1. What outcomes had you envisioned for this course? Did you achieve those outcomes? Did the actual course outcomes align with those that you envisioned?
Learning outcomes for this course were for students to acquire the skills to investigate the world of work in relation to knowledge of self and to make informed career decisions. After reading the syllabus, I had envisioned that I would be exploring various career assessments more in depth, analyzing the data collected and truly hone in on interpreting information collected for the written report. I believe I did this, but not to the extent I think that I feel comfortable. I would like more opportunities to work on this skill.
Another outcome I envisioned for this course was to develop an understanding of how career development and exploration is addressed at the elementary level. I understand why the course is geared to the high school counselor’s needs; however, I think addressing and/or providing some examples as to how an elementary counselor could emphasize awareness of the world of work and careers, would have been helpful. Although, I have enjoyed working on the Career Exploration Plan, I found it challenging because elementary level career development and exploration was not discussed.
2. To the extent that you achived the outcomes, are they still relevant to the work that you do in your school? Why or why not?
I believe that my time was well spent and that each assignment helped me to gain knowledge of career planning and exploration should I work with older students, such as at the high school level. I do not believe the course content applied to the elementary level. This does not mean that I did not think the course was useful. Much to the contrary. I think every piece of information was informative and valuable. In addition, I believe I am completing this course with a variety of resources that I can use in the future.
3. What outcomes did you not achieve? What prevented you from achieving them?
I achieved all the outcomes the syllabus stated. I would have preferred that career planning and exploration at the elementary level would have been a topic simply because I envision being an elementary counselor in the future. I did not feel that I gained knowledge of how career planning applies to this level. However, I did learn a great deal that I believe is valuable and necessary to know about career planning. I feel I am completing this course with a new realization of the expectations of what is expected from counselors today.
4. Were you successful in completing the course assignments? If not, what prevented or discouraged you?
Yes, I was successful in completing all my assignments for this course. The one I enjoyed the most was creating a Career Exploration Plan. However, I wished the assignment was one that was started earlier in the class as I found it challenging to develop ideas for the elementary level. In addition, I enjoyed administering and interpreting the data collected in the SDS career assessment. However, I think by far the most interesting assignment was creating a genogram. I used software from http://www.myheritage.com, to create my family genogram that displays my family's educational background. The information attained in this assignment was meaningful.
5. What did you learn from this course: about yourself, your technology and leadership skills, and your attitudes?
I have learned that I am more confident in online courses. This was a huge adjustment for me. I am very much a “brick and mortar” type student. I have learned that patience is necessary with an online course. Having the web conferences helped to some extent and being able to post on the discussion board under the getting started tab was quite helpful. I liked the immediate feedback the web conferences provided. However, I did not think it was appropriate or helpful when individual would discuss personal matters that were unrelated to our course. In addition, I found it bothersome when the same questions were repeatedly asked because it forced the conference to slow and took away from the little time we already had.
I am confident with technology. I did enjoy creating the blog and adding new postings. I hope this blog and out wiki will be utilized in future courses.
As far as my leadership abilities, I believe that by taking the initiative to learn and further my education, I am developing leadership skills that will help me be the best educator I can be. I believe that leadership abilities are never perfected only
made better with practice and learning.
