The Initial, Current, and Goal State in Advancing Counselor Online Learning

Problem space Identification
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Problem space Identification
The problem statement and the research questions for the study were identified through the problem statement theory, which states that people solve problems by searching in a problem space. The education system continues to embrace technology in content delivery and other forms of interaction between the learners and their instructors. Counselor education has also been under a similar influence, where there is an increasing demand for counselors to interact with their patients through online sessions. Thus, this problem space considers the initial state, the current state, and the goal state in advancing counselor online learning. The shift towards online interaction has been growing daily.
Problem Space in Literature
Online counseling or therapy has mixed theories on its origin, depending on one’s concept definition. According to some historians, the practice began during the 1972 International Conference on Computers, in which Stanford and UCLA staff utilized connected computers to show a psychotherapy session. The exercise was not an actual psychotherapy session involving a licensed therapist. In addition, it was only limited to a small network of computers. Nonetheless, it effectively showed the concept of online therapy.
On the contrary, the definition of therapy as a process involving the use of phones presents the history of the procedure as having begun even earlier. While the first private phone call between a psychotherapist and his client has remained confidential, it is clear that people have been using phones to offer counseling to others from as early as the 1960s. Therefore, online counseling started as early as the 1960s.
The adoption of technology continued more rapidly, and in 1986, the practice adopted the internet following the establishment of Dear Uncle Ezra. The program was a University question and answer forum in which people often talked about the various mental health issues and their causes. Several mental health advice forums then followed the program, and in 1995, John Grohol, a therapist, created a public mental health chat that grew ...