About Psychology 301

Chances are that you have used, at one time or another, a career development resource. For example, anyone who is looking for a job, considering post-secondary options, or planning a career transition usually makes use of some sort of career resource. Often we think of career development resources as being limited to standardized tests. However, as you will see as you work through the material in this course, the term "career development resources" is actually much broader than this and can include newspaper articles, people that provide information, brochures and employment centres, to list a few examples. Note that, in this course, the terms "career resources," "career development materials," and the shortened version of "resources" or "materials" are synonymous with career development resources.

Career resources are essential to the career development process, and anyone who is working as a career practitioner will inevitably come into contact with various resources. The general population also uses career resources as people seek out work information and learn about job opportunities in their communities or elsewhere. You are probably starting to get the idea that the number of career resources that are available is very large! Given this, we can assume that it is next to impossible to have a complete knowledge of the resources available. Career practitioners don’t need to know about all career development resources and how they are used, but they do need to be familiar with those that are the most useful to them and their clients and know how to access other resources as needs arise.

What is included in your course package is only a small, small representation of the career resources available to you. Undoubtedly some of those that are included will be useful to you in your practice (if, indeed, you are working in the field of career development or have plans to work in this field), and others will not. The resources that have been included are a starting place, meant to give you an idea of the type of information that is available and give you something to work with as you practice categorizing and evaluating different career materials.

There are a couple of challenges with offering a distance-education course on career resources. First, due to the ever-changing nature of resource material, the course is likely to be out of date almost as soon as the material goes to print. Career development resources are continually being updated; with new ones being developed and old ones taken out of circulation, closed down or taken offline. Some career resources, like employment centres or established standardized tests, are more stable, but many others, such as websites and newspaper articles, are constantly changing. Keep this in mind as you work through the course material—check the course website on a regular basis for updates or other announcements pertaining to the course material . Second, due to the wide range of students that Athabasca University attracts, it is very difficult to include resources in the course material that will be relevant to all students. Many of the resources are published in Alberta, since this is where the University is located. However, we know that many of you are not in Alberta (and some, not even in Canada). The resources provided will give you some examples, but you are encouraged throughout the course to start looking around in your community for resources that pertain directly to you and your clients.

By the end of this course you should be aware of the different types of resources available for career practitioners. As well, you should be able to identify the needs of a client group, identify resources that might be used to meet these needs, categorize and evaluate the resource, use some resources in a practical context and, after use, evaluate the effectiveness of a particular resource. The following questions will help to guide your learning. Keep them in mind as you work through the material in this course.

1. What is a career development resource?

2. How are resources used by career practitioners?

3. What type of career resources are available?

4. How do you know whether a resource is good or bad? Useful or not useful? Accurate or inaccurate in its information? Suitable or unsuitable for your clients? In other words, how do you evaluate a career development resource?

5. What are your career needs? (or the needs of your clients?)

6. What resources are useful for you?

7. If you are working in the career development field, what resources are useful for your clients?

A final comment before you begin to work through the course material, many students find the instructions for the final proposal and project to be vague when they first read them. Do not be alarmed! The ambiguity in the directions is a function of the diverse localities, life-stages, work experience, and career needs of our students in this course; the directives are deliberately broad. We want you to do a final project that is useful to you. For some students, the directions outlined in the student manual suit them just fine. They come into this course wanting to learn more about a particular resource or with someone in mind that they want to help make a career decision (e.g., a child, spouse. client, student, etc.). Many students working as career practitioners are able to use work tasks in which they deliver career resources as the topic of their final project (with appropriate consent, of course). However, other students find that it would be more useful to them to modify the final course project. For example, for her final project, one student catalogued the career resources available in her small town and designed a manual that would orient an incoming career practitioner to the community and its available services. Another student designed a resource booklet and program (along with activities and worksheets) for the adults in mid-career transition that she worked with in her job. Yet another student collected, catalogued, and worked through career resources related to the health sciences field to help her make a personal career decision. Regardless of the project you decide to do at the end of the class, you should remember that resources are a means to an end. The resources you use should be chosen based on the needs of the client(s) and not the other way around (i.e., don’t choose resources to use before you know the needs of the person(s) you will be working with).

The survey at the beginning of the course will get you started thinking about career resources and the reasons you took this class and will help your tutor to get to know you. However, it is also imperative that you contact your tutor, introduce yourself, discuss your reasons for taking this course, and talk about the final project. Your tutor will help you to think about what you would like to accomplish in this course, and how the final project can help you meet these goals.

Good luck in the class!