Grad Programs Moving Online

Grad Programs Moving Online

Curt and Katie chat about the quick move to online learning when the pandemic hit. We talk about the challenges with virtual platforms – what has worked and what has not. We look at the decisions related to starting or continuing therapist education at this time. We also talk about the opportunities that have been gained and ideas for students and professors on how to more effectively approach online graduate programs.

It’s time to reimagine therapy and what it means to be a therapist. To support you as a whole person and a therapist, your hosts, Curt Widhalm and Katie Vernoy talk about how to approach the role of therapist in the modern age.

In this episode we talk about:

• Graduate programs for therapists moving online during the pandemic
• The education one applied for is vastly different from what you’re getting right now
• The rapid shift to online education and lack of deliberate choices to shift how to teach
• Synchronous and asynchronous elements of education
• The requirement for faculty to learn and utilize technology effectively
• A lack of interaction due to polite students keeping their mics off
• The spoke and wheel conversations that impact how learning happens
• The lack of guidance on how to create truly effective online education
• Navigating time on screens
• Role plays translating into learning telehealth, rather than in-person therapy
• The lack of interaction with the material, more passive learning
• Developing clinical efficacy for telehealth
• The uncertainty of the efficacy of clinical work in the newer space of telehealth
• The impact on discussions social justice, racial and cultural identity, due to the ability to opt out of the conversation in online education
• The importance of figuring out how people learn and how it applies to the online space
• Should people delay or pause education?
• What the impacts on the workforce might be
• Opportunities within the online learning space, especially when the technology is well used
• Theoretical versus practical base
• The need to have more deliberate and direct conversations to create connections that may have happened organically
• The adjustments and planning that may improve the situation
• Different factors that impact each student’s and each professor’s ability to engage
• Looking at expectations, support, and needed infrastructure
• What students can do to better access education during this time
• Developing personal relationships with professors
• Putting together options to increase connection and interaction with peers
• Seeking career mentorship and synchronous conversations
• Moving from venting and commiserating to advocacy within the system
• The ability to make changes, be nimble, and put forward a collective voice