ESRC Seminar 4
Digital technologies - emerging and
potential uses to deliver enhanced
careers practice
summary of presentations
by Graham Allan
Lecturer in Career Guidance and Development
University of the West of Scotland
The perceived role of technology and social media in
career guidance among practitioners who are
experienced internet users: chances and challenges
Dr. Raimo Vuorinen & Jaana Kettunen
I thought I knew …
I now know …
that career guidance
practitioners did not (would
not?) use ICT in their
guidance practice – the
preferred focus is on face-toface engagement
that practitioners ‘were motivated’ to
use ICT but the focus was on
information and communication when
clients themselves are engaged more
in social media:
- practitioners are still only inclined to
visit social media rather than engage
with clients in it and need strategies to
help engage
- clients may not wish to engage with
formal guidance through social media
– they use it for something else
Career websites: expectations and limitations
Dr Cathy Howieson
I thought I knew …
I now know …
that young people would
make extensive use of career
web sites … it’s the digital
world they live in/ where they
would go for information
that young people themselves
expect to use a range of sources
to explore careers, including the
web, but also people: family,
career practitioners, teachers
NEET clients did not focus so
much on web resources and
direct personal CA contact is
valued: social equity issue
more research needs to be done
to demonstrate impact and to
explore digital literacy among
young people
Inter-Life Project (Where Second Life Meets Real Life)
Professor Vic Lally
I thought I knew …
that Avatars were
figments of James
Cameron’s
imagination
I now know …
that only Vic’s
Avatar could have
got him through the
Scottish weather!
LMI for Career Practitioners – the Scottish Approach
Mark Steell & Janet Moffett
I thought I knew …
that it is difficult to use LMI
effectively in career guidance
practice … where do we source it
and how do we make it presentable
/ useable to clients?
I now know …
that LMI needs to be tailored
differently for practitioners and for
clients
that staff need CPD in the
application of LMI with clients,
career management needs to
reflect this and that it is useful to
begin this in initial training
that the web is a perfect resource
for profiles, statistics and data
(Research Online in Skills
Development Scotland) on LMI and
that this can be as local as you
need it to be
Skills & competencies required by career practitioners to
develop internet-based practice
Dr Jenny Bimrose & Dr Sally-Anne Barnes
I thought I knew …
that we were doing enough on
our postgraduate career guidance
programme to introduce students
to internet-based practice
I now know …
that the knowledge and skills base of
career practitioners may have gaps in
relation to ICT but the career
guidance workforce is ‘well
positioned’ to embrace changes
that the impact of ICT needs more
research; that thought should be
given to the theoretical basis for this
type of client work
that multi-media information a
priority but face-to-face contact still a
preference for young people
merging and potential uses of ICT to enhance career
practice
Martin McDermott with Rob Doyle
I thought I knew …
I now know …
that ICT was going to
dominate career guidance
practice
that ICT can enhance
careers service work
that a mix of delivery
channels, including face-toface, and self-help, is
essential in order to reach
all clients
about the Careers Wales
web site
General conclusions
• Key is linking policy, research and practice (Raimo and John’s
‘trialogue’)
• Key is addressing staff development needs
• Key is more research into use of web based resources
• Some aspects are contested – digital technology is not a panacea there is much to do to make it work for us and there are significant
challenges in meeting the needs of our clients through the use of
ICT as part of a blended approach to service provision
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http://cloudworks.ac.uk/cloud/vie
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