The University of Great Falls
MSC 526: Professional Ethics (3 credits)
Summer 2008
Class meeting time: Tuesdays from 8-9:40 am
Class Dates: May 20- July 22 (10 sessions)
Emily Hall, Technology Classroom (first floor)
Professor: Dr. Molly Cox
Office: Faculty Office Suite #104 (in the library)
Office hours: By appointment (email or ask me during class)
Phone: (406)791-5348 Fax: 406-791-5990
E-mail: mcox01@ugf.edu
Textbooks (required):
Herlihy, B., & Corey, G. (2006). ACA ethical standards casebook (6th ed.). Alexandria , VA: American Counseling Association. (Note: you may share this book with a classmate if you want, as it will only be used to guide your 4 case studies)
Remley, T. P., & Herlihy, B. (2007). Ethical, legal, and professional issues in counseling (Updated 2nd ed). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Merrill Prentice Hall.
American Psychological Association. (2002). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
Course Description:
From the graduate catalog:
“Ethical guidelines for decision making and practice in the helping professions. Codes of ethics and legal requirements for counselors, educators, psychologists, and other professionals working with various clients. Examines the basis for ethical judgments and explores ethical responsibilities to clients, colleagues, organizations, and society.”
In your professor’s words:
The purpose of this course is to introduce students to ethical and legal issues in counseling, and to help students understand the implications of their professional actions. These goals will be accomplished by learning about ethics as they pertain to professional counseling, in addition to exploring possible ethical dilemmas and their solutions.
Course Goals:
1. To provide participants with a broad theoretical base that serves as the basis of a personal model of counseling.
2. To provide participants with opportunities to develop knowledge and skills necessary for self-growth and self-care for continued exemplary practice through time.
3. To prepare students for passage of the state licensure exam as a basis for entering a professional counselor role.
4. To deliver knowledge and skills necessary for a professional counselor as set forth in the eight common core areas of the CACREP criteria.
5. To prepare students to assume leadership positions in their professions and their communities.
Course Objectives:
Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to:
1. Know and apply psychological principles of personal, social, and organizational issues.
2. Demonstrate the ability to weigh evidence, tolerate ambiguity, act ethically, and reflect other values that are the underpinnings of counseling as a science.
3. Demonstrate the ability to use computers and other technology appropriate to the science and practice of counseling.
4. Communicate effectively in a variety of formats, including writing assignments and discussions.
5. Develop realistic ideas about how to implement their counseling knowledge, skills, and values in occupational pursuits in a variety of settings.
Course Requirements:
Text:
Students are responsible for reading all assigned materials.
Lectures:
Students are responsible for watching all assigned lectures; the DVDs (2 total) are available for purchase in the campus bookstore.
Attendance:
Attendance will be taken. If a student misses class, they are required to write a 5-page paper that discusses the topics covered in that class (APA format, please). Because we have class once a week for only 10 weeks, more than 1 absence this semester will result in a lowering of your overall grade by 5 points (e.g., if you had a 93% average at the end of the semester but missed two classes, your overall grade becomes an 88%). If you’re a campus student and will be out of town, you are welcome to join class as a distance student while you’re away.
Participation:
I expect participation from all class members. Conversely, the floor needs to be shared (no “hogging” time, please). For those of you who are distance students, participation is more difficult (because you have to type in your participation). I will frequently ask for distance students to answer questions, and campus students and I will wait while you have an opportunity to type in your responses. Finally, please be on time to class- we will start promptly at 8 am (early, I know!).
Examinations:
There will be 2 examinations (mid-term and final). The final examination is not cumulative. Each examination is worth 100 points, and will consist of multiple choice and (perhaps) essay questions. You may email me your answers, put them in the campus mailroom (FYI: note the person’s appearance to whom you hand your work!), or turn them into me in person. Late examinations will receive a zero. These are take-home examinations. You are on your honor to work independently; teamwork is not allowed for these examinations and is considered cheating.
Mid-term exam due date: June 17 (due by midnight)
Final exam due date: July 22 (due by midnight)
Papers:
Paper 1: The first paper is a “heads up” regarding what is expected in APA formatting. It’s only 2 pages of written text, but will include a cover page, abstract, and references (so in total, the paper will be about 5 pages long).
The focus of this paper is “How is counseling unique to psychology?” (I’m not expecting anything in-depth, as your text only needs to be 2 pages long).
Do include two professional, peer-reviewed journals (e.g., The Journal of Counseling and Development; not Newsweek, the internet, or your textbooks).
This paper will be evaluated for APA formatting: no plagiarism; avoid quotes; cite your sources (you only need two) within your text; use the APA manual listed under “required textbooks” in this syllabus as a guide. Late papers will be docked one letter grade for each day after the turn-in date.
Paper due date: June 3
Paper 2: Students will write a 5-page reaction paper to an ethical issue relevant to counseling. Those 5 pages are 5 pages of actual text; with the cover page, abstract, and references, your paper will be at least 8 pages long.
The paper must be written in APA format. Because this is a “reaction paper”, it’s okay to use “I” and reference yourself in your paper (this goes against APA formatting, but will make your paper easier to write).
Include at least 5 professional, peer-reviewed sources (e.g., The Journal of Counseling and Development, Counselor Education and Supervision).
Attach copies of your articles/resources when you email/turn in your paper (if you choose to email me your paper, you’ll need to download the articles from the internet and save them to your computer).
While using “I” and “myself” in this paper is expected, the paper will be evaluated for APA formatting: no plagiarism; avoid quotes; cite your sources within your text; use the APA manual listed under “required textbooks” in this syllabus as a guide. Late papers will be docked one letter grade for each day after the turn-in date.
Paper due date: July 8
Ethical Case Studies:
Students will respond to 4 of any of the 20 case studies offered in Herlihy & Corey’s textbook. You are free to choose from any of the 20 case studies; ensure that you list the case number from the textbook on your cover page. Your case study should be between 2 to 3 pages long (not including the cover page). Case studies do not need to be in APA format. The goal of the case studies is for me to follow you along as you think through an ethical situation (there are no right- or necessarily wrong- thoughts). Due dates are May 27, June 10, July 1, and July 15. Late case studies will receive a zero.
For all papers and case studies, if you are a distance student I will snail-mail you your corrected papers. Please make sure you let me know if your mailing address changes during the semester. For on-campus students, I will hand your papers back to you in class.
Course Grades:
Exams (2 x 100) 200 points
Paper I 25 points
Paper II 100 points
Case Studies (4 x 25) 100 points
Participation 25 points
Final Grade:
405-450 points A
359-404 points B
313-358 points C
268-312 points D
<267 points F
Class Schedule:
|
Date of meeting |
Reading Assignment |
Lecture to view this week, and work due on this date |
|
May 20 |
Chapter 1 (Remley & Herlihy); peruse the ACA Code of Ethics (found in both textbooks) and on-line at www.counseling.org Chapter 2 (Remley & Herlihy); Section A.1 of ACA Code of Ethics (COE) |
Lecture 1 Lecture 2 Lecture 3 |
|
May 27 |
Chapter 3 and Appendix C (Remley & Herlihy) Chapter 4 (Remley & Herlihy); Section A.2 of ACA COE |
Case study #1 Lecture 4 Lecture 5 |
|
June 3 |
Chapter 5 (Remley & Herlihy); Section B of ACA COE |
Paper #1 Lecture 6 |
|
June 10 |
Chapter 6 (Remley & Herlihy); Section A.6-A.8.b of ACA COE |
Case study #2 Lecture 7 |
|
June 17 |
No class meeting-work on your midterm instead (covers chapters 1-6) |
Midterm due tonight by midnight |
|
June 24 |
Chapter 7 (Remley & Herlihy); Section C of COE; Chapter 8 (Remley & Herlihy) |
Lecture 8 Lecture 9 |
|
July 1 |
Chapter 9 (Remley & Herlihy) Chapter 11 (247-249; 252-257; 260-267 (Remley & Herlihy) |
Case study #3 Lecture 10 Lecture 11 |
|
July 8 |
Chapter 12 (Remley & Herlihy); COE section E |
Paper #2 Lecture 12 |
|
July 15 |
Chapter 14 (Remley & Herlihy); Section F COE- stop at section F.6; Chapters 15 & 16 (Remley & Herlihy); Section H COE |
Case study #4 Lecture 13 Lecture 14 |
|
July 22 |
No class- work on your final instead |
Final due tonight by midnight |
|
|
|
|
Policy on academic misconduct: dishonesty, plagiarism and cheating:
The hallmark of any serious academic study is a commitment to the truth. Students in this class are expected to meet rigorous standards of honesty. Students are on their honor to avoid acts of academic dishonesty. Such acts include:
· Cheating: Use or attempted use of unauthorized material or the work of another student in any academic assignment, paper, or examination.
· Plagiarism: Intentional representation of another's work as one's own. This includes the unauthorized and unacknowledged use of the phrases, sentences, paragraphs, ideas, illustrations, drawings, photographs, or computer programs of another.
Students who engage in these behaviors will receive a failing grade (an “F”) for this course. Severe or repeated instances of academic misconduct will result in more severe sanctions up to and including expulsion from the university.
Policy on Diversity:
University-level education is about broadening horizons and looking at academic issues from a variety of perspectives. With this in mind, the participants in this class are encouraged to bring their own life experiences and viewpoints to bear on classroom discussions and assignments. Along with the freedom to express one's own view comes the responsibility of race, ethnicity, age, creed, religion, gender, sexual orientation, martial-status, or political ideology. In other words: you must be kind. Intolerance is never acceptable.
A Few Final Notes
This course is technology based, especially if you are a distance student. As such, you need to make sure you have the technology to fulfill the requirements of this course (video conferencing abilities, email, DVD player, etc).
As much as technology is a requisite of this class, please turn your cell phones off and do not text/instant mess age during class.
Some of the topics that will be discussed in this class are adult in nature. Therefore, children are not welcome to attend class (or “eavesdrop,” for distance students).