Burger Flipping or Brain Surgery?The Role of Career Development in a College Success Course

Burger Flipping or Brain Surgery?The Role of Career Development in a College Success Course

Marsha Fralick and

Barbara Eckenfels

Marsha Fralick and

Barbara Eckenfels

Overview

• Research on benefits of career development

• Improving retention• Increased earnings• Essential components of a career

development program• Career development at Lone Star

Montgomery

College Success: A Study of Positive and Negative Attrition

• The successful student had a definite goal or college major.

• Based on this research, a career development component was added to our college success course.

Noteworthy Results• Implementing CollegeScope

on college campuses has resulted in a 26% increase in persistence rates!

• 87% of students had chosen a major by the end of the course

• 62% of students reported more confidence in their academic skills

• 88% of students rated the course as good or very good

Benefits of Career Development• Folsom and Reardon examined research

on career development from 1920-2003• Based on 17,600 students

Obvious Benefits

• Helps students choose a major and career

• Increases knowledge of career information

• Helps students with decision-making

• Students like taking these courses

Career Development Increases:

• Internal locus of control

• Self-knowledge

• Cognitive development

• Retention

• Graduation rates!

Graduation Rates

• 4 Year colleges

On average, only 40% graduate in 6 years

• Community colleges

On average, only 20% graduate in 3 years

Value of a College Education

• A person with a bachelor’s degree earns almost twice as much as a high school graduate.

Critical Elements of Career Development

• Career assessments with individual interpretation and feedback

• Current and reliable career info

• Written exercises to engage students

Critical Element: The Assessments

Career Assessments

• Do What You Are

Personality assessment• MI Advantage

Multiple intelligences assessment

• Integrated into the interactive online textbook, CollegeScope

• Materials personalized for each student based on personality type, learning style and multiple intelligences

Do What You Are

• Valid • Reliable• Based on college scenarios that are easy

to read and understand• Personality types (I-E, S-N, T-F, J-P)

MI Advantage

• Based on Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences

• Definition: The human ability to solve problems or design or compose something valued in at least one culture

• Helps students think positively about their talents

• Connects multiple intelligences to careers

Sample Profile

Critical Element: Current and Reliable Career Information

Career Information

• Both the personality and multiple intelligences assessments connect to the O*Net database of careers

Critical Element: Written Exercises to Engage Students

Journal Entries

My Portfolio

Students add

careers to their

online portfolio

Personal Feedback

Chapter 1: Understanding MotivationChapter 2: Exploring your Personality and MajorChapter 3: Learning Style and IntelligenceChapter 4: Exploring Interests and ValuesChapter 5: Planning Your Career and Education

Career Success

Chapter 6: Managing Time and MoneyChapter 7: Improving Memory and ReadingChapter 8: Taking Notes, Writing and

SpeakingChapter 9: Test Taking

College Success

Chapter 10: Communication and RelationshipsChapter 11: Thinking Critically and CreativelyChapter 12: Maintaining a Healthy LifestyleChapter 13: Appreciating DiversityChapter 14: Thinking Positively about the Future

Lifelong Success

Lone Star College - MontgomeryEDUC 1300 ~ Learning Strategies

Barbara Eckenfels, MSFaculty Counselor/EDUC 1300 Professor

*From a 1975 Career Pamphlet at Florida State University

*Are You an Occupational Ignoramus? Most Students Are…..and it’s a Risky Business

Burger Flipping or Brain Surgery?...

Most students have never been taught career development skills so they do not know how to choose careers that meet their personality preferences, interests, values, and aptitudes.

EDUC 1300 – Learning Strategies

Lone Star College System QEP initiative: Activities are embedded within our student success course

1. Set a goal 2. Make a plan 3. Get connected (with faculty, advisor or counselor) 4.Get involved (Join campus organizations and volunteer)

Lone Star College SystemEducation 1300 with Career Development and Advising

Completion Students completed the course with any grade.SuccessStudents earned an A, B, or C gradePersistenceStudents persisted from fall 2010-spring 2011

Semester Completion Success Persistence

Fall 2011 System 84% 75% 76%

Fall 2011 Montgomery

77% 80% 72%

Fall 2011 Best Start Montgomery

85% 88% 81%

The Rationale for Including Career Exploration in a Student Success Course

Students who need support services the most are the ones least likely to take advantage of them. (Friedlander, 1980; Walter & Smith, 1990; Knapp & Karabenick, 1988)

Career Center/Career

Counseling

• Many students change their major several times during their college career.

• Students will learn career development skills that they will use throughout their lifetime! (Individuals will change careers 5+ times in their lifetime).

• Students must reach a level of “career readiness” before they will engage in career exploration. 17 – 18 years 1st year of college.

Career Exploration in your Student Success Course

• Promotes student retention and satisfaction with the college.

• Increases likelihood students will pursue a career path that is personally meaningful and self-fulfilling.

• Early, proactive support programs address students needs in an anticipatory fashion before they require reactive intervention. (Cuseo, J., 2005)

A career-planning program that is delivered intrusively and proactively to first-year students:

There was significant increase in the use of the “Do What You Are” “Do What You Are” after the EDUC 1300 classes were introduced:

•Total completed inventories March 2004 to present- 12754.

•From March 2004 to August 2008 total used was 2079.

•From Sept. 2008 to present total used

10225!

•Personality Paper- (DWYA)

•QEP Career Exploration Project

•QEP Degree Planning Assignment: meet with an advisor or counselor

•QEP Path to Success Paper- Noel-Levitz CSI and MYSA

•“My Future” Assignment

EDUC 1300 – Learning Strategies Course: Activities

Activity: “Your Career: How Much Do You Know?”

I use as an introduction to the career chapter:

“Can you answer these questions?”

Outlook? Salary with and without experience? Knowledge, skills and abilities needed? The Good, Bad and Ugly about the career? What will you do in a typical day?

QEP Career Exploration Project

Most students cannot answer all of these questions!

• Give class 5 minutes to fill out as much information as they can on the sheet.

• I tell them everyone should know this information before they make a career choice.

• They will need to know this information to complete their QEP Career Research Project.

• Students will then be asked to go to the computers, taking the Activity Sheet with them.

• I show them how to navigate three career sites. They must follow along on their computer.

• Students are told that they will use this information when they research their careers.

Research Your Career

Favorite Career Sites

Occupational Outlook Handbook

http://www.bls.gov/oco/

America’s Career Infonet

http://www.acinet.org/

The Sloan Career Cornerstone Center

http://www.careercornerstone.org/

Great Sites for Matching Majors with Careers

• “What Can I Do With This Major?”

http://www.shsu.edu/~ccp_www/majors/default.html

• Rutgers “College Majors and Careers”http://careerservices.rutgers.edu/CareerHandouts.shtml

• I give them this sheet to help them navigate the sites at home.

• Helps new instructors learn to navigate the sites. Sites can be overwhelming with all the information.

“How to Research Careers and Majors” Handout

What Students are Saying About the Course

QEP Degree Planning Assignment • Students meet with an advisor twice during the semester to talk about academic goals and obtain a Degree Plan.

• Discuss any barriers they may have and strategies to overcome them.

• Advisor and/or instructor go over the Noel-Levitz CSI. Students are given a “Campus Resources” Handout.

“My Future Project”

• Students Final- Class Presentation• Can do a video, power point, poster, poem, artwork, etc.• Must include:

Career information- salary, outlook, duties How career fits their interests, values, personality Ideal day What they will wear to work Leisure activities Type of house they want Volunteer activities and more

• Classmates fill out an “evaluation”- What have you liked most about this student? Give to each student.

VideoMy Future Project

Overview CollegeScope Webinar

• Overview of key features• Research on effectiveness (Brief)• Resources for faculty• A quick tour (student and faculty view)• Helping your students log in • Introducing CollegeScope to your students• Improving retention and success• Common login problems and easy solutions• Assessments

Questions?

References

Cuseo, Joseph. (2003), Academic Advisement and Student Retention: Empirical Connections & System Interventions

Cuseo, J. (2005). “Decided,” “undecided,” and “in transition”: Implications for advisement, career counseling, and student retention. In R. S. Feldman (Ed.), Improving the first year of college: Research and practice (pp. 27-50). New York:

Erlbaum.

Friedlander, J. (1980). Are college support programs and services reaching high-risk students? Journal of College Student Personnel, 21(1), 23-28.

Knapp, J. R., & Karabenick, S. A. (1988). Incidence of formal and informal academic help-seeking in higher education. Journal of College Student Development, 29(3), 223-227.

Walter, T. L., & Smith, J. (1990, April). Self-assessment and academic support: Do students know they need help? Paper presented at the annual Freshman Year Experience Conference, Austin, Texas.