Psychology (PSYC) 301

Overview

This course examines resources used by career development professionals and their clients. “Career development resources” include all products that attempt to provide data (e.g., labour market statistics, assessment instrument results), information (e.g., labour market trends, personality classifications), knowledge (e.g., economic development theory, career development theory) and/or wisdom (i.e., integration of the former categories) that informs career development practice, personal career development and/or organizational/community career development. Career development resources are the vehicles linking the professional and his/her clients to a continuously changing world of work.

Learners in the course will review resources from a variety of theoretical and pragmatic perspectives, leaving the course able to answer the following questions about any resource: Who are the beneficiaries (e.g., youth, the unemployed, employers)? Who are the clients (e.g., the practitioner, the unemployed, supervisors)? What is the content (e.g., labour market trends, self-esteem, career building)? What is the purpose (e.g., motivate, instruct, assess)? Does the cost, format, medium and style suit the intentions? When and under what conditions should it be used? What are the assumptions? What is the quality?

The examination of resources will occur within a framework that places all resources within levels (i.e., data, information, knowledge, wisdom), contexts (i.e., the person, the person's immediate environment, the world of work) and clients (i.e., the practitioner, the policy maker, the client). The examination will also include a direct look at the base content of resources, particularly content pertaining to the rapidly changing world of work: the nature of the modern economy, the structure of work and the impact of significant trends on work and life. The course examines resources on the internet and concludes with an examination of how to integrate the resources with the overall career planning process.

Although this course will explore assessment instruments as resources, it will not enable participants to effectively administer and interpret tests. It will, however, enable participants to (a) critique instruments, (b) select instruments for further study/application and (c) make sense of test results. Furthermore, this course is about evaluating and using resources not necessarily developing them. However, it will provide a very strong base for doing so.

Outline

Unit 1: Introduction and Overview of Career Development Resources

Unit 2: The Changing World of Work

Unit 3: Career Development Resources: A Framework

Unit 4: Career Development Resources: The Work World

Unit 5: Career Development Resources: Client (Person or Organization)

Unit 6: Career Development Resources: The Client's World

Unit 7: Using Resources to Connect the Client, Client's World and the Work World

Unit 8: Career Development Resources on the Internet

Unit 9: Integrating Career Development Resources into Career Planning Processes

Evaluation

To learn more about assignments and examinations, please refer to Athabasca University's online Calendar.