Distance Education in Graduate Training Programs: Lessons Learned from School Psychology Students

Although online course offerings continue to expand in postsecondary institutions, little research regarding distance education in applied graduate psychology programs is available. This exploratory study evaluated school psychology graduate students’ perceptions, interests, and experience with distance education. Results indicated students view hybrid/blended courses more favorably than fully online courses. While students reported challenges and disadvantages with distance education, they also expressed a desire to have more online and hybrid/blended courses for theoretical and foundational courses. Those who have taken distance education courses reported positively on its impact towards their academic progress. Implications for training programs and future research are discussed.

Doctoral Student Involvement in Online Course Development

As modes of course delivery evolve so do the demands for instructors with experience both online and in-person. Traditionally, advanced graduate students in special education gain experiences through “in-person,” co-teaching, or graduate/teaching assistant experiences. Further, if given the opportunity to teach online, the course is usually already developed with little or no opportunity to build additional online modules. In this chapter, the authors will describe a course during which an instructor and seven PhD students work as a collaborative learning community to develop an online version of an “in-person” introduction to special education course. A unique feature of the class was the online version needed to address a broad range of pre-service school personnel (e.g., pre-service: teachers, school counselors, school psychology students). Although the focus of this chapter is the development of an online introductory course, the strategies covered can be used to develop a wide range of online course topics.