COUC 850 Advanced Career Counseling

A thorough grounding in current career development theories and application is provided. Special attention is given to career development, career counseling with special populations, and decision-making models.

This course provides an extensive study of the current state of career development and of career counseling theory, research, and practice. Students examine the major theories of career development and vocational behavior, as well as their related constructs and interventions, including strategies for working with and advocating for diverse populations. In addition, students learn andragogy for effectively teaching career to master’s level students. Finally, students have the opportunity to examine the existing literature in order to learn how to advance the field through research, presentations, and leadership/advocacy in the field based on these readings.  Students are required to already have a knowledge and understanding of basic career counseling theories at an entry-level competency.

Method of Instruction: This semester-long course is delivered using a digital synchronous intensive format. Students attend 36-40 hours of video-based instruction using a synchronous digital platform. In addition to the one week of digital synchronous class time, students are expected to complete additional work online both pre and post intensive over the duration of this course.

Course Requirements Checklist

After reading the Course Syllabus and Student Expectations, the candidate will complete the related checklist found in the Course Overview.

Advising Acknowledgement Quiz

No details available.

Participate in Class Discussions and Group Activities

This course is structured so the student will learn not only from the textbook and readings, but also from one another. Becoming a counselor educator is a process, so it is important to establish a professional attitude and demeanor in a doctoral program. As doctoral students, students are responsible for active and respectful participation in class activities. To facilitate the process, the class participation grade will be based on the student’s (a) contribution to discussions, (b) contribution to the learning experience of their classmates; (c) attending class and being on time, (d) active participation in all in-class activities, (e) completion of and bringing to class the assigned assessments/results and presentations.

In-Class Activities: Students will participate in a variety of exercises designed to help students learn the process of teaching career counseling experientially. They will take and interpret a variety of career assessments, value sorts, career story assessments, career genograms, and other career exploration instruments. Students will also be involved in other self-awareness and self-learning activities throughout the course (CLOs E, F). 

Multicultural Reflective Journals (8)

Students reflect on assigned individual readings from the text. Students will: (a) read the chapter; (b) write a short concise summary; (c) reflections, challenges, and areas for growth; and (d) implications for teaching master’s students (CLOs C, D).

The purpose of this quiz is to verify that students have read the last eight chapters of the text. 

Career Theory In-Class Group Presentation Assignment

Students will work together during class to develop a theory teaching presentation that is tailored to master’s students. Students will receive structured guidance throughout the process, with special attention given to the tenets of the theory, application of the theory to practice, and use of the theory with underserved populations (CLOs A-D).

Career Theory Group Final Presentation Assignment

Students will incorporate the feedback from the In-Class Group Presentation to develop an applied career theory presentation that is tailored to a conference proposal. Students will focus on the tenets of the theory, application of the theory to practice, and use of the theory with underserved populations (CLOs A-D).

Career Self-Assessment Assignment

The purpose of this assignment is help students develop a better understanding of the complexities of the career counseling and planning process and to complete his/her individual career counseling and planning cycle. As noted in VI.A, students complete a variety of career assessments, such as interest/personality assessments, values card sort, career story assessment, career genograms, career exploration, and career attainment skills; as well as other self-awareness and self-learning activities. This assignment demonstrates students’ ability to synthesize the multiple components of career development and career counseling into an integrated personal career assessment report (CLOs B, E, F).

Career Development Applied Theory Paper Assignment

Through creation of an 8-12 page conceptual paper, the student will combine theory and practice in a meaningful way.  Each student will select a career theory of their choice and provide a detailed description of the major tenets of the career theory.  Then the student will discuss how the tenets of the theory can explain the career development concerns of a specific population of interest.  (CLOs A, C, D, G).

Benchmark NCDA Conference Proposal Assignment

Once students have completed the Career Development Theory Application paper, they will fill out the information required to prepare a conference proposal using the template used by the National Career Development Association’s Global Conference. The purpose of this assignment is to give students experience in the process of disseminating the results of their research to other professionals in the field. Particular attention will be on students’ ability to tailor the presentation to match the theme of the conference (CLOs A, C, D, G).

This Dispositions Reflection quiz will ask the student to rate themselves on the nine dispositions required for this program by the accrediting bodies using the following scale:

• Exceeds expectations – I believe I do this exceptionally well.
• Clearly meets expectations – I believe I am able to do this in an appropriate way as expected for graduate students at my current position in the program.
• Adequately meets expectations – I believe I do this but could use improvement and growth in this dispositional area.
• Does not meet expectations – I believe I do not do this well and could use improvement.