Admission | Program Goals & Objectives | Academics | Clinical Training
Research Training | Clinical Psychology Respecialization Certificate Program

In accordance with the Mission of the School of Psychology, the faculty has identified a set of specific goals and objectives for each domain of the program: Academic, Research, Clinical Training, and Integration. These goals and objectives form the basis for evaluating student competency at every stage of the program.

• Program Goals and Objectives
• Degree Requirements

Learning Environment
A defining characteristic of our School of Psychology is a distributed learning environment—instruction and learning can take place independent of a predefined time and place. The learning environment involves a "blended" instructional approach that allows us to offer both face-to-face and "at a distance" educational modalities, depending upon the needs of individual students and the nature of the activities, courses, and programs.

Our faculty represent diverse theoretical orientations, areas of expertise, and approaches to research and scholarship. Our student body contributes a great deal to the quality of the educational experience in that they are predominantly experienced professionals from varied careers who thereby make material contributions to the richness of the educational milieu. We maintain a technological platform with tools to share information, access library services, and learn in a collaborative environment. We also have a professional and dedicated student support staff.

Our distributed delivery model provides students with considerable flexibility toward completing their programs within the expectations of satisfactory academic progress and the demonstration of the development of scholarly and professional competencies. For example, students have the flexibility to choose from a variety of faculty members with whom to work in completing most requirements, and to structure an individual approach toward completing requirements based upon their learning needs and developing areas of interest. Within certain parameters, there is flexibility in scheduling the initiation and completion of requirements and in varying the pace of progress depending on one's changing circumstances. In addition to distance-learning formats, our model provides traditional residential face-to-face learning via meetings among faculty and students at regularly scheduled local and national events.

We aim to foster a strong sense of community that facilitates learning in a context of collaborative and mutually supportive relationship between faculty and students and among the students. Students strive individually toward their goals without an atmosphere of competition. We expect our students to be competent adult decision makers.

Fielding's distributed learning model provides opportunities for learning in a variety of contexts. In order to be successful, students need to be self-disciplined, organized, and able to learn effectively in all of these contexts, which are described briefly below. If you have strong scholarship skills and can manage time effectively, you may complete the program in 4 to 6 years. If you have other demands or life events occur during the program, it may take you longer to complete the program. Students are required to make satisfactory progress yearly to remain in good standing. Therefore, we strongly recommend that students spend at least 20 hours a week on their studies. Students must complete the program within 10 years.

• Suggested Curriculum Sequence
• Satisfactory Progress Policy
• Length of Study Policy

Clusters
Students meet on a regular schedule with their local faculty in small learning groups called clusters. Each cluster has 15 to 20 students. Cluster activities include formal academic seminars and presentations and clinical and research training, as well as informal networking and socializing. Cluster groups provide an intensive and personal learning environment for students.

The nature of the cluster meetings and activities varies each year according to the students' needs. To meet the group's learning needs, faculty and students jointly plan an annual schedule that includes activities available to all students, such as seminars taught by other faculty and associate deans, as well as guest scholars. All students are encouraged to regularly attend their local cluster and, with permission, are welcome to attend meetings of other cluster groups.

Sessions
In addition to regular cluster meetings, students attend residential national and research events each held twice a year in different parts of the country. The national sessions are week-long events held in January and July, and research sessions and clinical sessions take place in November and April. Structured activities provide a variety of small group seminars and individual meeting times for didactic interaction. Students are encouraged to attend these seminars as needed. Visit our Sessions/Events page for current and previous sessions.

Participation on FELIX is required for all Fielding students, faculty, and most staff. FELIX training is provided during the New Student Orientation-Online (NSO-Online) and further help is available at national and research sessions and via online tutorials. Our IT department also maintains a Help Desk for individual support.

FELIX allows students and faculty "anytime, anywhere learning." It helps our community to continue its learning between face-to-face sessions. It also allows our community to experiment with virtual collaboration techniques and new knowledge creation. The purpose of these information technologies is not simply to make our work easier, but to provide the connectivity among students and faculty that we greatly value.

FELIX allows for several forms of communication and information retrieval that promote professional socialization and help us achieve our educational mission. Our electronic forums allow for threaded discussion that support diverse activities such as:

• electronic seminars, whereby faculty can teach knowledge areas and students can contribute academic papers and discussion for course credit;
• collaborative research, enabling faculty to supervise students with common research interests who live in different parts of the country;
• faculty meetings and committee work, ranging from voting on academic policies and procedures to committee discussions in preparation for face-to-face faculty meetings;
• cluster forums, enabling students from each cluster to communicate with one another on academic, administrative and personal topics of interest.

Residency Requirements To support full participation in Fielding's learning community, the Clinical Psychology program has a residency requirement specifying a minimum amount of contact with faculty members in a variety of contexts. Beginning with the Fall 2008 start term, Clinical Psychology PhD program students will be required to complete 600 hours of residency during their enrollment. During the first and second year in the program, students are required to complete 150 hours each year, with the remaining 300 hours to be completed over the rest of their course of study. Students maintain a residency log on which faculty verify the hours of contact between the student and faculty during cluster meetings, regional and national sessions, and other times throughout the student's tenure at Fielding.

Master's Degree in Psychology Most states require a master's degree in psychology before a student can begin an internship. Therefore, doctoral students are awarded an MA in clinical psychology when those requirements are fulfilled during the course of their program. This doctoral program is not appropriate for individuals who want to obtain a terminal master's degree.

Psychology master's degree graduation requirements include successful completion of the clinical practicum, psychology assessment labs, and 48 units of knowledge areas.

Last Updated: 6/5/08