Use of technology in delivering career services worldwide.

The authors review the trends in the use of computers in the delivery and support of career guidance and counseling identified at the symposium International Perspectives on Career Development. The papers presented emphasized that 20th-century computer-based systems continue to be used, mainly delivered via the World Wide Web. These systems are enhanced through audio, video, graphics, strategies to provide needs assessment, and support by cybercounselors or expert system design. The papers also revealed a new trend: the use of elegant Web sites to store and search immense libraries of resources needed by professionals and clients and to facilitate communication and collaboration among professionals in cyberspace. Concerns, issues, and resources related to many areas, including the readiness of clients to use computer-based systems, were also raised; existing sources of guidelines are noted.

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A discussion group of approximately 20 participants considered the topic of the use of computer technology in delivering and supporting career guidance services worldwide. The purposes of these discussions were to (a) establish a benchmark concerning the current state of the art by learning about applications worldwide, (b) identify promising new applications and trends, and (c) highlight problems and needs. This article summarizes these proceedings by addressing these three topics.

Historical Perspective

Computer-based career guidance systems had their genesis in the late 1960s shortly after the invention of the cathode ray tube, a device that allowed a system user to be physically separated from a computer and to respond to scripted messages, thus simulating an interview. Early developers--Donald E. Super, Martin Katz, and David Tiedeman--viewed this technology as a means to operationalize their theories of career development, choice, and decision making. In other words, it was their dream that users, through interaction with the system, would learn the concepts of their theoretical positions, practice them as they made choices, and even incorporate them into their understanding so that future choices might be made without the support of the machine. Guided by this dream, elegant systems--specifically the Education and Career Exploration System (see Super, 1970), the System for Interactive Guidance and Information (see U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, 1969), and the Information System for Vocational Decisions (see Super, 1970)--were constructed with public and private funding. Some parts of these systems were well beyond their time because of the lack of adequate memory; storage; response time; and capability for use of audio, video, and graphics.

By the 1970s, two of these systems failed to reach implementation and other developers, less elegant in their conceptual framework, created systems that could better function within the confines of the available technology. These systems included the Computerized Vocational Information System (see Super, 1970; U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, 1969), which became a model for a comprehensive guidance system such as DISCOVER that followed, and the Career Information System (see http://oregoncis.uoregon.edu/), which became a model for many state career information systems that followed and were partially supported by the National Occupational Information Coordinating Committee, an organization that played a powerful role in the development and implementation of such systems over the next 30 years. These systems set the pace for the genre of systems available on stand-alone and networked computers in the decades of the 1970s and 1980s.

The last decade of the 20th century brought new technology that made it possible for systems to be enhanced with color, graphics, audio, and video. The cost of hardware continued to decline while its capabilities continued to soar. As had been predicted, the cost of software surpassed that of hardware, and the concern of having adequate storage capability disappeared. Concomitantly, the World Wide Web became a reality, and existing systems began to develop capability for delivery via the Web. Hundreds of Web sites appeared, addressing all aspects of the career planning and implementation process. By the end of the decade, the concept of providing direct service via the Web had emerged (i.e., cybercounseling), and a few such sites were established.

These developments were accompanied by the construction of standards of ethics to guide the use of technology by counselors and an increasing acceptance of technology as a viable tool for working with students and adults in career planning. Although insufficient, considerable research was conducted about the efficacy of computer support. In general, that research documented positive effects of the use of systems and Web sites to increase self-knowledge, occupational knowledge, awareness of the need to plan, and career decidedness. Furthermore, evidence was provided that technology is most effective when supported by a counselor through one-on-one or group counseling or guidance, as opposed to being self-help (Harris-Bowlsbey, Riley-Dikel, & Sampson, 2002; Harris-Bowlsbey & Sampson, 2001).

Current State of the Art

The participants in the technology strand of the symposium represented the current state of the art in the use of technology to support career development: stand-alone Web sites, career information and guidance systems delivered via the Web, new systems designed to support knowledge sharing and generation among professionals, and new systems designed to provide information and learning experiences to clients. In the following paragraphs, we review each of these applications.

Stand-Alone Web Sites

David Reile (2004) focused on the fact that the Internet offers an ever-broadening array of sites--some well-designed and authoritative and others poorly designed and inadequate to address all areas of career planning as well as multiple capabilities that can be used to support the work of a counselor. These sites include high-powered search engines that can be used to find other sites, language translators to facilitate communication with diverse populations, assessment tools, directories, salary surveys, and authoritative databases. It is expected that the number of sites addressing career information and planning will continue to grow exponentially. Although their existence represents a powerful and expansive array of resources, it also presents issues related to the following: (a) quality of the content, (b) inability of counselors to know all of these sites or judge their quality, (c) potential for information over-load or confusion for clients, (d) lack of support for clients to process the information they need, and (e) lack of coordination or consistency in the information and services provided by the various pieces of this vast smorgasbord of assessments and information.

Internet-Delivered Career Guidance and Information Systems

David Pollard, John Kelly, Matt McQuillen, and Soren Sorensen (2004) from the United Kingdom, Canada, and Denmark described the broad implementation of a trait-and-factor matching system in numerous countries via the Internet, where technically feasible, or by machine-resident software. They noted the challenge of modifying a software system for different cultures and raised questions about the degree to which counselors need to be involved in system development, quality control, and decisions about interfacing computer use and counselor support. This paper focused on the challenges of delivering a long-standing system to new and diverse populations while also attending to appropriate involvement of counselors in that process.

Itamar Gati (2004) described an Internet-based career planning system available in Israel, one that has moved beyond the typical systems of the 20th century to include content to deal with assessment of individual needs, guidance through the system based on those needs, analysis of decision-making difficulties, monitoring of the quality of the user's dialogue with the system, and assistance with decision making by application of sequential elimination logic. This paper illustrated the trend to maintain a well-established system while continuing to add features designed to improve its effectiveness through improved decision-making strategies, differential treatment for different levels of need or readiness, and improved screening of users.

Brian Schwartz (2004) spoke of plans for a new Web-based, interactive system that, through innovative ways to analyze personal interests, skills, and values, would assist a user to develop a dream occupation. This self-analysis is to be supported by consideration of scenarios, simulations, and the online support of a career mentor and by making use of video, audio, and gaming. This paper pointed to possible directions of future systems on the Web--increased use of audio and video as bandwidth supports this capability and the inclusion of the opportunity to access a cybercounselor or the intelligence available from an expert system.

Systems to Support Knowledge Sharing and Generation

The global nature of the World Wide Web makes it possible to collect in one place a vast repository of knowledge in the field of career development, including theory, applications, best practices, research, and tools and techniques. Departing from the usual computer-based career planning system, Jenny Bimrose, Deirdre Hughes, and Alan Brown (2004) described the development of a Web site, currently known as the National Guidance Research Forum, in the United Kingdom. Focusing on research findings in the field, this site covers the topics of equal opportunity, impact analysis, use of research in practice, the improvement of practice, lifelong learning, and international perspectives. These topics have been selected to represent those that practitioners and policy makers most often conduct a search for online. Persons who access this site will be able to jointly develop, edit, and modify materials; share experiences related to the topic being researched; debate and collaborate in cyberspace; and tackle complex problems together in an interactive forum.

Clearly, this site signals a new 21st-century use of technology to support the career development field. It does not provide direct service to students and adult career changers, but it does offer the potential for a global library of resources, professional sharing and dialogue, in-service training, and integrated support for policy making in career guidance.

Systems Providing Information and Training

Lyn Barham and Gareth Dent (2004) described a Web site developed in the United Kingdom called LearnDirect and supported by government funding. Begun as a telephone helpline, this Web site now answers hundreds of thousands of queries per year about adult learning opportunities. In order to provide current information, the system is undergirded by extensive databases describing these learning opportunities.

This application forecasts the potential for the provision of a much broader set of databases, assessment tools, and guidance activities, funded by public funds from a single Web site, to provide information and guidance to millions of individuals worldwide. Information and services could be provided in a variety of languages, could provide access to different assessment tools and databases as needed for a given user, and could provide virtual counsel or support.

Readiness to Use Computer-Based Career Guidance Systems

James Sampson (2004; the second author of this article) described factors that can contribute to low readiness for effective use of career guidance systems, resources, and services. These factors include (a) personal characteristics (e.g., acute and disabling thoughts and feelings, chronic and disabling thoughts and feelings, limited verbal aptitude, limited language proficiency, and limited computer literacy); (b) personal circumstances (e.g., disabling family, social, economic, or organizational factors that influence decision making and difficulty adjusting to a recent behavioral/emotional, cognitive, physical, or sensory disability); (c) knowledge of self, options, and decision making (e.g., limited life experience; limited inclination to reflect on self-knowledge gained from life experience; limited knowledge of occupations, educational/training providers, or employers; and limited knowledge about the decision-making process); and (d) prior experience with career resources and services (e.g., limited prior experience with career resources, inappropriate expectations about career choice and career services, and negative prior experience with career resources and services).

The consequences of low readiness for effective use of career resources and services include (a) premature disengagement from career services or discontinued use of career resources (such as a computer-based career guidance system) because of the individual's perception that any difficulty in using career resources indicates that he or she cannot be helped; (b) negative perception of skills because of predicted failure at work tasks that would lead to likely disappointment and embarrassment for the individual; (c) negative perception of interests after imagined failure by the individual in applying the skills associated with the interest (e.g., initially liking public speaking and then perceiving failure in front of others due to a lack of skill, resulting in reduced interest in speaking publicly); (d) selective acquisition of incomplete information, which then reinforces a preexisting conclusion that the individual would not be interested in or succeed in an occupation or education/training program (e.g., a self-fulfilling prophecy); (e) premature foreclosure of occupational, educational/training, or employment choices to avoid the risk or effort involved in exploring other potentially appropriate options; (f) protracted exploration of occupational, educational/training, or employment choices to avoid the risk of failure by incessantly seeking more information before making a career choice; (g) dependent decision-making style adopted by the individual to avoid taking responsibility for a career decision that could be made by a significant other; and (h) biased evaluation of options in which the benefits are underestimated and the limitations are overestimated in a way that reinforces a preexisting conclusion that an occupational or educational/training option is inappropriate.

Individuals with low readiness for effective use of career resources and services are more likely to avoid using, or to make poor use of, computer-based career guidance systems. As a result, these individuals will likely need more assistance to benefit from using this technology. Screening can be used to identify individuals who will have a low level of readiness for career choice, identify how much help these individuals will need to make an informed choice, and identify the specific elements of computer-based career guidance systems that relate to their needs. Orientation can be used to help individuals understand how to use elements of a computer-based career guidance system to meet their needs. Follow-up can be used to make sure that the anticipated benefits of using a computer-based career guidance system have been realized, and if not, what can be done to help individuals make successful use of the system.

Future Systems

At least two streams of development will have an impact on the use of technology in the field of career services in the 21st century: technological advances and the conceptual foundation provided by existing systems. The technological advances, as always, are moving at a faster pace than the conceptual advances. On the technology front, the current advances are wireless delivery, broadband, and handheld devices. Wireless technology, when broadly available, implies that individuals needing career information or guidance may access it at a place and time that meets their needs. The existence of broadband technology implies that information or guidance may be provided at faster speeds and with the enhancement of audio, still images, graphics, and video. The widespread use of handheld devices implies that individuals, supported by a cybercounselor, may receive career information and guidance on small pieces of equipment, such as a cellular phone, a personal digital assistant, or a wristwatch.

The conceptual foundations laid by past and present systems indicate that future systems directed at career decision makers will provide an ongoing user record in which to store personal information, assessment of personal characteristics central to career choice, extensive educational and occupational databases, improved decision-making algorithms, motivating audio and video assets, and accommodation for differing levels of need or readiness to use the system.

The conceptual foundation includes samples of Web sites that support career counselors. As this trend increases, such sites will include access to authoritative databases of labor market information, educational and training information, new theoretical approaches, best practices, research evidence, tools and techniques, continuing education opportunities, and moderated forums on important issues in the field.

All told, the matters discussed at this symposium suggest that the next generation of the use of technology to assist individuals with career choice and development may be characterized by the following: (a) public funding that will make access free of charge; (b) comprehensive systems, including all of the components cited in the above paragraph; (c) access worldwide from one or more Web sites that can accommodate different languages, assessments, and databases; (d) access from anywhere via small handheld devices; and (e) support from cybercounselors. Of these innovations, training in and wise use of cybercounseling are the most challenging.

Ethical Issues and Standards Related to Computer-Based Career Guidance Systems

Ethical issues arising from the use of the Internet in delivering computer-based career guidance generally involve (a) the quality of assessment and information resources; (b) the availability of interventions by practitioners when needed, including services specifically designed for individuals with a low readiness for career choice; (c) the quality of services provided at a distance in terms of practitioners' awareness of local conditions, events, and cultural issues; (d) inappropriate access to information about an individual because of problems of confidentiality and security; (e) auditory and visual privacy while using a system; and (f) the equality of access to the Internet.

It will not be possible to eliminate ethical problems in the distance provision of computer-based services to individual clients. The occurrence and severity of ethical problems can, however, be reduced by following ethical standards that are appropriate and achievable. The Appendix provides a partial listing of ethical standards that can be used to guide the design and use of computer-based career guidance systems.

Credentialing for Distance Counseling

Counselors will increasingly assist individuals in using computer-based career guidance systems via distance counseling. One approach to enhancing the quality of distance counseling involves the credentialing of practitioners. Credentialing as a Distance Certified Counselor (DCC) helps to assure the client that a distance counselor has met the minimum criteria necessary for competent practice. Minimum criteria include possession of a master's degree in counseling or appropriately related field, successful completion of the DCC training, successful completion of a follow-up self-evaluation of distance counseling competencies, and status as a National Certified Counselor or attainment of state counselor licensure (for further information, see http://www.cce-global.org/dcc.htm and http://www.readyminds.com/sitemap/overview.html).

Summary

We have reviewed the trends in the use of computers in the delivery and support of career guidance and counseling that were revealed by papers presented at the 2004 international symposium jointly sponsored by the International Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance and the National Career Development Association. These papers highlighted the fact that 20th-century computer-based systems continue to be used, delivered mainly via the World Wide Web, and to be enhanced through audio, video, graphics, strategies to provide needs assessment, and support by cybercounselors or expert system design. The papers presented in the symposium also revealed a new trend: the use of elegant (i.e., well-designed and fully featured) Web sites to store and search immense libraries of resources needed by professionals and clients and to facilitate communication and collaboration among professionals in cyberspace. Concerns, issues, and resources related to many areas, including the readiness of clients to use computer-based systems, were also raised; existing sources of guidelines are provided in the Appendix.

References

Barham, L., & Dent, G. (2004, June). Balancing policy with client need: Is there a dilemma? In International perspectives on career development. Symposium conducted at a joint meeting of the International Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance and the National Career Development Association, San Francisco.

Bimrose, J., Hughes, D., & Brown, A. (2004, June). Promoting evidence-based practice for careers work. In International perspectives on career development. Symposium conducted at a joint meeting of the International Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance and the National Career Development Association, San Francisco.

Gati, I. (2004). Challenges and prospects of Internet-based interactive career planning systems: an Israeli perspective. In International perspectives on career development. Symposium conducted at a joint meeting of the International Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance and the National Career Development Association, San Francisco.

Harris-Bowlsbey, J., Riley-Dikel, M., & Sampson, J. P., Jr. (Eds.). (2002). The Internet: A tool for career planning (2nd ed.). Tulsa, OK: National Career Development Association.

Harris-Bowlsbey, J., & Sampson, J. P., Jr. (2001). Computer-based career planning systems: Dreams and realities. The Career Development Quarterly, 49, 250-260.

Pollard, D., Kelly, J., McQuillen, M., & Sorensen, S. (2004, June). Who's driving the future--Careers counselors or software designers. In International perspectives on career development. Symposium conducted at a joint meeting of the International Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance and the National Career Development Association, San Francisco.

Reile, D. R. (2004, June). Use of Internet websites to support career planning. In International perspectives on career development. Symposium conducted at a joint meeting of the International Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance and the National Career Development Association, San Francisco.

Schwartz, B. (2004, June). Next generation tools and processes for career and life planning. In International perspectives on career development. Symposium conducted at a joint meeting of the International Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance and the National Career Development Association, San Francisco.

Sampson, J. P., Jr. (2004, June). Readiness for effective use of computer-assisted career guidance systems: A preliminary multidimensional model. In International perspectives on career development. Symposium conducted at a joint meeting of the International Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance and the National Career Development Association, San Francisco.

Super, D. E. (1970). Computer-assisted counseling. New York: Teachers College Press.

U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare. (1969). Computer-based vocational guidance systems. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Appendix

Ethical Standards

* Ethical Standards for Internet On-Line Counseling

American Counseling Association 

http://www.counseling.org/resources/internet_standards.htm

* Guidelines for Psychologists Practicing Online Counseling 

Federation of Swiss Psychologists FSP 

http://www.psychologie.ch/fsp/dok/e-online.html

(Also available in Dutch and French)

* Guidelines on the Development and Use of Computer-Based Assessments

British Psychological Society 

http://www.psychtesting.org.ukviewer.asp?id=199&sectionid=7&subsection=1

* Guidelines for the Use of the Internet for Provision of Career Information and Planning Services

National Career Development Association

http://www.ncda.org/about/polnet.html

* Handbook of Standards for the Operation of Computer-Based Career Information Services 

Association of Computer-Based Systems for Career Information

http://www.acsci.org/acsci_pubs1.htm

* Honor Code of Conduct (Honcode) for Medical and Health Web Sites

Health on the Net Foundation 

http://www.hon.ch/HONcode/Conduct.html

* The Practice of Internet Counseling

National Board for Certified Counselors 

http://www.nbcc.org/ethics/webethics.htm

* Services by Telephone, Teleconferencing, and Internet

American Psychological Association 

http://www.apa.org/ethics/stmnt01.html

* Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing 

American Educational Research Association, American Psychological Association, and National Council on Measurement in Education

http://www.apa.org/science/standards.html

* Suggested Principles for Online Provision of Mental Health Services 

International Society for Mental Health Online and Psychiatric Society for Informatics 

http://www.ismho.org/suggestions.html

JoAnn Harris-Bowlsbey, Career Development Leadership Alliance, Inc., Finksburg, Maryland; James P. Sampson Jr., Center for the Study of Technology in Counseling and Career Development, Florida State University. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to JoAnn Harris-Bowlsbey, 1600 Green Hill Road, Finksburg, MD 21048 (e-mail: [e-mail]).