TPC Journal-Vol 10- Issue 1

142 The Professional Counselor | Volume 10, Issue 1 follow daily, which leaves minimal time for students to reflect on what is being learned and how to maximize the learning experience. Online students can be more actively engaged in their learning and have more freedom to choose what to accomplish and learn with their time. Conclusion Although much has been written about the online learning experience in counselor education, it is rare to hear faculty and students work together to share their experiences in online education and training settings. What we have captured here first and foremost is that online counselor education provides a positive option for many students and faculty. Online counselor education allows students to blend academic pursuits into their current family and career lives in a way that is more accessible than traditional on-campus programs. When embarking on this journey, students value the connections they are able to foster with faculty and with peers, many of which occur through the synchronous parts of a program. Given that many programs are fully asynchronous, further research into the use of synchronous components would benefit the field of online counselor education. Additionally, students strongly supported the fact that the path to success is smoother when programs attend to the various field experience and licensure requirements of their students across states. It is clear that an online counselor education program requires skills in both self-motivation and self-care to provide the maximum benefit to the student. Although this paper addressed the student experience in a non-empirical manner, a more research-driven approach to understanding student experience in distance counselor education programs is needed. Overall, online counselor education is functional, effective, and preferred by many students who are now pursuing their own careers in the profession of counseling. Conflict of Interest and Funding Disclosure The authors reported no conflict of interest or funding contributions for the development of this manuscript. References Allen, I. E, Seaman, J., Poulin, R. & Straut, T. T. (2016). Online report card: Tracking online education in the United States. Babson Survey Research Group . https://onlinelearningsurvey.com/reports/onlinereportcard.pdf Akyol, Z., & Garrison, D. R. (2008). The development of a community of inquiry over time in an online course: Understanding the progression and integration of social, cognitive and teaching presence. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks , 12 , 3–22. https://doi.org/10.24059/olj.v12i3.72 Baeten, M., Dochy, F., & Struyven, K. (2012). The effects of different learning environments on students’ motivation for learning and their achievement. British Journal of Educational Psychology , 83 , 484–501. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8279.2012.02076.x Blaine, A. M. (2019). Interaction and presence in the virtual classroom: An analysis of the perceptions of students and teachers in online and blended Advanced Placement courses. Computers & Education , 132 , 31–43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2019.01.004 Bolliger, D. U., & Halupa, C. (2018). Online student perceptions of engagement, transactional distance, and outcomes. Distance Education , 39 , 299–316. https://doi.org/10.1080/01587919.2018.1476845 Buckley, M. R., & Henning, S. (2016). Education, credentialing, and professional development. In D. S. Sheperis & C. J. Sheperis (Eds.), Clinical mental health counseling: Fundamentals of applied practice (pp. 33–63). Pearson.