Online Career Learning Interventions:
Leveraging Service Delivery Potential
2013 CANNEXUS Conference
Tannis Goddard
President
Training Innovations Inc.
tannis.goddard@training-innovations.com
Photo Slide
Session Objectives
 Learn current perspectives about integrating technology
within Career Services
 Examine how interactive online spaces can be utilized as
a method for delivering career development services
 Consider pedagogical underpinnings for online career
learning
 Explore different design and delivery models – in
particular examples from programming in BC
 Reflect on key practitioner competencies and delivery
strategies for online Career Development practice
What are practitioners asking?
1. How can technology be used in our
services?
2. Can a practitioning relationship form
online?
3. Does it work? If, yes, how?
4. Is it Ethical?
5. Can online Practitioning be
professionally rewarding?
What do you think?
1. What opportunities and
challenges do you imagine for
integrating technology into Career
Services?
2. What competencies do you think
we require as Career Practitioners to
integrate technology in our services
and practice?
Who’s Engaging in Online Career Services in BC?
Reasons for Participating:
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30% have parental responsibilities during the day
38% prefer online format
16% unable to attend other programs (location or wait list)
16% mixed reasons
Demographics
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18 - 29 year olds – 19%
30 - 39 year olds – 36%
40 - 49 year olds – 27%
50 - 64 year olds – 17%
65+ - 1%
57% Female / 43% Male
87% complete the intervention
Career e-Volutions 2008 – 2011
sample size – 358 individuals
Transformational Technology Team - 2010
Organization
Org
Competence
Competence
&
& Interest
Interest
Policy
Policy
Maker
Maker
Interest
Interest
Social
Social
Media
Media
Access
Citizen
Citizen //
User
User
Competence
Competence
Practitioner
Competence
& Training
Tech
Tech Tools
Tools
Pedagogy &
Design
Evaluation
Evaluation
Uses of Technology
1. Deliver Information
2. Provide an Automated Interaction
3. Provide a Channel for Communication
One-to-one
One-to-many
Many-to-many
ICT as a Resource or Service
Resources
 Understanding an individuals’
resource needs
 Providing ICT-based resource
recommendations
 Orienting individuals to the
materials
 Following up to verify the value
of the resources
Services
 Practitioning exchange –
purposeful focused engagement
to enhance an individual’s career
development skills – building
from a constructivist, meaning
making perspective
 Relocating the use of ICT from a
geographical or ease of
information access solution to a
solution of learning and
engagement
Vuorinen & Sampson 2009
What are academics & experts saying?
The Internet will play a transforming role in
career guidance practice:
 Increases access to services
 Frees services from the constraints of time and place
 Can enhance existing services and create new paradigms
of career support
 Impacts the skill sets Practitioners will need
 Requires ongoing research into the conditions for
effectiveness
Harris-Bowlsbey, 2005
McMahon and Patton 2006
Hooley, Hutchinson & Watts, 2010
Why Consider Online Delivery?
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Distribution across time and space
Multi-modal and needs-based delivery
User controlled engagement
Text-based, narrative communication &
counselling
“Writing is thinking that can be stopped and tinkered with”
(Gage, J. 1986)
 Permanent and permeable process
 Reusability and re-repurposing
 Affords transparent supervision
Career Learning
Learning about the
content and process of
career development and
creating meaning and
understanding about
oneself in relation to the
world of work.
A Service Approach - Online Career Learning
Learning & counselling that
takes place using an electronic
web-space, where the helping
relationship occurs through
the use of synchronous and
a-synchronous communication
methods.
Individuals have control in
accessing and completing their
development process while also
engaging in an interactive process
with their career facilitator to
create meaning and understanding.
Video Introduction
http://youtu.be/3gT6KI5SIc8
http://www.traininginnovations.com/node/171
Pedagogy and Design
“In order for questioning of personal
assumptions and self-reflection to occur,
the environment must provide the support
and the ability to dialogue and critically
reflect on the material presented and on
the self”.
Cranton, P. (1994)
Purpose -- Scope -- Theory of Practice
Funding Model -- Expected Outcomes
Designing e-Career Learning Interventions
Information :: Explore
relevant career concepts
Personal Application ::
Engage in activities to apply
concepts to self
Interaction ::
Communicate with
e-Practitioner and,
potentially, other online
participants to co-create
meaning.
Technical Tools
Information
Activity
Interaction
Benefits of Online Career Interventions
 Records the Client’s current career story
 Distributed support and service can be provided
 Access and timing is controlled by Clients, within a
systematic structure
 Allows for thoughtful reflection
 Targeted resources support personalized career learning
 Perspectives can be revisited
 Revised career stories can be captured
e-Career Practitioning
The rapport between
Practitioner and Client in
cyberspace is developed not
by reacting to another
person’s physical presence
and spoken word, but by
entering the client’s mental
constructs via the written
word
(Anthony, K. 2000, p.626)
Establishing a Working Alliance
 Convey vision, commitment and quality in
marketing materials
 Design effective intake and registration processes
 Make yourself visible through photos, bios & videos
 Share working timelines and contact options
Demonstrate enthusiasm and confidence
 Respect the power of the written
word
Facilitating a Client’s Experience
Notice online cues and engage pro-actively and
with curiosity:
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share observations by summarizing, linking,
questioning and expanding the dialogue
enquire about and revisit the development and
changes in clients’ online narrative…providing
constructive support in the
re-authoring of their career story
Return to and revisit
counselling and learning goals
Counselling in Text
“…when I write, I think”
 Think about your client – their goals, where they are in
their process – scan earlier communication
 Assess the clients’ and your own emotional and cognitive
frame of reference
 Assess your available time and the urgency of the
situation
 Consider the most effective communication strategy for
the situation
 Develop a ‘matching’ strategy with clients
 Consider tone, clarity & rhythm in your message
Bolton, G. et al. (2004)
Delivery Model Examples
 Fully facilitated, predesigned, online
interventions (all or most contact through
an e-learning space)
 Customized topical delivery based on
assessed Client need
 Blended delivery (defined f2f components
with integrated online components)
 Application of learning following f2f
Client Feedback on Design & Delivery
 Activities = 91% Effective
 Reflective Dialogue = 86% Valuable
 Practitioner Responses to clients’ reflections =
100% Valuable
 Ability of communication to personalize
experience = 96% Valuable
 Private Messaging = 72% Valuable
 Discussion Forum = 35% Effective
 Practitioner Effectiveness = 87% exceeded
expectations
In the client’s own words…
 “I just felt very satisfied overall, I never had done
an on-line program like this before and I felt
pretty unsure doing this for the first time. Indeed I
was a little anxious in the beginning but once I got
use to how the program was designed, I was
amazed!”
 “My counsellor was very supportive”
 “She posted and called exactly when she said she
would, and she was always up to date with where
I was at in the course. She always very promptly
answered any questions that I had.”
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In the client’s own words…
 “It was cool to have her comment directly on what I
wrote and be given the opportunity to write back. It
was good to look back on what we wrote as it can be
easy to forget exactly what was said”
 “Reflections made me focus on what was relevant at
the time – it gave me an opportunity to expand my
"thinking" on each topic and really reflect on how it
relates to me”
 “Everything that I wanted to discuss was in her mind
already and she was ready with insight and
suggestions”
 “It was inspiring, uplifting and empowering”
Emerging Lessons
 Purpose & goals need to be understood across the
organization
 Goals need to match Client’s abilities & access to
technology
 Pedagogical design needs to guide the service goals
and roles – technology itself does not guide the
learning
 Practitioners require training that includes:
theoretical grounding, modeling, skill development
and practice
Emerging Lessons con’t
 Practitioners requires online supervision and
supervisors need training on providing support
 Common understanding of ethical and security
issues need to be understood and monitored
 Internal operating and reporting systems need to
be designed to support, not inhibit, online
delivery
 Constant evaluation through the deployment
phase is essential to ensure effectively delivery
Thank you
It has been a pleasure to participate
in CANNEXUS 2013!