Fostering Innovation and Creativity in Career Education: Development and Validation of a Career Information Kit (CIK) Presenter Merrit B. Henry Manager, Placement & Career Services, UWI, Mona. PhD candidate, UTech, Jamaica.

2 Presented at The Second International Conference on TVET in the Caribbean at the Hylton Rose Hall Hotel, Jamaica. May 13-15, 2015

 Introduction  Statement of the problem  Purpose of the CIK  Research questions  Significance of the CIK  Development of the CIK  Summary and Conclusion Focus of Presentation 3

 Establishing Need for the CIK  Existence of dysfunctional career thinking in Secondary Schools  Guidance counsellors’ opinion  Students’ opinion Introduction 4

 Evidence of Dysfunctional Career Thinking (DCT) at secondary level  Secondary level institutions unprepared to identify and deal with DCT  Inadequate career information Statement of the Problem 5

 The millennial student.  Technological changes in classroom.  Technology in career education. Innovation and Creativity in Career Education 6

 Develop and validate a reliable CIK for mitigating dysfunctional career thinking (DCT) among Jamaican secondary school students Purpose of the Study 7

1.In what ways can a valid and reliable CIK be developed for mitigating DCT among secondary level students? 2.How reliable is the developed CIK for mitigating DCT among secondary school students? Research Questions 8

 Students  Career/Guidance Counsellors  Administrators  Employers Significance of the CIK 9

 Research Design  Target Population  Sample and Sampling Techniques  Description of Steps in Developing and Validating the CIK Development of the CIK - Methodology 10

 Research and Development (R&D) Model, (Creary & Creary, 2005)  Qualitative and quantitative techniques  Steps in the development of a product Research Design 11

Sample 12 ProfessionalsStudentsTotal Large Group Focus Group Professionals and Students

Systems Approach Model of Educational Research and Development 13

14 Research Design Source: Henry (2014), adapted Dick, Creary &Creary (,2005) ppxxii-1 Research & Development Approach Development of CIKBP HR Practitioners Career Professionals Validation Phase I Large Group Focus Group Development of the Digital Demonstration Version of the CIK Large Sample Validation Phase II: The Developed Digital Version of the CIK Testing of the Developed Digital Version of the CIK Development of User Guide for the CIK Mass Production/dissemination/Commercialisation of the CIK Testing for Dysfunctional Career Thinking Guidance Counsellors Third Form Students Procedure for obtaining IP/Copyright for the CIK

 Population: 1434 students - (701M;733F) from 6  Secondary schools (Third Form/ Grade 9)  Region 1- Kingston and St. Andrew Target Population 15

 Interraters/Professionals-Round table discussions  Large group - third form students  Focus Group- third form students Sample and Sampling Techniques 16

 Development of the Career Information Kit Blue Print (CIKBP)  Validation of the CIKBP  Development of the digital demonstration version of the CIK (converting the text (A-Z glossary, developed in CIKBP into digital version.  Validation of the digital version of the CIK Steps in Developing CIK 17

 Try out/ testing of the developed CIK to establish validity and further confirm or refute the established reliability  Development of final version of the CIK  Development of User Guide for the CIK  IP/Copyright  Mass production and Commercialisation of CIK Step by Step Approach to Developing CIK cont’d 18

 Information obtained from websites of educational institutions, newspapers, vacant position requests from organisations and supplemented by the researcher’s experience Step1 - Development of the Paper Based Career Information Kit Blue Print (CIKBP) 19

 Information divided in 2 sections: Guidelines for choosing a career and 5 major headings: description/definition, nature of job, qualification, skills and competencies, employment Step1 cont’d -Development of the Paper Based CIKBP 20

 Sample – 8 professionals – 1st phase, Round Table discussions - content, appropriateness, appearance and relevance of the information.  Questionnaire fielded.  Preliminary adjustments made based on feedback from the professionals. Step 2- Development of the Paper Based CIKBP- Validation 21

 All participants agreed that the CIK is a very important development as career information is lacking in the schools.  Content- relevant; easy to understand.  Recommendation - electronic version of CIK. Findings Career Professionals-Discussion 1 22

 More user friendly and appealing to target group  15 high demand areas selected from 325 careers  Field work and studio production Step 2 Cont’d - Development and Validation of the Digital Version - CIK Step 2 Cont’d - Development and Validation of the Digital Version - CIK 23

 Round Table Discussion 2-Professionals  validation of CIK in areas such as user friendliness, content and face validity Step 2 cont’d -Development and Validation of the Digital version-CIK 24

 Emergence of final versions of CIK – paper and electronic  Animation  Addition of self assessment component  Additional skills and competencies Step 3 - Modification and Description of the Digital Version of the CIK Step 3 - Modification and Description of the Digital Version of the CIK 25

 Introduced words to describe animation as images scroll across the screen  Volume of background music reduced/removed  Pause created for change of narrators  Additional animation  Professionals satisfied with developed product Step 4 – Further Modification and Description of the Digital Version of the CIK 26

 Sample -52 grade 9 students representing 3 secondary schools in targeted population  Viewed CIK in classroom setting and gave feedback on usefulness, user friendliness, comprehensiveness  Utilisation of questionnaire-quantitative Step 5-testing Digital Version of the CIK 27

The CIK provided new information about:  Various careers  About yourself  Career decisions  Third Form subject choice  Career choice for tertiary  Career choice for after secondary Findings Validity and Reliability:testing- large group 28

Improvement in Career Thinking Percentage (N=52) Decide on career73.1 Make subject choices78.8 Make career decisions92.3 Plan further studies71.2 Plan for field of work65.4 Findings Validity and Reliability – Large Group (cont’d) 29

 Sample -10 students-traditional co-education educational institution  Qualitative approach  Viewed CIK-discussion on user-friendliness, relevance and importance of content Step 6 –Testing CIK Using Focus Group 30

 User-friendliness – use of graphics, presentation style of narrators, matching of personality with careers  Usefulness – comprehensive information, introduced new careers, more reflective, better appreciation for some careers Focus Group: User-friendliness, Usefulness and Relevance of CIK 31

 Relevance helped to make informed career choices, understanding the importance of Mathematics and English Language, importance of skills requirement for relevant career. Focus Group: User-friendliness, Usefulness and Relevance of CIK cont’d 32

 All feedback considered, CIK was accepted for development of the final version  Significant changes were made from the recommendations of the professionals Further Modification: Digital Version of the CIK 33

 How reliable is the developed CIK for mitigating dysfunctional career thinking among secondary school students?  Reliability test – questionnaire to professionals  Focus on user-friendliness, relevance, appropriateness and usefulness Test for Reliability 34

 Responses to questions sought based on Likert Scale & Cronbach Alpha Reliability Coefficient (Glinn & Glinn, 2003) sought Test for Reliability (cont’d) 35

Reliability Statistics Cronbach's Alpha Cronbach's Alpha Based on Standardised Items N of Items Cronbach Alpha Reliability Coefficient- Professionals 36 Professional Reliability Test The Cronbach Alpha for the Professionals questionnaire is.821 and proves that the instrument used was reliable.

Reliability Statistics Cronbach's Alpha Cronbach's Alpha Based on Standardised ItemsN of Items Reliability - Students 37 A Cronbach Alpha of.531 shows the level of reliability as indicated by students

 The research and development scientific methodology was utilised for the development of the CIK  The CIK was found to be user friendly, useful and relevant by professionals and students  The CIK should help in the mitigation of DCT. Summary and Conclusion 38