COMMISSION ON THE FUTURE
Bob Reardon
Professor and Director, The
Career Center
February 17, 1998
http://www.fsu.edu/%7Efuture/written.html#breardon
In response to the letter from Marie Cowart of
December 15, 1997, 1 offer the following comments. I share these observations based on almost 32 years of employment
at FSU, 3 as a staff counselor in the Counseling Center and 29 as a faculty
member with a line in the Division of Student Affairs and rank in the College
of Education. My present title is Program Director for Instruction, Research,
and Program Evaluation in the Career Center, and Professor in the Department of
Human Services and Studies.
My purpose here is to offer a simple but powerful
idea that might serve to link the various constituencies of FSU, e.g., faculty,
students, parents, public officials, employers, contributors, citizens, into a
common purpose that connects with the core teaching/learning mission of the
undergraduate program. This idea can be
summarized as career preparation. I realize this might sound like
"vocationalizing" FSU, but I do not think it is. Let me
elaborate. At the outset it is
important to define two terms, career and work. Career is defined as the
"working out of a purposeful life pattern through work undertaken by a
person." This is not simply a matter of choosing an occupation or finding
a job; career is a much broader concept. A career is unique to a person; it is
a process of balancing life roles, e.g., student, parent, spouse/partner,
citizen, worker, which occur throughout one's lifetime. Work is defined as
"activity that produces something of value for one's self or others."
This includes unpaid, volunteer work, as well as paid employment.
In focusing on what is needed, it is often useful to
think of gaps. A "gap" can be defined as the difference between a
current and an ideal state of affairs. The gaps related to career preparation
are evident to students, employers, public officials, and educational leaders
in many different ways. In the present situation:
·
Many
FSU students would value having a strategic career plan at the time of
graduation which would strengthen their career pursuits,
·
FSU
would benefit from producing the kinds of workers needed in an emerging global
workforce characterized by lean production and new ways of working.
·
Employers
of FSU graduates would value assurance that our students are ready to make
effective contributions in the contemporary workplace.
·
Public
officials and citizens in the State of Florida would benefit from perceiving
the practical, relevant use of public funds in higher education.
A desirable university-based career preparation
program would address these conditions as experienced by students, the
university, employers, and citizens. Among other things, the reduction in these
gaps would increase the economic productivity and career satisfaction of
Floridians, as well as the political and economic support for higher education.
In analyzing these four gaps, it is important to
review some of the causal factors that contribute to them. It is beyond the
scope of this memorandum to review all of the relevant factors, but several
aspects of these gaps can be noted.
·
The
notion of a career preparation program is highly congruent with the mission of
a liberal arts oriented university. Indeed, some of the most impressive such
programs have been developed at small liberal arts colleges. The goals of a
liberal arts education and career preparation are not incompatible, and can
actually serve to bridge gaps between liberal arts and professional schools at
FSU.
·
Generic
workforce skills and learning outcomes needed by college graduates have been
identified by government agencies, professional associations, and private
consortia. There is emerging consensus about the career skills needed by
contemporary college graduates.
·
FSU
has been engaged since 1970 in developing innovative career services and
programs that directly connect to the teaching/learning mission of the
university. For example, a variable credit course, SDS 3340 Introduction to
Career Development, provides instruction directly related to the workforce
skills noted earlier. In addition, a comprehensive Career Center has been
established, one that is akin to a "teaching hospital" in many ways.
·
The
successful institutionalization of career interventions in universities is
related to curriculum infusion and the development of learner centered
activities. Career programs should ideally draw upon strengths from both
academic affairs and student affairs. These administrative areas covering
academic and career advising need to be synchronized. Course-based interventions provide a mechanism to recover costs for
services, academic credibility for the quality of the intervention, and
recognition of learning on the academic transcript.
·
Career
services is a boundary spanning function that links education and employment;
it provides for connections between education, work, and community
organizations. In social systems terms, employers provide a feedback mechanism
to the university regarding the effectiveness of its educational program,
Employers have important contributions to make in the identification of the
learner outcomes regarding career preparation.
·
Career
preparation of students appears to be valuable to virtually all constituents of
the university. Public officials are willing to appropriate funds for this;
contributors, including parents and friends of the university, are willing to
give money to support it; recent alumni are very interested in this area; and
students appear to be willing to pay extra for it. I believe that more faculty in traditional liberal arts programs
appear to be increasingly supportive of this idea.
·
A
"career portfolio" is one possible focal point of a career
preparation program to enhance workforce skills of FSU graduates. Portfolio development could be incorporated
into the SDS 3340 course, or possibly made available on-line. This portfolio
program could be initiated by lower division students or final term seniors,
and it might provide documentation to employers regarding specific learning
activities undertaken by the student to operationalize a strategic career plan.
In synthesizing career preparation program options,
it is important to review all possible options for program design and
operation. For example, one might envision a grid with one side listing
workforce skills and the other side listing alternative methods for developing
such competencies. The identification of all variables in such a grid is beyond
the scope of this paper. However, several aspects of a possible career
preparation program are noted below.
·
Program
initiated and managed by FSU students in consultation with career services
professionals.
·
Program
available in both a course format and noncredit learning activities.
·
Program
has a strong academic content base though liberal studies courses that examine
career preparation and workforce development issues in the emerging global economy.
·
Course
instruction eventually available in alternative formats, e.g., self-paced
modules, distance learning, weekend workshops.
·
Courseware
available in varied sites, e.g., FSU Career Center, public library, Internet.
·
Program
competencies certified by a panel of FSU employers, e.g., Placement Partners,
FSU Alumni, Florida Chamber of Commerce.
·
Program
would encompass most learning activities presently available through the FSU
Career Center.
In moving forward with a career preparation program at FSU, it would be
necessary to prioritize alternative program options that will remove the gaps
identified earlier. Such a program could be designed to meet the needs of the
various constituencies of FSU. We can illustrate this process by selecting the
career portfolio option as one programmatic solution to the four gaps
identified earlier.
A career portfolio might include lists of workforce
skills identified by employers and faculty that FSU students could use to think
more strategically about their career planning. The career portfolio could also
list alternative credit and noncredit activities that would enable students to
certify their-capability to demonstrate various workforce skills and
competencies.
The content basis of the career portfolio would
include knowledge in course materials included in SDS 3340, as well as other
learning activities already available to FSU students irregardless of their
major. Engaging in specified career portfolio activities would enable FSU to
conceptualize and promote how these learning events enhance the workforce
development of FSU students.
The career portfolio would also enable employers of
FSU graduates to participate in selecting generic workforce development skills
desired in new hires. Taken together, the career portfolio might assist
students in thinking more strategically about their careers and to align their
career goals more closely with the workforce trends in Florida, the nation, and
the world.
The implementation of a career preparation program
at FSU goes beyond the scope of this memorandum. However, many of the learning
resources and intellectual capital needed to launch a program are already
available at FSU. In this sense, the career preparation program could be
infused into already existing organizational structures and programs; it would
not need to be "added on" to what is already present. The Career
Center could provide leadership in this endeavor.
This memorandum has briefly outlined an approach to
helping FSU students develop a strategic career vision that reflects the
realities of present and future workforce needs in Florida and the world. The
working title of this idea is "career preparation." A very
preliminary review suggests that a career preparation program might provide a
way for students to develop workforce skills that will provide a foundation for
career success. It could also provide a conceptual focus for faculty,
employers, public officials, parents, and friends of the university to
coordinate their efforts around a shared undergraduate mission for FSU. It is
positive, different, student-centered, future-oriented, understandable, and
practical.
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