Community Learning as an Effective Way to Facilitate Learning Counselling Skills: A Study Project of Thai University Students
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Abstract
Counselling skills are learned effectively when implemented in a real-world context. The aim of this project was to set up an activity where psychology students would have a platform to apply counselling skills learned in the classroom into a real-world setting, gain valuable experience talking to the members of the community, and analyse the community structure. Volunteers were Psychology majors at Thammasat University. All volunteers attended an exploratory session with officials who worked in the community, two lecture sessions, and took part in two community visits. Volunteers wrote an initial paragraph about goals and expectations and rated their current knowledge. Focus groups were conducted throughout the project to indicate volunteers’ progress. Volunteers completed a reflection paper upon the conclusion of the project. Analysis of the initial paper and the reflection paper showed that the project was effective in facilitating learning. Analysis of the focus groups showed an increase in the depth of understanding of the community structure, which culminated into thoughtful suggestions on future community interventions. The results seem to suggest that community learning should be conducted alongside classroom learning so that students gain a greater understanding of information learned in the classroom and application of such information.
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