Course Syllabus

Fall 2025 | SWK-2150-VO01 - Introduction to Interviewing & Counseling Ski

Online Class

Online courses take place 100% online via Canvas, without required in-person or Zoom meetings.

Faculty

Valerie Welter
View Faculty Credentials
View Faculty Statement
Hiring Coordinator for this course: Kate Hughes

Note

Many degree programs have specific general education recommendations. In order to avoid taking unnecessary classes, please consult with additional resources like your program evaluation, your academic program catalog year page, and your academic advisor.

Courses may only be used to meet one General Education Requirement.

Course Description

This course introduces students to the fundamentals of interviewing and counseling. Students learn effective techniques for interviewing, relationship-building, and communicating with clients, including strategies for supporting individuals experiencing crisis. Emphasis is placed on building introductory counseling skills and exploring how they apply to various populations.

Essential Objectives

1. Articulate the importance of developing a trusting relationship through reflective listening, empathy, authenticity, and non-judgmental feedback.
2. Identify the skills of active listening, including perception checks, reframing, utilizing silence, declining to give advice, and awareness of transference.
3. Practice effective inquiry skills, including open-ended questions, reflecting, paraphrasing, summarizing, and non-verbal communication.
4. Demonstrate an understanding of the interviewing process including intake, assessment, and referral.
5. Recognize the impact of crisis and trauma-responses and how they can impact interactions.
6. Identify strategies and tools for promoting self-awareness, self-care, and resiliency to mitigate burnout, compassion fatigue, and exposure to trauma.
7. Explain how personal values and ethics influence working with clients, as well as the ways in which implicit and explicit bias can impact professional decision-making and interactions.
8. Analyze various counseling practices and their appropriateness with diverse populations.

Required Technology

More information on general computer and internet recommendations is available on the CCV computer recommendations Support page.

Please see CCV's Digital Equity Statement (pg. 45) to learn more about CCV's commitment to supporting all students access the technology they need to successfully finish their courses.

Required Textbooks and Resources

This course uses one or more textbooks/books/simulations, along with free Open Educational Resources (OER) and/or library materials.

Fall 2025 textbook/book details will be available on 2025-05-19. On that date a link will be available below that will take you to eCampus, CCV's bookstore. The information provided there will be specific to this class. Please see this page for more information regarding the purchase of textbooks/books.

SWK-2150-VO01 Link to Textbooks for this course in eCampus.

For Open Educational Resources (OER) and/or library materials details, see the Canvas Site for this class.

The last day to use a Financial Aid Advance to purchase textbooks/books is the 3rd Tuesday of the semester. See your financial aid counselor at your academic center if you have any questions.

Artificial Intelligence(AI) Policy Statement

CCV recognizes that artificial intelligence (AI) and generative AI tools are widely available and becoming embedded in many online writing and creative applications.

Prohibited: The use of generative AI is not allowed in this course, with the exception of spellcheck, grammar check and similar tools. This course rests in the value of students engaging in the learning process without relying on AI-generated content. Students will develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills independently, owning their learning journey from start to finish. If you use these tools, your actions would be considered academically dishonest and a violation of CCV's Academic Integrity Policy.

Methods

This is online class. Presentation of course topical material, discussion, and student participation will take place exclusively through Canvas. Material will be presented using several methods including but not limited to our text, ancillary websites, videos and podcasts.

The course requires non-traditional textbooks. I believe the required texts serve as invaluable learning guides for students as we begin to examine the complex issue of trauma. Resources to supplement the texts and expand our collective discussions will be utilized as well. These will be available to students in the weekly modules as Assigned Resources.

Required Texts:

Hutchinson, D. (2022). The essential counselor: Process, skills, & techniques(4^{th ed.}). Cognella Academic Publishing. ISBN-13: 978-1793512086

Yalom, I. (2012). Love's executioner: And other tales of psychotherapy (2^{nd ed.}). Basic Books. ISBN-13: ‎978-0465020119

Prior to the course opening, please read the assigned Week 1 reading below. The reading will be addressed in the Week 1 discussion and assignments when the course opens.

Hutchinson: Preface and Chapter 1

A detailed syllabus that includes the weekly assigned chapter reading, supplementary resources and assignments will be available in the weekly modules on the course page in Canvas. Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions about the course.

Evaluation Criteria

Most weeks there will be two assignments. Students will submit assignments directly into the discussion forums. Assignments should be comprehensive, well-organized, and academically developed responses, a minimum of 350 words (some weeks later in the semester will require only one 500-words assignment). Include thoughtful, substantive ideas addressing the assignment. Proofread for spelling, grammar and mechanics. Demonstrate critical thinking skills by contributing quality topical material from our readings and ancillary resources. Reference the assigned readings/resources in your coursework to support your thoughts and conclusions and to demonstrate an understanding of the weekly topical material. Reply to classmates with substantive responses; respond by finding points of agreement, disagreement (respectful), expanding upon or questioning. Answer topic-related questions your classmates raise. Active participation in the discussion forums is essential to your overall success in the course. The discussion forums offer students the opportunity to express thoughts, ask questions for clarification, and gain insight from your classmates’ responses and instructor’s guidance

Coursework should be written in college-level English, and should show evidence of critical thinking. You should support your opinions with references to our readings cited appropriately using APA format.

To earn full points for the week, students are required to:

1. Read the assigned material andreference it in your assignments and substantive response posts. Cite appropriately using APA format.

2. Contribute quality topical information to the discussion submitted incollege-level writing. Your first assignment should besubmitted by Thursday midnight, the second by Saturday midnight. All required postings for the week must be made by Monday at midnight (11:59 pm).Postings made after Monday midnight will not be considered for grading without prior communication with me.

3. Participate ontwo different days throughout the week.

4. Respond to a minimum of four assignments or responses submitted by other students or me with a substantive response post that integrates and cites the assigned reading. Two substantive responses are due in each of the weekly discussion forums. A substantive post for the purpose of this course is a well-developed academic response, a minimum 150 words, that references the assigned readings/resources. A substantive post is NOT one or two sentences of general statements or unsupported opinion. Students are welcome to reply to one another with general statements in addition to the guidelines outlined above; however these posts do not meet the criteria of a substantive post.

5. Quizzes will not be used in the course, students are evaluated on their ability to synthesize course readings/resources into assignments and discussion posts. Assignments/posts should demonstrate an understanding of course content; course concepts and vocabulary should be evident.

• In summary, each week students are responsible for TWO assignments and FOUR substantive response posts for a total of SIX submissions.
• Students' assignments and substantive responses will be graded within one week of a weekly module closing. For example, our weekly modules close on Mondays (11:59 pm). Students' coursework will be graded by the following Monday (11:59 pm).

Learning will be assessed through the completion of the weekly assignments & discussion forums and final course presentation. The weekly assignments & discussion forums will be evaluated on the following criteria:

COMPLETENESS: Does the assignment meet the word length requirement requirement? Did you add at least two substantive responses in each discussion forum? Did you address all of the assignment prompts and does your writing reflect a thorough and critical consideration of the weekly material?

APPLICATION & ANALYSIS: Did you connect your assignment and substantive responses to the assigned weekly readings and resources? Do you demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the weekly topical material? Did you provide examples, detail any generalized statements, and substantiate with concrete explanations?

CONSTRUCTION: Did you use complete sentences, proper grammar, accurate spelling, good paragraph structure, and logical organization in your work? Did you cite the course information you referenced using APA format?

TIMELINESS & PARTICIPATION: Did you submit your assignment on time? Did you participate in the online discussion a minimum of two different days?

15 weeks @ 40 points each: 600 points

Introduction: 5 points

Midterm Essay: 50 points

Final Essay: 50 points

Total: 705 points

Grading Criteria

CCV Letter Grades as outlined in the Evaluation System Policy are assigned according to the following chart:

	High	Low
A+	100	98
A	Less than 98	93
A-	Less than 93	90
B+	Less than 90	88
B	Less than 88	83
B-	Less than 83	80
C+	Less than 80	78
C	Less than 78	73
C-	Less than 73	70
D+	Less than 70	68
D	Less than 68	63
D-	Less than 63	60
F	Less than 60
P	100	60
NP	Less than 60	0

Weekly Schedule

Attendance Policy

Regular attendance and participation in classes are essential for success in and are completion requirements for courses at CCV. A student's failure to meet attendance requirements as specified in course descriptions will normally result in a non-satisfactory grade.

• In general, missing more than 20% of a course due to absences, lateness or early departures may jeopardize a student's ability to earn a satisfactory final grade.
• Attending an on-ground or synchronous course means a student appeared in the live classroom for at least a meaningful portion of a given class meeting. Attending an online course means a student posted a discussion forum response, completed a quiz or attempted some other academically required activity. Simply viewing a course item or module does not count as attendance.
• Meeting the minimum attendance requirement for a course does not mean a student has satisfied the academic requirements for participation, which require students to go above and beyond simply attending a portion of the class. Faculty members will individually determine what constitutes participation in each course they teach and explain in their course descriptions how participation factors into a student's final grade.

Participation Expectations

Please review the weekly participation requirements in the Evaluation Criteria section of the Course Syllabus

Regardless of the format or the time period in which a CCV course is offered (e.g. fifteen or seven weeks), the student work expectation for all courses is the same. One academic credit represents 45 hours of work over the course of a semester (including lectures, laboratories, recitations, discussion groups, field work, study, reading, etc.), averaged over the total weeks of the term. Therefore, a three-credit course equates to 135 hours of work for a student. The approximate student learning hours per week for a three-credit course in a 15-week course is 9 hours per week.

This is a three-credit course in a 15-week semester. Students can anticipate spending approximately 9 hours on coursework this week. Please note that this is an approximation. Some students will complete coursework in less time, while other students may require additional time to thoughtfully complete coursework (readings/resources, assignments, and substantive response posts).

Missing & Late Work Policy

This is an asynchronous, interactive class. Students are required to participate in the class by submitting coursework (assignments and substantive responses) a minimum of two separate days each week. I also understand that life happens – illness, emergencies and that there may be times you need to request an extension for an assignment deadline. Any time you miss a deadline, it is your responsibility to inform me (in advance, if possible). Importantly, please be aware that assignments can be submitted late at any time during the week that they are due, although points may be deducted.

Extensions will be granted only in extenuating circumstances. If you encounter a medical issue or other emergent personal circumstances that will result in missing weekly discussions, please contact me proactively. Students who know that they will not have course access for any given week should make arrangements with me in advance to complete assignments and participation requirements prior to the absence.

Absences will affect your grade. If you are not present for a week, you will not earn any discussion points for that week. The course takes place entirely online. Students will need access to a computer with a stable Internet connection; having computer problems will not excuse you from the weekly discussions.

Accessibility Services for Students with Disabilities:

1. Provide disability documentation to the Accessibility Coordinator at your academic center. https://ccv.edu/discover-resources/students-with-disabilities/
2. Request an appointment to meet with accessibility coordinator to discuss your request and create an accommodation plan.
3. Once created, students will share the accommodation plan with faculty. Please note, faculty cannot make disability accommodations outside of this process.

Academic Integrity

Apply Now for this semester.