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

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

• Marsha Fralick and
• Barbara Eckenfels

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Overview

• Research on benefits of career development
• Improving retention
• Increased earnings
• Essential components of a career development
  program
• Career development at Lone Star Montgomery

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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.

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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

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Benefits of Career Development

• Folsom and Reardon examined research on career
  development from 1920-2003
• Based on 17,600 students

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Obvious Benefits

• Helps students choose a major and career
• Increases knowledge of career information
• Helps students with decision-making
• Students like taking these courses

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Career Development Increases

• Internal locus of control
• Self-knowledge
• Cognitive development
• Retention
• Graduation rates!

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Graduation Rates

• 4 Year colleges
• On average, only 40 graduate in 6 years
• Community colleges
• On average, only 20 graduate in 3 years

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Value of a College Education

• A person with a bachelors degree earns almost
  twice as much as a high school graduate.

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Critical Elements of Career Development

• Career assessments with individual interpretation
  and feedback
• Current and reliable career info
• Written exercises to engage students

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Critical Element The Assessments
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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

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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)

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MI Advantage

• Based on Howard Gardners 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

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Sample Profile
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Critical Element Current and Reliable Career
Information
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Career Information

• Both the personality and multiple intelligences
  assessments connect to the ONet database of
  careers

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Critical Element Written Exercises to Engage
Students
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Journal Entries
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My Portfolio
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• Students add
• careers to their
• online portfolio

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Personal Feedback
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Career Success

• Chapter 1 Understanding Motivation
• Chapter 2 Exploring your Personality and Major
• Chapter 3 Learning Style and Intelligence
• Chapter 4 Exploring Interests and Values
• Chapter 5 Planning Your Career and Education

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College Success

• Chapter 6 Managing Time and Money
• Chapter 7 Improving Memory and Reading
• Chapter 8 Taking Notes, Writing and Speaking
• Chapter 9 Test Taking

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Lifelong Success

• Chapter 10 Communication and Relationships
• Chapter 11 Thinking Critically and Creatively
• Chapter 12 Maintaining a Healthy Lifestyle
• Chapter 13 Appreciating Diversity
• Chapter 14 Thinking Positively about the Future

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Lone Star College - Montgomery EDUC 1300
Learning Strategies
Barbara Eckenfels, MS Faculty Counselor/EDUC
1300 Professor
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Are You an Occupational Ignoramus?
Most Students Are..and its a Risky
Business
From a 1975 Career
Pamphlet at Florida State University
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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.
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• 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)
• Get involved (Join campus
• organizations and volunteer)

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Lone Star College System Education 1300 with
Career Development and Advising
Semester Completion Success Persistence
Fall 2011 System 84 75 76
Fall 2011 Montgomery 77 80 72
Fall 2011 Best Start Montgomery 85 88 81
Completion Students completed the course with
any grade. Success Students earned an A, B, or C
grade Persistence Students persisted from fall
2010-spring 2011
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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
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Career Exploration in your Student
Success Course

• 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.

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

• 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)

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There was significant increase in the use of
the 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!

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EDUC 1300 Learning Strategies Course
Activities

• 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

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QEP Career Exploration Project

• 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?

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• 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.

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Research Your Career

• 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.

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Favorite Career Sites

• Occupational Outlook Handbook
• http//www.bls.gov/oco/
• Americas Career Infonet
• http//www.acinet.org/
• The Sloan Career Cornerstone Center
• http//www.careercornerstone.org/

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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.s
  html

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How to Research Careers and Majors Handout

• 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.

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What Students are Saying About the Course
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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.

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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.

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Video My Future Project
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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

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Questions?
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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.