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Canyon College

COURSE SYLLABUS: Career Counseling

Course Title: Department: Instructor: Fax:

Career Counseling Social and Behavioral Sciences William Flood, M.Ed. E-mail Vita (707) 982-2852

Textbook: Online Bookstore
Sharf, Richard S. (1997). Applying Career Development Theory to Counseling, Pacific Grove, CA:Brooks/Cole. ISBN #: 0534345034

Course Description
This course is designed to teach the theoretical framework of career counseling, and introduce the basic counseling tools used in the career counseling process. The course will present major theories of career development, introduce sources of occupational information, and introduce principles of assessment in career counseling. Topics will include:

• The role of interests, skills, values and personality in the career development process
• Influences on the career development process
• Career development across the lifespan
• Obtaining information about the nature of the job market as well as about specific occupations
• Sources of occupational experience
• Methods for advising individuals and groups about implementing their careers

Course Objectives:
Upon completion of this course the student should be able to...
1) Provide basic career counseling to individuals
2) Describe and select from several career development theories
3) Design career development programs for individuals and groups
4) Identify and use popular career assessment tools
5) Access traditional and online sources of career information
6) Assist individuals and groups, with job searching, resume writing, and interviewing

Methods: The course will include:
1. Assigned readings
2. Email correspondence with the instructor
3. Message board participation with the instructor and other students. Message board dialogue will include instructor-generated questions and student-to-student interaction
4. Career inventory report
5. Career information report
6. Review and critique of journal articles
7. Proficiency examination

Evaluation
1. Career inventory report 30
2. Research analysis of journal articles (2) 10% each
3. Career Information report 20%
4. Proficiency examination (cumulative) 30%

A = 90-100
B = 80-89
C = 70-79
D = 60-69
F = 0-59
I = Incomplete work

Student Biography
Once you start the class, send me an informal (this is not graded) biography about yourself, your background, career, etc. Make sure to include your contact information including phone number and email address so that I can contact you if necessary.

Career Inventory Report
During this course, you will take three (3) career inventories. They deal with assessing interests, skills, values, and personality. You will write a summary of your own career development based on the results of those four assessments. The summary should be in the neighborhood of 5 to 8 pages in length, and is due at the end of week 5.

Career Information Report
In this assignment, you will prepare a report that analyzes three sources of occupational information. You are looking for sources of occupational information, not sources of job leads. At least one should be a text-based source, and one should be an online source. The third can be of your choosing, and can include a job search site if you prefer. Your report should summarize the good and bad points or each. Compare and contrast the three where appropriate. In the report, pay particular attention to making recommendations (pro or con) about the value of those sources to other potential users.

Review and Critique of Journal Articles
During the course, you will be required to read and review two (2) journal articles on different topics, of your choosing, within the field of career counseling. Your goal in writing these reviews is to analyze and assess what the author is stating. Take the opportunity to think very critically about the implications of the findings. The completed analyses should be in a one or two page (double-spaced) report submitted according to the procedures detailed in the section on submitting assignments. The first proposal should be submitted after lesson 3, the second should be submitted after lesson 6. You can get limited access to some online journals from the links provided below. However, very few psychological journals have online, free access. You can use the links to look up citations and abstracts, then locate the journal in a public or academic library near you. Please let me know if this poses a problem for you.

Proficiency examination (final)
The proficiency exam will be a cumulative test of your knowledge of the concepts of career counseling. Ten (10) questions will be presented, from which you may select any six (6) to answer. The answers should be short essays of up to one (1) page (double spaced) each. In each question you will be presented with a case study. Answer each question by applying any career counseling process appropriate to the situation. After you request the examination it will be sent to you either by email, email attachment, or FAX (you may choose the format). See the section below on submitting assignments for the procedures to return the completed examination.

Submission of Assignments
Because this is a graduate level course in counseling/psychology, all written material should be submitted and documented according to APA style. If you do not have a copy of the Publishers Manual of the American Psychological Association (which I recommend you getting), you can visit the Psychweb site listed in the links section for a crib sheet on APA style. Written assignments can be submitted either by email (you can send it as an MS-Word97, ASCII text, or RTF attachment), or by FAX.

Course Outline

Lesson 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Subject Introduction to career counseling Trait and factor theory Holland’s Theory of Type Myers-Briggs Type Theory Life span theories Work adjustment theories Adult career crises Occupational information

Chapters 1 2 4 5 6, 8 3 10 15

Assignment Email brief biography to instructor Take the MAPP Career Assessment (see links) Take the Career Key assessment (see links) Submit journal article #1 Take the Keirsey-Bates Temperament sorter (see links) Submit career information report Submit journal article #2 Prepare and submit occupational information report Proficiency exam

Course Related Links

CAREER TESTS
Please note: online career assessments are not full-blown versions and may lack the validity and reliability necessary to provide adequate career counseling. They are cited here for course purposes only. In real counseling situations, make use of the commercial assessments cited in your textbook. Most commercial assessments are available in forms ranging from self-scored to computer-administered and online varieties.

Career Key (Based on the Holland Code System)
Keirsey Temperament Sorter II (Personality Assessment similar to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator)
MAPP Career Assessment

CAREER DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATIONS
National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE)
National Career Development Association (NSDA)
National Employment Counseling Association (A division of the American Counseling Association ACA)

OCCUPATIONAL INFORMATION
Career Magazine
CareerZone
Occupational Outlook Handbook

JOB SEARCH SITES
Best Jobs USA
Career Path
Nations Jobs