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Multicultural pedagogy and Web-based technologies.

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Abstract

This paper reviews existing literature on the use of online resources as instructional tools in developing cultural competencies among students. It also discusses certain challenges to using online multicultural resources and suggests ways in which traditional graduate multicultural counseling courses can incorporate Web-based technologies that may enhance the cultural competencies of school counselors in training.

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Within the past two decades, multicultural counseling research has stressed the need for counselors to become culturally competent to appropriately address the needs of diverse client populations (Sue, 2001). Given the increasingly diverse cultural representation in school systems, one of the emerging roles of school counselors is the need to be multiculturally sensitive and knowledgeable about working with diverse student populations (Benedetto & Olinsky, 2001). According to Sue, Arrendondo, and McDavis' (1992) model of multicultural counseling competencies, being culturally competent refers to a counselor's capacity to be aware of his or her own cultural identity and biases, to develop a perspective which encompasses learning about worldviews of groups who are culturally different, and to develop appropriate intervention strategies to work with culturally diverse clients.

In addition to implementing traditional multicultural courses in counselor preparation program curricula, another viable resource for developing cultural competencies is the use of online resources (Ancis, 1998; Gorski, 2001). Online resources refer to Web-based technological tools such as asynchronous and synchronous learning tools (e.g., email, chat rooms), Web-based hypermedia (e.g., search engines, browsers), and Web-based multimedia resources (e.g., visual and audio tools). These resources provide critical information regarding cultural groups that have helped to enhance knowledge and awareness of diverse groups and also increase communication among members of these groups (Gorski, 2001). Considering the rise in technology (e.g. computers, internet, etc.) available to many school systems (Fabos & Young, 1999), online resources may have the potential for serving as multicultural training tools to enhance school counselors' cultural competencies. The purpose of this paper is twofold--first to examine how online resources have been used to promote cultural competencies among students and second, to propose an online training approach that may provide effective, Web-enhanced instructional interventions that can complement or guide traditional graduate multicultural counseling courses and provide opportunities for empirical research.

The Role of Online Resources in the Teaching of Multicultural Counseling Courses According to the U.S. Bureau of the Census (1992), today's American society is more multilingual, multiethnic, and multicultural than any other nation in the world. For instance, it has been reported that the U.S. is comprised of at least 276 ethnic groups including 170 Native American ethnic groups (Gollnick & Chinn,...

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