ICT in Guidance and Counselling, Hrvoje Gazdek: An opportunity to see how counsellors and teachers can use ICT knowledge in their work
“My name is Hrvoje Gazdek and I am an international student of the EDUMA programme at the University of Jyväskylä. I am currently in my second year of studies and hopefully soon will be graduating.
In Autumn 2019, I was enrolled in the course Information and Communication Technology in Guidance and Counselling (EDUA290). I specifically chose this course because my own specialization is in the field of Guidance and Counselling and because ICT is becoming not only our present but also the future of everyday life. I found this course in the list of offered studies made by my program coordinators.
The whole course itself was very flexible with its lectures, assignments and other tasks so there was enough time to complete all tasks and everything fit in my schedule.
The study content and learning process itself were very easy to follow from the very first beginning (registration) to the last part of it (reflective activity and assessment). All instructions were easily accessed, on visible places and carefully explaining each step of the way. The whole course itself was very flexible with its lectures, assignments and other tasks so there was enough time to complete all tasks and everything fit in my schedule.
ICT is an important part of modern guidance and counselling services
The course was extremely helpful for me. I got the chance to see how far ICT in guidance and counselling has actually come, what kind of challenges it has faced and how often it was raising questions for the future – in short, how fast did it become an essential, almost crucial part of some areas in the guidance and counselling world (i.e. career services).
I also got the opportunity to see how a counsellor can use ICT knowledge in his or her work – for example, by creating an infographic for students, which seemed easy but ended up very challenging because of all the factors needed to be taken into consideration (how much information is enough, how much information is too much, how to keep readers interested, what kind of visuals to use to attract readers etc.). But in the end I learned about one more tool which I could use in my learning and teaching.
Digital tools help counsellors to be more readily available
I also learned that the use of ICT also gives counsellors the ability to be more readily available when needed, instead of traditionally requiring a student, for instance, to be proactive and seeking out the counsellor in person. If a student is puzzled or needs assistance, they do not need to wait until the next opportunity to ask the questions in person but can reach out to the counsellor via online correspondence, which in turn may lower the threshold to seek out help as a whole.
I would recommend this course to all current and future educators regardless of their specialization. I believe every teacher is or it is at some point going to be put in a position of counsellor for the students.
I would recommend this course to all current and future educators regardless of their specialization. I believe every teacher is or it is at some point going to be put in a position of counsellor for the students. Therefore, it is always good to know how to help students if guiding and counselling cannot be done face-to-face but through online communication.
Especially nowadays, during these insecure times, educators need to utilize their knowledge and show students they will be there for them if needed. So as for learning more about counselling methods and ICT and their fusion, this is the perfect course to do so.”