CULTURAL COMPETENCE TRAINING AT A DISTANCE - CHALLENGES AND STRATEGIES

Technological innovations and demographic trends represent 2 convergin g forces that affect counselor training. Distance education, particula rly televised instruction, is becoming a major presence in higher educ ation. Relatedly, counseling courses and degree programs are increasin gly being offered via televised instruction. At the same time, rapid c ultural, racial, and ethnic diversification in the United States has r esulted in a movement to integrate cultural competency training into c ounseling programs. In this article, the challenges associated with pr oviding cultural competency training via interactive television are ou tlined Characteristics of interactive televised instruction and strate gies for promoting cultural competence within this medium are presente d.