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The use of technology has increased dramaticallyover the past decade in universities, and the number ofcolleges and universities offering online educationalprograms is a testament to the increase. Technologycan be used as a cost-effective method for increasingparticipation and communication across theprofessional landscape, both in terms of education andprofessional development. Students participating instudent organizations that are affiliated withprofessional organizations are groups of students in aformal group supported by at least one faculty member.This faculty member serves as a mentor and valuableresource to students in the group. Student professionalorganizations can benefit from the use of cost-effectivemodalities to increase their participation in theprofessional arena.Technology has allowed for thedevelopment of many cost-effective modalities forprofessional development through student chapters suchas Web conferencing, listservs, and online mediums fordiscussion topics, and has fostered an environment thatallows for more participation of underrepresentedpopulations. Technology also allows for a broaderapplication of social learning theory and socialconstructivism via creating virtual learningenvironments that allow for professional development.

Counseling practice is a theory-driven profession.We are driven by our theoretical orientations, whichguide our interventions and techniques. Professionaldevelopment can be much the same. Socialconstructionism is largely based on the use of languageand is a function of the environment in which peoplesurround themselves (Corey, 2005). The environmentsin which students participate can enhance theirprofessional development and aid them in becominghighly competent and ethical practitioners. Gergen(1985) noted that knowledge is not something that onepossesses in his or her head but rather it is somethingthat people do together. To elaborate, the mind becomesa form of social myth, and one’s self-concept is removedfrom the internal and placed within the sphere of socialdiscourse (Gergen, 1985). One’s concept of him- or

herself as a counselor can be enhanced throughparticipation in professional organizations. Knowledgecan be understood to grow and develop through socialprocesses, and student chapters can assist in this process.

Self-efficacy theory is interactional,inter-disciplinary, and multimodal (Bandura & Walters,1963). Self-efficacy refers to the belief or expectationone has in his or her ability to master a situation andbring about change (Bandura, 1982, 1997). Further, ourbehaviors can be seen as a result of triadic reciprocalinteraction between the environment, personal factors(e.g., preferences, expectations, self-perceptions), andindividual behavior (Bandura, 1977). This theory isuseful in understanding the role of student professionalorganizations. If students can participate in an inclusiveand supportive group, which nurtures their counselingabilities, they may emerge better prepared for theirprofessional lives. Through participation in professionalorganizations, counseling students can be supported andcan learn from professionals in the field.

Students involved in professional organizationsat both a national and school level reap many benefitsincluding exposure to leading professionals in the fieldthrough scholarly journals and participation in listservs.The medium of professional organizations complementsthe educational process by allowing students to learnprofessional behaviors, and further cements theirunderstanding of ethical counseling values andbehaviors in a supportive environment surrounded byprofessionals in the field and their fellow students.Benefits can be further increased by involvement at thenational level. While attendance at national conferencesis an ideal method for furthering the professionaldevelopment of students, it is not always possible.Technology can be used to stimulate communicationand involvement. Other benefits of using technologyare allowing the student chapters to address two majormulticultural issues that can occur in traditionalprograms. The first issue that can be addressed isaccessibility. Often students with disabilities or specialneeds are unable to attend or fully participate in chapter

Article 29

Cost-Effective Modalities for Use by Student Chapters of ProfessionalOrganizations in Online Settings

Michelle M. Aliff, Evans H. Spears, and Curt R. Finger

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meetings. Technology allows them to have an equalfooting in all chapter decisions. The second issueaddressed is that of unconscious bias. The anonymityprovided by online chapter meetings does not revealrace, ethnicity, or disability status. This is not possiblein traditional settings where students are face to face.

Professional organizations can reap many benefitsfrom student chapters. Professional organization studentchapters allow for students to become involved first ata local level and also add the piece of national-levelinvolvement. These chapters can foster and instill abelief in the need and value of professionalorganizations in advancing the field of counseling. Theylearn that these organizations provide research on theoryand practice and are active in public policy andlegislation, which can improve outcomes for thoseserved and the status of the counseling profession.Students who value membership in professionalorganizations during their formative years may wellcontinue to value this in their professional careers. Theuse of cost-effective modalities provided by technologycan provide a mechanism for increased participation instudent chapters and professional organizations byallowing for increased communication among studentsand professionals.

A key to any professional student chapter iscommunication among the members. With distancestudents, communication has been the major barrier toeffective online student chapters. When left to relysolely on e-mails or phone calls, students loseimmediacy and are often reluctant to spend the moneythat can result from lengthy long-distance phone calls.Advances in the areas of distance learning technology,such as peer-to-peer technology, content managementsystems, and wider availability of broadband Internetconnections, have allowed cost-effective and time-effective interactions among students, faculty, andspeakers to occur. An examination of various low-costtechnologies that can facilitate these interactionsfollows.

Of key importance to any online student chapteris a “shell” to house the chapter. These shells arereferred to as content management systems (CMS).Two of the most common CMS used in online programstoday are WebCT and Blackboard. While the cost tothe school for using WebCT or Blackboard initially canbe quite high, once they are set up there is no cost toadding a shell for an online program. Creating a course,which is given the title of the student chapter, mosteasily does this. There are many advantages to usingan existing CMS at a school, such as passwordprotection, allowing students to have designer accessto mold the shell to their needs, and easy monitoringby faculty advisers. In most cases, schools have a

technical support staff for their CMS, which in turnwould provide technical support for the student chapter.

A working CMS provides many opportunities fora student chapter to operate similarly to a chapter in atraditional program. These systems provide threadeddiscussion forums, internal e-mail, chat rooms, theability to post information and documents and to archivematerials, and a system for anonymous voting throughtheir test-making capabilities. Threaded discussionforums are key to the operation of an online studentchapter. They enable students to submit questions andanswers, review other students’ submissions, andprovide discussion over a period of time on itemsnecessary for the chapter. This occurs asynchronously,which is beneficial through allowing students fromdifferent time zones and with different work schedulesto participate in the chapter meetings. Threadeddiscussion forums also allow more interaction withguest speakers than a traditional lecture, in that thespeaker can continue to answer questions over a setperiod of time. Threaded discussions can also be set upso that only certain members can see or participate inthem, allowing executive councils of student chaptersto have a private meeting place in addition to the generaldiscussion area.

Having an internal e-mail system within the CMSprovides security and complete immunity from spame-mails. This is beneficial to the students in that it allowsthem to have an e-mail address that will only be usedfor chapter business by chapter members. An addedbenefit of this is an effective archiving of all e-mails sothe history of the chapter and its activities can betracked. Chat rooms also are beneficial to the studentsin that they are able to have a real-time writtendiscussion with other members of the student chapters.Many CMS have the ability to run multiple chat roomsat once, allowing different conversations to take placeat the same time. These chat rooms could be set forsocial interactions, chapter business, discussion ofclasses, or a multitude of other topics. Many times chatrooms can be set for invitation only, allowing studentsto have confidential real-time conversations.

Outside of the CMS realm, instant messaging andother peer-to-peer exchanges have become bothcommon place and, in many cases, inexpensive. Instantmessaging is generally a free service, which allows theuser to send written messages instantly to otherindividuals, giving similar experience to the chat roomwithout having to be in the CMS. The other maindifference from a chat room is that generally the instantmessaging is a one-to-one experience. However, theindividual can have multiple instant messagingconversations occurring in separate windows at thesame time. Another benefit of these peer-to-peer

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messengers is that files can be exchanged instantly overthe Internet, enhancing collaboration between chaptermembers. There are multiple instant messagingproviders available, the most popular being AOL InstantMessenger, Yahoo Messenger, and MSN Messenger.All of these can be downloaded from the Internet forfree, and there is no cost for their use.

The feature of instant messaging that has beenrecently gaining in popularity is the ability to have bothaudio and video conversations in real time over theInternet for free. The only cost for this functionality isin the purchase of a microphone and webcam, whichcan range in cost from as low as $20 to over $100.Installation is generally easy and fast, and students canbe conversing with video in a matter of minutes. Withthis advancement, students from around the world canhave a face-to-face real-time conversation for the costof a webcam and microphone. This advancement cangreatly increase interactions among students and bemore personable than e-mail or phone conversations.In most distance education programs, the actual face-to-face time among students is minimal. Providing aformat through which students from distant locationscan have face-to-face interactions can increase thefeeling of community that many distant educationstudents feel is lacking.

With these inexpensive technologies, as well assupport of the faculty, distance learners are no longerleft on their own in terms of immediate access toprofessional organizations and their chapters. When oneconsiders the benefits of belonging to professionalorganizations and their school chapters, the need tocontinue developing modalities and encouragingstudents to become members is apparent. New studentsand members are necessary for any professionalorganization to continue. By opening new avenues ofmembership and participation to previously isolatedpotential members, membership and a sense ofownership can be increased for these individuals.

References

Bandura, A. (1977). Social learning theory. EnglewoodCliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Bandura, A. (1982). Self-efficacy mechanisms in thehuman agency. American Psychologist, 37,122–147.

Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of self-control. New York: Freeman.

Bandura, A., & Walters, R. H. (1963). Social learningand personality development. New York: Holt,Rinehart & Winston.

Corey, G. (2005). Theory and practice of counselingand psychotherapy (7th ed.). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.

Gergen, K. J. (1985). The social constructionistmovement in modern psychology. AmericanPsychologist, 40, 266–275.