UW College of Education Magazine 2018

EDUCATION UWYO UW COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

SPRING 2018

INNOVATING EDUCATOR PREP TO ELEVATE THE PROFESSION (PAGE 6)

POWELL TO PERTH: Expanded Options for Student Teacher Placements (PAGE 3)

3 | A World of Student Teaching Placement 4 | In Memory of Debra Beck 7 | Upending Educator Preparation 11 | Writing Fellows Increase Academic Publication 12 | Donor Spotlight: Passionate About Education 13 | Modules Improve Abilities of Wyoming’s Educators 14 | Empowering Wyoming’s Students Through Literacy 15 | Becoming a Better Counselor from Within 16 | Wyoming’s Connection To the World 18 | Real Experience Through Virtual Reality 20 | Police Officer to Ph.D. 22 | Play Leads to Counseling Certification ON THE COVER: Amy Spiker, senior lecturer, leads undergraduate education students, Jonathon Cummings and Alli Barker, in a Mursion virtual reality training simulation.

Education@UWYO uwyo.edu/education The Magazine for Alumni and Friends of the University of Wyoming College of Education College Dean D. Ray Reutzel Associate Dean, Undergraduate Programs Leslie Rush Associate Dean, Graduate Programs Suzanne Young Editor Jason Harper Design Michelle Eberle Photography All photos by Ted Brummond and Kyle Spradley unless otherwise noted. ©2018 by the University of Wyoming College of Education. All rights reserved. Excerpts from this magazine may be reprinted with permission, provided appropriate credit is given to the University of Wyoming and copies of reprinted materials are provided to the editor.

Education@UWYO Dept. 3374 1000 E. University Ave. Laramie, WY 82071 (307) 766-3145 | edmrktng@uwyo.edu The University is committed to equal opportunity for all persons in all facets of the University’s operations. All qualified applicants for employment and educational programs, benefits, and services will be considered without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, creed, ancestry, political belief or any other applicable category protected by law and University policy.

Dean’s Update Greetings from the College of Education at the University of Wyoming! Building on more than a century of effective educator preparation, the College of Education at the University of Wyoming is well positioned to achieve its goal of pre-eminence in the preparation of educational professionals.

Our graduates elevate the human condition by providing access to an excellent, equitable, modern and practical College Dean, D. Ray Reutzel education for children, youth and adult learners. Our faculty members innovate in designing and delivering digitally mediated, personalized instruction and deliberately designed practice opportunities in classroom and field experiences by leveraging the miracle of modern technologies to traverse vast distances and conquer constraints of learner time and finances. Our alumni, advocacy board members and financial donors open doors of opportunity for students and faculty through continuous engagement with, investment in, and promotion of the values and mission of the College of Education.

The most recent ranking for the College of Education can be found on the back cover of this magazine. These figures provide additional evidence attesting to the high quality of the college’s programs. We are proud of the achievements of our faculty and students, which only increase our desire to improve the reach and quality of the college’s campus based in online programming in order to serve its constituents in the state of Wyoming and throughout the nation!

The UW Trustees Education Initiative (TEI) continues to make significant progress in improving and implementing six pre-eminent practices and innovations to improve the educator preparation programs in the College of Education and throughout the university. Entangled Solutions, a strategy and innovation consultancy for education, has been retained to help the TEI with developing and staging an implementation plan for the six approved innovations that have been approved by the UW Board of Trustees thus far.

Read more about these innovations on page seven.

UW’s College of Education has been a long-standing member of the National Network for Educational Renewal, which builds, sustains, and supports partnerships between P-12 school communities and university educator preparation programs. We are proud to announce that UW’s College of Education is expanding its student teaching program statewide to 24 partner school districts this year, with the goal to continue to expand statewide the following year. For more information, read the story on the following page or visit the following link—uwyo.edu/wsup.

The college has also prepared and published a new strategic plan entitled, Elevate and Innovate: A Strategic Plan for 2018-2023. This plan is available at— uwyo.edu/education/_files/documents/coed-strategicplan.pdf.

Please take time to read about many of these initiatives that expand upon and describe the innovative work of the College of Education in this spring 2018 issue of Education@UWYO magazine.

A WORLD OF STUDENT TEACHING PLACEMENT By: Jason Harper

Over the last year, the University of Wyoming College of Education has increased the number of student teaching options for preservice educators. An expansion of the Wyoming School University Partnership (WSUP) provides an increased number of in-state placement options for future educators to gain their field experience. A new affiliation has also been formed with the Consortium for Overseas Student Teaching (COST) to give students the opportunity to complete their studentteaching outside the United States.

WSUP is a statewide collaborative group of school districts, community colleges, the University of Wyoming and state education organizations. The partnership works together to improve the collaboration among members in order to deliver the highest quality education to students as well as refining

teacher preparation in Wyoming.

Over the past year the partnership has changed direction to include student teaching placement agreements. The number of member school districts now includes 24 of the 48 districts in the state. This expansion increases the likelihood that UW pre-service teachers can find studentteaching experiences that are desirable and fit their needs.

“We encourage teacher candidates to refrain from working during their student-teaching experience so they can devote their full attention to their work in the classroom,” says Leslie Rush, director of the School of Teacher Education and associate dean of Undergraduate Programs, “without this income it can be difficult for some to find affordable housing options.”

Rush adds, “We hope the expansion of WSUP helps to reduce the cost of housing for teacher candidates by providing placement options that

would allow them to live at home or with friends and family while they student-teach.”

With UW’s acceptance as a COST member institution, College of Education students now have options to expand their worldview and experience student teaching abroad.

COST was established in 1972 and is a collaboration among 15 colleges and universities in the United States. The number of members will increase to 17 when UW and Youngstown State in Ohio are formally inducted into the membership in May 2018.

Through COST, UW teacher candidates will be placed in institutions around the world where English is the primary language of instruction. The duration of the experience depends on the requirements of the teacher candidate’s home institutions, but typically last between six – 15 weeks.

Currently, the program places students into programs in six continents and 13 countries throughout the world. The first students are expected to be placed in student-teaching positions through COST in spring 2019.

Rush, who has spent time teaching abroad in Uganda, knows how beneficial this experience can be for a future teacher. “When teaching abroad you gain a different perspective on education,” she says, “you learn firsthand how culture shapes both education and everyday life outside of the United States.”

COST participants will gain the experience of working with professional peers, students and families, in addition to gaining confidence and self-sufficiency from completing the experience in a foreign country. Preservice teachers who spend time abroad will be better prepared to incorporate an international perspective and expanded worldview into their teaching, which will greatly benefit their future students.

Education@UWYO Spring 2018 • 3

IN MEMORY OF Deb Beck enjoying hiking and taking photos.

PHOTO COURTESY OF BOB BECK

k c e B a Debr

By: Jason Harper

When describing the perfect UW Cowboy or Cowgirl, words such as intelligent, hard-worker, compassionate and innovator are often used. Debra Beck fit this mold through and through as a Wyoming native, UW alumnae four times over and dedicated university employee.

Sadly, Deb passed away from lung cancer in March 2017. Her passing was unexpected as she was diagnosed with the disease just four months prior. Her memory will forever be in the hearts and minds of her friends and colleagues at the university and beyond.

Deb started her journey at UW as a student studying journalism and serving as editor of the Branding Iron.

After graduating in 1981, she moved to Sheridan to become a reporter with the Sheridan Press. It was in Sheridan that she met the man who would become her husband, Bob Beck.

4 • Education@UWYO Spring 2018

Bob was offered a job in Laramie in the late 80s, and Deb followed.

Shortly after, she began her nearly 30 years of service to the university.

Deb served in various roles at UW including: publications editor and special assignments editor for UW News Service, assistant director of the

Alumni Association, adjunct lecturer in the Master of Public Administration Program, and most recently as the PR coordinator for the UW College of Education.

Deb was a lifelong learner. Upon her return to the university, she began her masters in sociology, which she

While folks might assume that I know Deb’s husband, Bob (Beck), as the voice of politics and the legislature at Wyoming Public Radio, few might know that I knew Deb far longer. I started at UW in 1992 and quickly became associated with the Women’s Studies Program (now Gender and Women’s Studies). One of the people who taught in the program was Deb. Long before the advent of online classes, Deb taught our introductory class via correspondence so that site-bound students could have access to women’s studies!

Over the years, Deb and I chatted regularly, and I watched with admiration as she continued teaching, completed a doctorate, and then filled a well-needed niche for our community and state by offering classes in nonprofit management. She often made me laugh with her pithy (and political) posts on Facebook and the love of her “boys” ( furry as well as Bob). I miss her and all she had to offer.

— Cathy Connolly – Wyoming state representative for District 13, associate director of the School of Culture, Gender and Social Justice, and professor of Gender and Women’s Studies at UW

completed in 1993. Deb’s quest for knowledge was yet unfulfilled, and she immediately started working toward her masters in communication from UW, which she earned in 1998. She would later go on to earn her doctorate in adult and postsecondary education from UW in 2009.

Another quality that comprised Deb’s personality was an innate drive to help others. Unable to just sit back and watch others struggle, she was an active member of many local nonprofit organizations and served on several of the organizations’ boards. She worked to provide support to victims of abuse and sexual assault as well as to those who cannot afford medical assistance. She co-founded the Snowy Range NonProfit institute to share her knowledge with others and provide guidance and training to nonprofits across Wyoming.

The research she conducted while earning her sociology degree and her experience working with nonprofit organizations led her to become respected expert in the area of nonprofit governance and leadership.

She was highly published in the field and was invited to speak on the subject throughout the country and in Canada.

Deb was passionate about technology and was always searching for the most innovative ways to connect with others. She was an advocate for online learning and utilized podcasts, videos and social media to share her knowledge with others. She was extremely active on Twitter and accumulated over 5,000 followers. Her nearly 28,000 tweets centered on her two passions: non-profit governance and adult learning.

Dogs were a part of Deb’s life since she was a young girl when she participated dog shows. She never missed watching the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show on TV and she regularly sponsored the obedience award at the local 4-H fair. Deb and

Bob always had a Labrador Retriever during their time together.

Baseball was a passion of Bob’s. Early on, Deb realized she would have to study up on stats, teams and players so she would be able to communicate with her husband during baseball season.

Originally a Dodgers fan, she changed her allegiance to the Rockies when the team started in the early 90s. One thing she could never understand was Bob’s love for the Chicago Cubs.

A highly involved and intelligent woman, such as Deb, deserved to have a few guilty pleasures in life. She would unwind from her busy days by watching reality television. Some of her favorite shows included Dance Moms, Keeping up with the Kardashians and MTV’s Real World. She also had an obsession with pens. She had hundreds of high quality pens some with special inks stored all over the house. She was excited to find out that were others like her and that there was even a podcast centered on the topic that she would

Deb Beck and Dewey, her Labrador Retriever.

PHOTO COURTESY OF BOB BECK

make Bob listen to while they were driving.

Deb’s passionate attitude and talents are certainly missed by her friends and colleagues at the university and throughout Wyoming. Her legacy will always live on through the wealth of knowledge she left behind as well as all the many lives she touched.

I had the pleasure of taking a course taught by Deb in nonprofit leadership during my undergraduate career, and in that course, she modeled what active learning could look like online. She challenged myself and my classmates to engage in group-work, at a distance, to plan and execute complex projects.

My experience as Deb’s student shaped how I came to understand and appreciate the power of online learning. Sometime after I joined the UW Outreach School, Deb asked me to collaborate with her on a presentation about her course at an online learning conference at the UW campus (e-Volution). Again, she modeled for me how instructors can perform action research in their classrooms. She impressed upon me her willingness to experiment, modify and adapt when needed, and sharing those results with the campus community. Better than anybody I know, Deb knew how to leverage technology to connect with others —in the online classroom, social media, email, etc.

Even after I left the UW for Purdue, Deb stayed connected —often organizing web chats and conferences with colleagues across the country. She was continually sharing exciting technologies and finding ways to use them in education. I learned so much from Deb, but perhaps most striking was her curiosity, and willingness to share and foster virtual communities.

— Cody Connor, previous student at UW and current manager of course design and development at Purdue University

Education@UWYO Spring 2018 • 5

Upending Educator Preparation An Update on the Trustees Education Initiative By: Jason Harper

In Wyoming and across the nation, too few people are choosing to pursue careers in education, which is resulting in a shortage of qualified teachers, especially in high-need areas like special education, science, mathematics and technology. Additionally, many new teachers do not have enough practice in classroom experiences as they enter the career, causing them and their students to struggle.

The Trustees Education Initiative (TEI) and the University of Wyoming College of Education seek to solve this problem by changing the way educators are prepared at UW. TEI was formed to elevate the College of Education to the status of a preeminent college in professional educator preparation.

Proposed innovations are sent to the TEI Coordinating Council, TEI Governing Board and UW Board of Trustees for approval. Once approved, TEI then begins to implement and analyze the innovation. The College of Education will implement the novel programs and strategies that are proven to be successful through the TEI pilots into the curriculum.

Phase one of the TEI plan, steered the initiative from its inception in 2016 through the end of the 2017 calendar year. This phase focused on establishing a governing board, strategic planning committees and an executive director to get the initiative up and running.

Rebecca Watts was selected to guide the initiative in September 2016. Her first challenge was to seek input from stakeholders throughout the state and to plan for the long-term financial support of the initiative. As phase one goals were achieved under Watts’ direction, the first proposed innovations started to roll in.

TEI is currently in phase two from 2018–20. During this time the focus will be on implementing the innovative programs and strategies that come through TEI as well as developing continued financial support for the initiative.

The first TEI innovation to be approved occurred ahead of plan in July 2017. Since then, five additional proposals have been approved. Some initiatives are already being implemented in candidate experiences in the College of Education, others are multi-year efforts whose full implementation A well-prepared educator leads a class utilizing innovative technology and teaching practices

Education@UWYO Spring 2018 • 7

is a couple of years away. Learn more below about each approved initiative and the intended effects it will have on teacher preparation and outreach in Wyoming.

Improving Teacher Preparation Using Virtual Reality TEI Proposal 2017-01: Avatar Augmented Reality Simulations was the first TEI proposal to be approved. It was implemented in College of Education classrooms for the first time during the spring 2018 semester.

The initiative aims to improve the teaching and classroom management of new teachers, as well as the collegial interaction and collaboration between educators through Mursion mixed reality simulations. Future educators practice leading a classroom of digital avatars that are being controlled by a “digital puppeteer” that allows the avatars to behave and react to the educator candidate and each other in unique ways during the training sessions. No two sessions are ever the same.

This experience allows pre-service teachers to practice new techniques, hone their skills and receive feedback from College of Education faculty in a controlled environment.

The avatars provide a realistic teaching experience while not affecting the learning outcomes of real students.

Qualified Candidates and Mentorship Promote Educator Success in UW-E4 Program The UW-E4 program was initiated with the approval of TEI Proposal 2017-05: Enterprise for Elevating Educational Excellence - UW-E4. This innovative program seeks to cultivate promising high school students into well-prepared teachers. This innovation came about from the need to attract

Wyoming Excellence in Higher Education Endowed Chair in Literacy Education and Professor, Cynthia Brock, mentors Ph.D. student Adeline Borti.

8 • Education@UWYO Spring 2018

promising students who may pursue other careers instead of education, the need to provide candidates a practice-rich preparation experience, as well as the need to provide a network to support new teachers entering the profession.

Wyoming Educators Rising chapters will be created in high schools across the state to engage promising students in experiences and learning modules that provide them meaningful experiences on what it feels like to be an educator.

Top high school students would be selected to be UW-E4 Fellows and would be exposed to education professions through the extensive online modules and resources provided

by Educators Rising and during E4 Summer Institutes held on the UW campus in Laramie. Program Fellows would also be required to take courses during high school that count for college credit so they can enter UW as rising sophomores.

Once enrolling at UW, educator candidates would not be allowed to declare a specialization until they have completed clinical observations in all grade levels and content areas.

This aspect of the E4 model provides candidates with guided observation experiences in all fields so they can make an informed decision when declaring a specialization, including knowledge of the greatest supply and demand needs in Wyoming schools. Traditional courses at UW would be replaced by modules that candidates can complete at their own pace.

E4 Fellows will gain student-teaching experience through a residency for the entire duration of their final academic year at UW, in contrast to UW’s typical student teaching experiences that occur only in the spring semester. After graduation, if hired by a Wyoming school, E4 Fellows will take part in a four-year professional induction and mentorship program to ensure they continue to receive support and guidance as they begin their careers.

Watts has been working to start Educators Rising chapters in schools across the state during the spring 2018 semester.

The first high school students from the chapters are expected to attend the inaugural E4 Summer Institute in 2019. The first group of students to complete the entire fellowship will not finish the induction and mentorship portion of the program until 2028.

Instilling Ethical Behavior into our Graduates Ethics are an important part of any functioning society or professional field. Instilling ethical behavior into educator candidates helps to ensure children can learn in a safe and morally conscious environment. TEI Proposal 2017-09: Ethical Educator Program, approved in November 2017, aims to embed professional ethics development throughout the teacher preparation curriculum at UW.

Professor of Elementary & Early Childhood Education, Michelle Buchanan, works with a young student

This approach will ingrain candidates with a sense of how to best mitigate risk when they are confronted with an ethical dilemma. Candidates gain a deeper understanding with this method in contrast to a model that includes only a single course in professional ethics.

The ethics strand in the curriculum will incorporate elements of the Model Code of Ethics for Educators, developed by the National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification.

Pre-service teachers will be immersed with ethics through case studies embedded into coursework and by completing the ProEthicaÂŽ program. This modular online training program presents real-life ethical challenges a teacher candidate must solve through videos, simulations and activities. Access to this program has been funded by TEI. Ethics will also be embedded into the student-teaching assessment pre-service teachers must undergo. Teacher candidates will be asked to reflect on the ethical dilemmas they experienced while student teaching and how they navigated those situations based on their training.

Outcomes Data to Guide Innovation at UW College of Education Innovation should always be informed by valid, reliable, meaningful data. A recent national analysis showed that educator preparation programs lack sufficient data to inform improvements and innovation.

The approval of TEI Proposal 2017-12: Common Indicator Set, put the wheels in motion for UW to help solve this problem by joining the Deans for Impact Common Indicators System, a national consortium of educator

preparation programs which will collect and analyze data elements in order to drive innovation in the field.

This innovation will allow the College of Education to guide its decisions on program improvement based on data that has been systematically gathered, analyzed and can be compared to other member institutions.

The college will launch a search for a data scientist as part of a UW data science cluster hire. This new full-time position will oversee the implementation of the Common Indicators System and other assessments related to continuous program improvement and the implementation of approved TEI innovations. TEI will provide funding to support the work of the newly hired data scientist, including necessary any parttime personnel.

Equipped with good data and the new data scientist, the college will be poised to make necessary improvements to programs in a timely manner in order to better serve the state of Wyoming. It will also allow for the continuous assessment of the value TEI innovations provide as they are implemented and integrated into the current programs.

Professional Development Options Improve Skills of Early Childhood Educators In Wyoming, it can be geographically difficult for pre-service early childhood educators to gain professional experiences.

It can also be equally as hard for seasoned professionals in early childhood to participate in professional development opportunities to expand their knowledge and skills. TEI Proposal 2017-08: Wyoming Early Childhood Outreach Network aims to expand the field placement options and professional development opportunities for early childhood educators, in addition to providing an early childhood education undergraduate degree at UW. This innovation will create the Wyoming Early Childhood Outreach Network (WyECON) to act as an organizing body to provide high-quality field experience options for pre-service teachers and to make existing professional development opportunities available to all early childhood educators, regardless of their geographic location. These opportunities will be conducted through a statewide network of community hubs where early childhood education professionals will feel free to gain new techniques and openly discuss their needs and challenges with peers.

The development of an early childhood undergraduate degree will be explored to provide a pathway for educators to earn a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wyoming.

If this degree program is developed, WyECON participants would be able to complete professional development modules to earn credit toward their degrees at UW. Education@UWYO Spring 2018 • 9

Coaching Laboratory Supports New and Seasoned Educators in Wyoming The unpredictable nature of a classroom can present instances that would challenge even the most experienced educators. So, it is important for novice educators who are just starting their career to have a mentorship and coaching network to support them as they continue to grow as professional educators. Seasoned educators benefit by sharing their advice with inexperience professionals and improving their own methods through exposure to the novel techniques used by the novice educators. Proposal 2017-11: Wyoming Coaching Laboratory (WYCOLA) aims to build this network.

The WYCOLA intensive professional development experience will start with a two-week summer institute.

During the institute experienced, novice and pre-service educators will have the chance to observe and coach an

instructor during a mathematics lesson during a summer school session.

This intensive coaching institute will benefit educators in Wyoming by providing an avenue for new and pre-service teachers to further develop their practice through interaction with experienced in-service teachers. After two years in the program, mentor teachers would have the opportunity to become affiliate coaches. WYCOLA would supplement salary support for these educators in order to give the coaches release time to provide continuing support and training to mentor teachers, pre-service teachers, and early career teachers in their local school districts.

The first WYCOLA Summer Institute will be held in the summer of 2018. This experience will be offered in varying locations throughout the state, rotating each year, with the first session being offered in Laramie, Wyo.

Message from TEI Executive Director Rebecca Watts, UW Trustees Education Initiative Executive Director After its creation by the University of Wyoming Board of reviewed by: 1) a group of national experts, 2) a TEI Trustees in November 2014, TEI gained significant initial Stakeholder Feedback Group of more than 80 Wyomingites, funding support in the form of a five-year grant from the 3) the TEI Coordinating Council and 4) the TEI Governing Denver-based Daniels Fund. In addition, TEI has garnered Board. Six proposals successfully progressed through the review gifts from private donors to support the fulfillment of its process and were recommended to the University of Wyoming vision and mission.

Board of Trustees for final determination.

Fueled by these resources, in early 2017 Each of the six proposals moving forward to TEI hosted a series of ten town hall Meetings the Board of Trustees gained approval for pilot To stay current on throughout Wyoming to gain feedback from implementation supported by TEI’s private TEI progress, we invite you stakeholders, including Wyoming school funding sources. to bookmark the “Progress and Milestones” page of TEI’s leaders, parents, community representatives The work to design and refine innovative website: uwyo.edu/ and state elected officials. These insights have models that address Wyoming’s unique needs trust_edu_init/news.html informed the development of innovations has been an arduous task that has tapped the in educator preparation to ensure they align imagination, expertise and energy of more than with the needs of Wyoming schools and most 100 individuals. TEI is grateful to each person importantly, the needs of Wyoming students. who has engaged in this thoughtful, challenging process.

After gathering and analyzing this feedback, TEI launched In 2018 TEI is moving its focus to the implementation its innovation design stage, working with University of and outcomes measurement of the six approved innovations.

Wyoming faculty members and key statewide stakeholders Our gratitude to all our partners in this work deepens as we to design innovative models for the initial preparation and carry out the plans developed in the design phase. Supported ongoing professional growth of Wyoming educators. TEI through our private funding sources, execution of the TEI innovation design was informed by consultations with national innovation designs will leverage the time, talents and expertise experts and visits to innovative educator preparation programs. of UW faculty members, Wyoming educators, state leaders The design process yielded 12 proposals which were and national experts.

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Writing Fellows Increase Academic Publications Written by: Alli Barker

The University of Wyoming’s College of Education Academic Writing Fellows Initiative was created with intention to foster an environment that promotes academic writing and to encourage faculty to write for high-quality publications.

The program was conceptualized by Interim Writing Center Director Rick Fisher and Endowed Chairs of Literacy Education Cynthia Brock and Victoria Gillis, during the spring of 2017. The program was run by Brock and Wyoming Excellence in Higher Education Endowed Chair in Literacy Education, Leigh Hall, during the 2017-18 academic year.

“Even though writing often feels like solitary and isolating work, the notion of writing fellows seemed like a good way to recognize the value of a social community to help support and advance writing,” says Fisher.

The Academic Writing Fellows Program focuses on the promotion of academic writing and furthers collegiality within the College of Education. The goal of the initiative is to provide support to fellows who wish to establish a regular habit of producing high-quality academic writing.

“Academic writing is one of the cornerstones of our work as professors,” says Brock. “Developing a culture of high-quality academic writing is of crucial importance for any college or university.”

To promote high-quality academic writing, nine fellowship members, both doctoral students and College of Education faculty, receive mentorship from expert writers across the country. The mentorship allows participants to improve research work and the presentation of writing.

Along with mentorship from writing experts throughout the nation, fellowship members meet with their colleagues to develop a plan for writing journal articles that are submitted to a top-tier scholarly journals. Writing fellows meet weekly in small writing groups to support one another in their writing by debriefing works-in-progress or providing guidance when needed.

“Through participation in the program I have redefined who I am as a scholarly writer,” School of Teacher Education Associate Professor Alan Buss says. “Interactions with phenomenal colleagues have fueled this change, as I’ve seen how they wrestle with and overcome the same issues I privately thought were my own, unique hang-ups.”

Pictured left to right: Gabe Swarts, assistant professor; Karen Cloud, assistant lecturer; Dana Robertson, LRCC executive director and assistant professor; Ana Houseal, associate professor; Kate Muir Welsh, associate professor; Tao Han, associate professor; Toby Holmes, assistant professor; and Alan Buss, associate professor. PHOTO COURTESY OF CYNTHIA BROCK

Another fellow, Executive Director of the Literacy Research Center and Clinic Dana Robertson, shares the many successes he has had within the program, “With the support of this process over the last year, I have secured one top-tier publication, a second under review and two more in progress towards submission.”

At the end of the spring 2018 semester, the fellows have experienced many successes thus far, including: two books accepted or published, five book chapters accepted or published, 12 grants submitted or funded, 17 Q1 journal manuscripts submitted, published or under review and eight practitioner articles submitted, published or under review.

The Academic Writing Fellows will continue their program for another year further developing a college ethos that promotes high-quality academic writing and publishing.

“The opportunity to collaborate with committed faculty and a supportive dean was a really exciting part of this project,” Fisher states. “I hope that it is possible to make this opportunity a sustainable experience for others in the College of Ed.” The Academic Writing Fellows Initiative serves to promote and increase in high-quality academic writing. The fellows are determined, as Brock explains, “to continue to grow and expand the culture of producing high-quality academic writing in the College of Education.”

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DONOR Passionate About Education SPOTLIGHT

By: Jason Harper

If you ask Diana Clapp, superintendent at Fremont County School District #6, what she is passionate about, she will answer you with one word, education.

She cares about education because she knows the power it has to change people’s lives.

“Education in its multiple forms is foundational to the health of our democracy,” says Clapp, “Education can also be a bridge out of generational poverty.” She has demonstrated this passion through her unwavering support of students in her district, at the UW College of Education and throughout Wyoming.

Clapp has served on several state level committees and held positions that guide education policy and assessment in Wyoming. She was named Wyoming Superintendent of the Year in 2011 and received the Myron Basom School Leadership Award in 2012.

Her education and career have been tied to the UW College of Education.

Currently a member of the college’s Advocacy Board, she first became connected with UW when she pursued her bachelors in elementary education.

After teaching third grade for a number of years, an opportunity in her district lead to her completing her master’s in educational leadership at UW. Her career path eventually led her to her current position as superintendent, a position she has held for 15 years.

She works to ensure that the 490 P-12 students in her district, that covers over 1,300 square miles and includes the 12 • Education@UWYO Spring 2018

Pictured left to right: Nicole Tatro, day care coordinator; Brandy Mickelson, science teacher at Fremont County School District #6, UW alumna, and mother of six-month-old Tarak; and Diana Clapp, superintendent at Fremont County School District #6. COURTESY PHOTO

Wind River Indian Reservation, have access to a high-quality education. The district’s large area and remote location in addition to the low number of students often forces her to be creative when finding solutions to provide her students and community with the services they need.

Ten years ago, Clapp and the school board initiated efforts to establish a preschool in the district. Since then they have been able to found preschools in Pavillion and Crowheart. Through the hard work of staff, they have also built an award-winning mobile preschool, repurposing an out of service school bus. They have expanded the services on the bus to include a registered nurse to provide health education, immunizations, and to help bridge the gap between families and the health services providers in the area.

The district has also recently received support to open an on-site daycare

to serve both district staff and the community. A vision to include a schoolbased medical clinic in the district was also moved into its final stages and is anticipated to open later this year.

Fremont County School District #6 can also boast some major accomplishments among their Native American students. Attendance rates for these students have stayed above 91 percent for three years. The district has also graduated 100 percent of their native students three of the last five years. These numbers are outstanding in a small district with limited resources and can be attributed, at least in part, to the environment Clapp strives to create in order to promote learning and success.

She would not have been able to accomplish all of this without her indepth knowledge and strong values she gained while attending UW. She says, “The university changed the trajectory of my life and career. It provided me the education to work in my capacity as a school superintendent. It helped me establish a network of resources and professionals to continue to learn from, partner with, and enjoy the friendship and connections with great people in Wyoming.”

Clapp has some advice to share with future and current educators.

“Educating is a process, and you will have a vantage point to make a positive difference every time you help a student grow and gain confidence in his/her own future and every time you engage in making your students community a stronger and healthier place to live.”

By: Cody Perry, Sanford Inspire at UW Coordinator

The University of Wyoming College of Education recently implemented the Sanford Inspire Program as a resource for pre-service and current teachers in the state to improve their abilities.

The program was developed at Arizona State University through a $28 million grant from T. Denny Sanford. The program employs a multitier approach that focuses on connecting research, development and practice through a consortium of higher education institutions in alignment with P-12 school districts.

There are currently 20 universities participating in the program, and it has impacted

College of Education pre-service teachers, alumni and all educators in Wyoming can benefit from the Sanford Inspire Program at no cost to parents, teachers, or their local districts.

The modules consist of 30 - 60-minute micro courses and cover topics such as culturally diverse learners, differentiated instruction, classroom management and promoting parent involvement.

Educators complete these modules to help them become inspirational leaders of dynamic and stimulating classrooms that welcome diversity.

Faculty at UW are encouraged to utilize the modules in their courses to help teacher candidates address areas where they need to gain exposure to new concepts or improve their abilities. Students will complete the online

MODULES IMPROVE ABILITIES OF WYOMING’S EDUCATORS the education of more than 175,000 students nationwide. UW is the most recent collaborative partner to implement the program. The exciting new resource will help to improve education in the state by providing educators with free resources to extend their knowledge and update their skills.

Sanford Inspire was designed to create and disseminate strategies and resources developed through research and the sharing of evidencebased teaching. The program consists of over 80 on-demand, online video modules that further develop an educator’s capabilities.

Sanford Inspire serves as a leading creator of professional development resources for pre-service and in-service P-12 teachers. The program’s online nature is especially beneficial for teachers in remote rural areas who may not have access to professional development tools. Current

modules at their own pace, allowing them to take a break or review previous sections.

Each module starts with a lesson that is split up into chapters. New ideas and background information are presented through interactive videos. An assessment of each lesson must be completed, where five to six questions must be answered correctly in order to move forward in the program. Upon the conclusion of each module, the educators will receive a certificate of completion and gain access to additional resources that they can take into the classroom to further their learning.

The Sanford Inspire Program will help students across the state to realize their full potential, regardless of background, race or financial standing by providing their educators with tools to ensure their techniques are novel and follow current best practices.

College of Education graduate students gain insight through Sanford Inspire videos.

For more information concerning the Sanford Inspire Program visit uwyo.edu/ education/ Sanford-inspire.

Education@UWYO Spring 2018 • 13

EMPOWERING WYOMING’S STUDENTS

THROUGH LITERACY By: Dan Robertson, LRCC executive director and assistant professor

With a vision of empowering literacy through evidence-based practices, the Literacy Research Center and Clinic (LRCC) engages in teaching and researching how Wyoming students think and engage with, acquire knowledge from, and produce a variety of texts, as well as how teachers facilitate these processes.

“When students can more effectively process and produce texts, and teachers can support the students’ abilities, the potential for those students to achieve personal, economic, and social fulfillment greatly increases,” says Dana Robertson, LRCC executive director and assistant professor of elementary and early childhood education. “This will in turn improve quality of life for students, their families and their communities.”

Since opening its doors in March 2014, the LRCC has worked in 17 Wyoming counties, and 28 schools and

14 • Education@UWYO Spring 2018

centers. Professional development and research partnerships have helped more than 2,000 teachers in the state hone their instructional methods to advance countless students’ literacy learning. The LRCC also organizes an annual literacy conference to ensure Wyoming educators are exposed to the latest research and best practices in literacy education.

The center has supported literacy development for more than 420 Wyoming families through in-home literacy practices and coached 56 master’s and undergraduate students as they worked with more than 80 school-age students in literacy tutoring experiences.

“There is tremendous pride in knowing the successes the LRCC has enjoyed promoting literacy learning and instruction in Wyoming’s schools and centers, and with families across the state.” says Robertson.

On the UW campus, the LRCC also has provided numerous graduate assistantships for doctoral work in literacy, and the literacy Ph.D. program continues to grow in number, international reputation and competitiveness.

The program has brought international literacy graduate students to Wyoming from as far away as Ghana, Russia and Uzbekistan.

The release of the 2017-18 strategic plan outlines the direction of the LRCC in the coming years. At the core of the LRCC’s work are beliefs that literacy is supported through the connection of rigorous research to teaching practice, collaborating and sharing responsibility among partners, empowering students and teachers, and ensuring equitable opportunities for all students to engage in active, informed citizenship and to succeed in a sustainable global economy.

Through impactful research and scholarship, empowering professional learning opportunities and access the clinical literacy services, the LRCC is committed to the land-grant mission of the University of Wyoming, and to supporting the College of Education’s rise to a pre-eminent institution of higher education.

View the LRCC strategic plan for 2017-22: uwyo.edu/ education/lrcc/_files/documents/lrcc-strategic-plan.pdf

Becoming a Better Counselor from Within By: Jason Harper

A University of Wyoming College of Education master’s student in counseling, Jessica Ryan of Grove City, Pa, was recently named a co-grand prize winner of the American Counseling Association’s (ACA) graduate student essay contest. Ryan’s submission was selected from over 200 ACA student member submissions. Lynne Shayko of Kent State University was the grand prize co-winner.

Ryan’s submission competed under the Tomorrow’s Counselor Competition. The essay responded to the question, “As a professional counselor, how would you promote openness and inclusion in your work?

Furthermore, how would you reach out and support under-served and underrepresented clients?”

In Ryan’s answer she expressed the need for counselors to become aware of their own biases that have been created by their lenses and life experiences. She explains that these perspectives are not wrong or bad, but that those in the profession must recognize and confront these biases so as to not let them influence their treatment of colleagues and clients.

She goes on to share that the first step she will make to promote openness and inclusion is to create a compassionate and safe space within herself to confront the difficult experiences from her life that could influence her actions. She

Jessica Ryan, master’s student in counseling.

PHOTO BY AMANDA CLOWER

will also foster difficult and honest conversations with people who have experiences different from her own in order become a better counselor.

“I am pursuing a degree in counseling to support people through the process of becoming themselves, Ryan says, “I eventually want to combine counseling with my previous work in personal growth, mindfulness and yoga. I hope to use all of those modalities to address intergenerational and systemic trauma, how our bodies hold individual and cultural life experiences, and advocate for mental, emotional, physical and spiritual health for all beings.”

Ryan cites President Laurie Nichols’ commitment to first generation college students and other underrepresented groups as something she admired at UW. “As a female, first-generation college student, I know that student loans, unshared experiences from families, classmates and instructors, and a perceived lack the of support can make going to college daunting,” says

Ryan. “It’s nice to know that there are UW administrators who are in these students’ corners.”

Ryan and the other awardees traveled to the ACA 2018 Conference and Expo in Atlanta, Ga from April 25-26, 2018, to be honored at an awards ceremony. Their essays will be published in a mid-year edition of Counseling Today.

The ACA has supported graduate students through scholarship awards for attendance at the ACA Annual Conference and Expo, by supporting the Graduate Student/New Professional Center and including special education events at the annual conference. The association hopes this support will help more counseling students become involved in the profession.

“I have seen a lot of despair, yet I have so much faith and belief in resiliency, healing, and love,” Ryan says. “If we can find those things within ourselves, we are better equipped to find ways of offering them to others.”

Education@UWYO Spring 2018 • 15

Wyoming’s Connection To the World

Dilnoza Khasilova, Ph.D. student in literacy education, showcases a dress from Uzbekistan during the 2017 International Student Association Talent and Fashion Show.

By: Alli Barker

How can I help UW students and community members in Laramie learn more about world cultures and languages? That is the question University of Wyoming literacy education doctoral student Dilnoza Khasilova, asked herself as she began her master’s project at UW in 2012.

This question drove the development of the UW World Language and Culture (WLC) Program and transformed the lives of many students and volunteers who participated in the program.

Although she was born in Russia, Khasilova is from Uzbekistan, the heart of Central Asia. Her inspiration to promote cross-cultural learning and volunteerism comes from her own multicultural experiences and impressive ability to speak Uzbek, Russian, English, German and French.

Before her time at UW, she attended Smolensk University of Humanities in Russia, where she gained a degree in linguistics in 2009. Shortly after, she was accepted to UW and earned a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction in 2012. She spent a couple of years working in various education roles in Laramie before starting her Ph.D. in literacy studies at UW in 2016.

The WLC Program was launched in 2014 with support from Associate Professor of Elementary and Early Childhood Education Amy Roberts; ASUW’s Special Project; and the UW Global Engagement Office. “I feel Wyoming became my second home,” Khasilova says. “I always wanted to share and show others what they can learn about the world.”

Khasilova’s goal for the program is to help those involved become globally minded citizens by promoting diversity and volunteerism on campus, helping participants build better relationships,

Map of Khasilova’s home country, Uzbekistan

spreading awareness of cultural differences and providing opportunities to learn a new language.

Today, the program offers classes in 14 languages as well as opportunities to explore cultural learning in a nonformal setting. Depending on the semester and availability of language instructors, the program offers up to 18 language and culture classes.

“These courses give the students the opportunity to be immersed in a language without the pressure of taking tests,” says Irina Weese, a German instructor for the program.

“Students learn about the different ways of thinking, promoting and understanding cultures which, leads to more respect for each other.”

The courses give students an opportunity to be immersed in a language or culture without being graded. Students’ participation in the program can provide them with an understanding of different cultures and can lead them to be more respectful of each other.

The program functions on a volunteer basis, and many WLC Program students became instructors.

In addition, UW’s exchange and Fulbright scholars teach in this program, providing learners with and even larger picture of the world. Each volunteer brings a unique perspective to the program, and students benefit by having instructors from different parts of the world who have different educational backgrounds.

Many UW students have used

the program since its inception.

One student was able to accept a job in Russia after taking the Russian program. Another student, Chance Shemin, was able to learn more about his heritage. He explains, “I was born in Uzbekistan but was adopted at 16 months old and raised in America. I never had the opportunity to learn the Uzbek language or about the culture.

Because of this program, I was given that opportunity.”

Through word of mouth and an article from the Laramie Boomerang, people outside of UW started participating in the program, and it transformed into a major learning service for anyone in the community.

Many attend the program because they want to build a stronger more connected community. Others want to prepare for trips abroad and some people just want to get a better understanding of other cultures and places without having to travel.

The program has become a great success on campus and off. The alwaysevolving content ensures interested students will be able to find something fresh and new to learn.

As the Uzbek proverb says, “Beshikdan qabrgacha ilm izla,” meaning “Seek knowledge from the day you were born until the day you die.” Khasilova adds. “Learning occurs every day and everywhere. By exploring it, and the world, you can gain crucial knowledge you didn’t know you were missing.”

The WLC Program is free, and classes meet once a week. If you are interested in expanding your cultural horizons, learning a new language, or teaching about a culture or language, please contact Dilnoza Khasilova at dkhasilo@uwyo.edu. Follow the WLC Program on Facebook to stay up-todate on its activities, facebook.com/ culturelanguageprogram.

Education@UWYO Spring 2018 • 17

Pictured left to right: Jonathon Cummings, elementary education major; Jessica Ryan, Mursion faculty coordinator and mental health counseling graduate student; Alli Barker, secondary english education/business major; and Amy Spiker, senior lecturer participate in a Mursion classroom simulation.

REAL EXPERIENCE THROUGH VIRTUAL REALITY By: Jason Harper

Newly minted teachers can often be challenged by situations that occur in their classrooms due to their inexperience.

Candidates in typical teacher preparation programs take part in student teaching during the final semester of their senior year. Many education stakeholders wonder if this experience is enough to prepare a future teachers to lead classrooms on their own.

Teacher candidates in the University of Wyoming College of Education will benefit from the additional teaching experience gained while utilizing the Mursion Virtual Reality Simulation platform. Using this technology, candidates will teach to a class of five digital avatars whose voice and actions 18 • Education@UWYO Spring 2018

are controlled by a person acting as a “digital puppeteer.” This immersive learning experience is used to replicate the complex social environment of an elementary or secondary classroom.

Faculty members from the School of Teacher Education were trained using the platform in January, and many have started incorporating Mursion® into the curriculum. During the spring semester Assistant Professor Joan James integrated the experience into one of the courses she instructs, EDST 3000. The course is typically taken by juniors and includes future educators from all education majors at both the elementary and secondary levels.

“It is often difficult to provide students with actual classroom experience outside of their scheduled practicum and student teaching experiences,” says James. “Mursion is an

effective way of providing our preservice teachers with muchneeded teaching experience.”

Four to five pre-service teachers in the course spend about 10 minutes each leading a lesson in the Mursion Lab while the others observe. “The lesson was on classroom management,” James says. “They would introduce themselves, have their students introduce themselves, set up expectations for the students during the lesson, teach an attention signal and introduce a lesson.”

A typical session begins when the future educator says, “Start simulation.” They then commence leading the class of avatars as if they were real students. The simulation can even be paused and restarted if the candidate needs a moment to collect himself or herself. To conclude the experience, the candidate says, “End simulation.” Candidates then reflect on the experience and get feedback and coaching from the faculty instructor and other pre-service educators who observed in the training.

Although it can be challenging for some, the majority of pre-service teachers who have experienced Mursion believe in its potential. “Most have said that they would be open to doing this more often, and many feel that it would be a good venue for practicing a lesson they are going to teach before they actually step in front of a real class,” James says.

The powerful Mursion virtual reality software, paired with the human actor providing the vocals and actions for each avatar, provides for a realistic classroom experience. Audio and video feeds allow the “digital puppeteer” behind the avatars to react to the actions of the teacher candidate leading the simulation in real-time. The human actor can see and hear everything happening in the Mursion Lab, including things written on the board and any teaching aids presented.

Just as in a real classroom, the digital students can be unpredictable and exhibit behaviors that impede the learning of the class. The avatars do things like fall asleep, doodle, text on their cell phones, speak out of turn and have side conversations. The teacher candidates get experience correcting these behaviors on the fly while continuing to lead the class in the lesson. The simulation can be set to mild, medium or difficult, and the students’ bad behavior amplifies at each level.

The innovation proposal for the use of Mursion at UW was developed by a Trustees Education Initiative (TEI) Research Work Group. Once developed and submitted to TEI for consideration, the proposal was reviewed and approved by the TEI coordinating council, TEI Governing Board and the UW Board of Trustees. The funding to implement the Mursion pilot program was provided by TEI. Watch Mursion in action at the following link: www. youtube.com/watch?v=76uffedFAnE

2017

Accomplishments of

College of Education Faculty

120

232

# of manuscripts, book chapters, books, or creative works in progress or submitted

# of presentations Faculty made at national and international conferences

50

# of Professional Decvelopment activities Faculty participated in

31

68

# of grants submitted or active

45

# of grants recieving funding or were active

# of Awards presented to College of Education Faculty

Education@UWYO Spring 2018 • 19

By: Jason Harper

Jon Anderle (Ph.D. ’18)

Police Officer to

Ph.D. 20 • Education@UWYO Spring 2018

Jon Anderle is not your typical College of Education student.

Recently earning his Ph.D in education with a concentration in learning, design, and technology, his journey did not start in a classroom like most traditional educators. His career started in a police cruiser.

For 20 years Anderle served the community of Laramie in various roles, including patrol officer and canine handler, investigations unit sergeant, professional standards unit sergeant and operations lieutenant.

Early in his career Anderle attended extra training to learn more about impaired driving enforcement, an area that he was passionate about. The skills and knowledge he acquired during these training sessions led him to become a training instructor for a variety of disciplines at the department.

Providing training to officers at a local level led Anderle to want to help improve the skills of officers on a larger scale.

In 2006, Anderle submitted a proposal that would initiate Wyoming as a Drug Evaluation and Classification Program state through the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP). The proposal was accepted, and he was appointed as the first statewide coordinator for the program.

As the statewide coordinator, Anderle was trained and certified as a drug recognition expert as well as a drug recognition expert instructor. In this role, he delivered drug recognition training to police officers and public safety officials throughout Wyoming. He was later appointed to the IACP Highway Safety Committee Technical Advisory Panel and was assigned to the curriculum committee.

Near the end of his career in law enforcement, Anderle began to think about what was next. He enrolled in Laramie County Community College (LCCC) and started working on a degree to position himself to become a police chief, his plan at the time.

Over the next few years he earned associate of arts degrees in general studies and psychology and an associate of science in business administration at LCCC. He was then accepted to the University of Wyoming College of Business where he would receive both his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and his MBA. Anderle obtained these degrees while working full-time and had to take a majority of courses online. Although he applauds the accessibility and flexibility of LCCC and UW’s distance educations programs, he noted how different aspects the programs’ design affected learning outcomes.

For several years leading up to his retirement from the police force, Anderle taught law enforcement instructor classes as adjunct faculty at the University of North Florida’s

Institute of Police Technology and Management. There, he led courses for civilian law enforcement officers as well as the 97th Military Police Battalion from Fort Riley, Kan. While instructing these students, he began to notice the differences in how civilian and military personnel learn.

His experiences with teaching and instructional design, in addition to his experience with learning in an online environment, led Anderle to realize his passion was for the field of instructional technology. This realization caused him to pursue a Ph.D. from UW’s College of Education.

“Delivering impaired driving enforcement training was definitely the catalyst for my interest in the field,” Anderle shares, “additionally, having the opportunity to experience both online and face-to-face classes gave me an appreciation for the various aspects of instructional design.”

Anderle’s position on the IACP Highway Safety Committee Technical Advisory Panel Curriculum Committee gave him the opportunity to provide input on the design and delivery of various impaired driving training programs throughout the country.

“Working with a team of national experts on the curriculum committee provided me an opportunity to incorporate a lot of the strategies I learned in the PhD program,” Anderle says.

“While I had developed smaller-scale curricula for local and state topics, it was an honor to help with the mission to save lives and reduce injuries on a national level.”

Anderle’s experience and knowledge put him in a unique position to connect the needs of law enforcement training to the capabilities and resources offered through the field of instructional technology. “I am committed to helping build the bridge between best practices in our field and the increasing needs of public safety officials for efficient and effective learning design,” he says.

Anderle has accepted a position to work for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) as the regional administrator for NHTSA Region 5. “I will be working with the state highway safety offices in the region as well as other partners to deliver safety programming designed to save lives, reduce injuries, and reduce the economic impact of crashes on our highways,” he shares.

Private Donor Investments $4.8M

Over $4.8 million in private support raised for the College of Education in the last 18 months.

7

Seven new funds were established to support innovation and excellence in: Special Education, STEM education, Secondary Education, Counselor Education, and Agriculture Education.

$600,000

Over $600,00 in new monies raised for the Literacy Research Center and Clinic to support literacy across the state.

165

165 College of Education students received nearly $300,000 from 62 different scholarships to support education.

Education@UWYO Spring 2018 • 21

y a l P

Leads to Counseling Certification

By: Alli Barker

Play therapy is a form of therapeutic counseling that encourages children from ages 3 to 10 to develop an ability to express and communicate their feelings through play. It was designed to encourage development, create an emotional balance, resolve possible trauma issues and improve social communication skills in young children.

During a typical session, children are observed to help locate and identify their emotions or possible issues that may be agitating them psychosocially.

The School of Counseling, Leadership, Advocacy, and Design at the University of Wyoming College of Education is one of only a handful of counselor preparation programs that offer a play therapy course.

It is even more rare to find a program, like the one at UW, that requires all counseling students to take the 3-credit course.

Associate Professor Kara Holt, who is coordinator of the play therapy program, explains the reasons UW requires the course. “As a counseling program, we work hard to prepare our students to be generalist and also recognize that living in a rural state, we need to offer comprehensive training so that our students are equipped to provide counseling across the lifespan.” Holt was awarded the certification so she could support the training of others at the UW College of Education.

In order to provide a greater benefit to students, the Counseling Program has sought and received approval from the Center for Play Therapy to count the UW play therapy course as credit towards achieving ChildCentered Play Therapist (CCPT) and Certified ChildParent Relationship Therapist (CPRT) certifications.

22 • Education@UWYO Spring 2018

These certifications will allow counseling graduates to expand their services and provide high-quality researchedbased therapeutic services to children and their families across Wyoming.

Graduates who complete CCPT Certification are able to provide developmentally responsive, play-based mental health intervention for children ages 3 to 10.

CCPT uses play as a safe environment that children will feel comfortable in while experiencing acceptance and empathy from the counselor.

Counseling students who seek CPRT certification can provide a play-based treatment program for children with behavioral, emotional, social and attachment disorders.

The certification allows counseling graduates to teach parents vital skills that encourage attachment bonds with their children.

Many students who have taken the play therapy course have aspirations to become certified. “Being able to take the play therapy class gave me a great foundation.

I am planning on becoming a certified play therapist in the course of my work as a counselor. This class gave me a head start on that,” says Ronda Cauffman a master’s student in counseling.

Current counseling students who have been exposed to play therapy through the course believe in its ability to positively affect young children. “Play therapy is incredibly powerful, and I have already seen how it can help children work through issues at a young age,” says Cauffman. Jessica Ryan, who’s pursuing her master’s degree in counseling and has also taken the course, shares this opinion, “If we can foster healing spaces, healthy attachments, and more empathy when the brain is forming—the world is bound to be a better place.”

Kirk Thiemann (top image), Ph.D. student in counselor education, and Lay-nah Blue Morris-Howe (bottom image), assistant professor in counseling, interact with children during play therapy sessions in the UW Counselor Education Training Clinic.

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