thus, these 2k Hipanc respondents ‘cua | Cousason ahd" 2” AficarAmerican faculty ipencor who ore micded in the porcontages of thet respective cotegores Female faculty (46.4%) were found significantly more often among. supervisors than ‘undergraduate psychology faculty generally (35.2%), 2(194)= 3.27, (><.002. Faculty supervisors and undergraduate psychology faculty nationally were equally likely to describe themselves ax White or Caucasian (92.5% and 91.2% respectively), (199) = 0.65, ns. ‘Two-thirds of faculty supervisors were found to come from just four fields of specialization: clinical & child clinical (21.6%), counseling (18.6%), developmental (146%), and social psychology (11.6%; Table 3). Following the dichotomy employed by Kohout ant ‘Wicherski (1993) in their analyses of graduate psychology faculty, respondents in the current study were grouped between two broad areas of interest: health service provision (clinical, counseling, etc.) versus primary research or other fields (developmental, social, experimental, etc.) Faculty supervisors were found to he ‘almost equally drawn from specializations emphasizing the provision of health services (502%) versus primarily research or other interests (44.2%). This finding contrasts with the 1:3 ratio of health service provider fields to primary research and other fields which the data of Cooley and Griffith (1994, Table 18) show among psychology faculty in four-year colleges nationally. Supervisors were found to hold faculty ranks of full (39.7%), associate (32.2%) and assistant professor (22.1%) while only 2% were lecturers or instructors and none were ‘graduate assistants. Faculty supervisors are mostly tenured (69.3%) while faculty who are not are almost equally divided between those on a tenure-track (15.1%) or on & non-tenure track or in a school where tenure is not granted (14.6%). Data concerning faculty rank and tenure status were not solicited by Cooley and Griffith (1994) for undergraduate psychology faculty but they were by Kohout & Wicherski (1993) for graduate psychology faculty nationally. Thus, while no direct comparison can be made with undergraduate faculty, Table 4 provides a comparison with graduate faculty nationally on these variables. Table3 Flelds of Specialization: Facully Supervisors ‘Compared fo Undergraduate Faculty Nationally —_—_WJT, ,ooo2,. Wa Current 1992-1993 oy © sway” survey “= Health Service Provider Fields Clinical & Chid Cinical 21.6 19.3 Community “1.5 Counseing 18.6 55 School 2.0 16 Other or Mutiple Heath = 6.5 Provider Felds GUBIOTAD (60.2) (26.4) Research & Other Fields Developmental 14.6 na Heath 2.10 Industria/Organizational «= 2.0 40 Personality 1.0 32 Physiological/Biopsychology 3.5 97° Psychometrics/Quantitative 0.5 28 socol 116 10.6 Other or Multiple Research& «9.0 31.9 ological Fields GUBIOTAD (44.2) (73.6) ‘Muttiple or Undetermined Flolds 3.5 Missing 2.0 Notes Ar daia shown ore percentages The ction of mater fields of specolation into “Heath Senice Provider and Research 8 Giher ol flows the scheme, used Dy Katou ona Wher! (1988) hn fhe excrnnction of foculy latin raduote departments of paychalogy © Curent such N= 199 € 1992:1098 Undergraduate Department Survey (APAY N= 7177, Data wore calcusted from the rexporees from fubtime foculy ony 36 fouryeor schoo Table 18 cf the TOR21098 Cadetroctiote Ceparmert Sinvey. APA (Cooney & Gath > The. 1972-1999 Undergraduate Deparment Suey groups {gether the felde of neuorclence, prysolagica peycholegy, comparoive psychology. ond ‘blepsyeraogy in i Bercenloge, The curent ‘study percenioge cludes Bsychologtts Wentving thei folds as. physclogical Esicholegy/biopeychology. Only one respondent ih the cuter? Budy ‘enlered “reuosclence” as the major fold on the ‘Gheticnnote ond none’ doscrbed thelr fold at comparative aycholoay. Hever (1994, August) Faculty Supervision of Field Experience Coursework 4 Table 4 ‘Academie Rank and Tenure Status of Faculty ‘Supervisors versus Graduate Psychology Facully 1991-1992 APA Current ‘Survey of Study? Graduate —_—__—_Daopartments” ‘Rank Full Professor 39.7 48 Associate Professor 32.2 27 ‘Assistant Professor 22.1 23 Lecturer/Instructor 2.0 1 ‘Other/Not Stated 4.0 1 Tenure Status Tenured 69.3 70 ‘On Tenure Track 15.1 24 Non Tenure Track 14.6 3 Not Specified 1.0 2 Note: Al data shown are percentages. 2 Curent study N= 199 1B 1991-1992 Suey of Graduate Departmenis of Psychology (APAY N= 6963 ohout & Wicheat 193, Tob! 2. Faculty supervisors reported much more teaching experience (M = 17.6 years, SD = 13.5, Range =

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