The Effects of College Career Courses on Learner Outputs and
Outcomes: Technical Report No. 26[1]
Revised
By
Byron Folsom, Ed.D.
&
Robert Reardon, Ph.D.
October 11, 2001
The
Center for the Study of Technology in Counseling and Career Development
University Center, Suite
A4148
The Florida State University
Tallahassee, FL 32306-2490
850-644-6431 (voice) 850-644-3273 (FAX)
http://www.career.fsu.edu/techcenter/
Executive Summary
This review of career course
literature briefly traces the history of career courses in colleges and
universities and reviews 46 reports of the effectiveness of the various career
planning courses offered in institutions of higher education throughout the
country. More than 16,320 students were
involved in these studies from 1976 to 2001.
This review has been framed in terms of the outputs and outcomes of
career course interventions. We
reviewed 38 studies of career course outputs,
such as career thoughts, career decision-making skills, career decidedness, and
vocational identity, which are theoretically related to outcomes of career interventions, such as persistence (retention)
in college, and job satisfaction or satisfaction with field of study. In this analysis, we found 34 studies (90%)
reporting positive gains in measured output variables, and 4 studies (10%)
reporting no changes in output variables.
We reviewed 15 studies of career course outcomes and found nine studies
(87%) reporting positive gains in measured outcome variables, and two studies (13%)
reporting no changes in outcome variables.
These findings are similar to the studies regarding output variables and
the effects of career courses. The
paper concludes with an analysis of this body of research and implications for
further research in this area.
The Effects of College Career Courses on Learner Outputs and Outcomes
October 11, 2001
Technical Report 26, Revised
The practice of using career development courses in colleges and universities to assist students with educational and career planning has a surprisingly long and robust history. In colonial times, instruction about work might have been the subject of a college wide convocation, along with discussions of health, morals, deportment, and other life adjustment topics. Maverick (1926) reported that freshman orientation courses, which appeared as early as 1911, included several hours of instruction on vocational guidance. One of the early career courses was offered for women at Barnard College, Columbia University in 1921 with the title “Professional Occupations: Their Scope, Functions, and Newer Developments” (Maverick, 1926). In general, courses emerged at the turn of the century as one way of delivering comprehensive career services in colleges and universities.
But what do we really know about
career courses as career interventions, and to what extent are courses used as
learning events that offer more than help in finding a job after graduation or
choosing a major field of study? What
do we know about the impact of career courses in helping students to develop
new ideas about work, education, life planning, and other outcomes? Do career courses affect student retention
in college? Do career courses help
students develop new ways of thinking about themselves and the world in which
they will live and work? What kind of
research is being done on career courses, and who is doing it? The purpose of this article is to provide
some answers from the research literature that will help us answer these
questions and others.
We begin this study with an overview
of career courses, and then move to an analysis of the outputs and outcomes of
career courses in terms of accountability.
Next we examine the literature on career courses, and conclude with some
observations about the effects of career course interventions. Our overall purpose is to provide material
that might be helpful to practitioners in developing a career course and in
securing academic credit for such a course at their postsecondary institution.
As Maverick (1926) found,
career-related courses have been used in higher education since the early
1900s. In our review of the literature,
we found and have referenced more than 80 articles or chapters reporting career
course development activities and course results across U.S. colleges and
universities. In this section, we first
review general surveys of the prevalence of career courses in higher education
institutions. We then examine courses
focused on a particular discipline or
academic unit, followed by a review of meta-analyses of career courses. We conclude this section with an examination
of some features of career courses that may be of special interest to
practitioners.
Hoppock (1932), assisted by the National Vocational Guidance Association, located catalog descriptions of 18 college career courses in the early 1930s. These courses were offered in all kinds of colleges, e.g., two-year, liberal arts, professional, and in a wide variety of disciplines. Later, Stevens and Hoppock (1956) surveyed 303 (about 33%) of schools in the 1952 American Council on Education directory of colleges and found career courses at 11 institutions. They provided brief descriptions of these courses and noted that five were taught by placement officers, five by professors, and one by a dean of women. They also noted that full academic credit was given for most of the courses.
Carter and Hoppock (1961) suggested
that Edgar J. Wiley, who included a unit on occupations as part of a
contemporary civilization course in 1923, had developed the first career
course. However, Borow (1960) was one of the first to describe a comprehensive
course, “Vocational Planning,” which was offered in the General College at the
University of Minnesota in 1932. Indeed, Borow and Lindsey (1959) eventually
co-authored a text for that course, Vocational Planning for College Students,
which was published by Prentice-Hall.
Career courses in higher education
became more prevalent over the next few decades. Journal articles provided
reports on such courses from 1930 to 1960, and there was evidence that 33
institutions of higher education were offering full academic credit career
courses in the early 1960s (Carter & Hoppock, 1961). In a related report,
Calvert, Carter, and Murphy (1964) estimated that over 100 two- and four-year
colleges were providing courses in this area.
Later, Devlin (1974) conducted an
extensive survey of college placement offices to determine the extent to which
career development courses were being offered.
Results indicated that approximately 75 responding institutions were
offering career development courses with another 123 institutions indicating
that they were planning to propose such a course. Devlin pointed out that many of the career development courses of
this era covered three major areas: (1)
career choice factors, (2) career information, and (3) job-seeking techniques
(Devlin, 1974). This triad of topics
probably continues to define the contents of a comprehensive course.
As an explanation for the emergence
of career planning classes during the early 1970s, Ripley (1975) suggested that
it was primarily due to a combination of a restricted job market and a growing
desire within higher education to contribute to the holistic development of
students. Ripley discussed the
advantages of large career development classes comprised of over 100 students,
including the maximum utilization of career development staff, greater
institutional impact, and the ability to reach more students. Additional information on this topic was
provided in a study by Reardon, Zunker, and Dyal (1979). These authors recounted an assertion by Goldstein
(1977) that institutions of higher learning reject the concept of career
education as inappropriate within an academic setting. (This was labeled “creeping vocationalism”
by some faculty.)
Reardon, Zunker, and Dyal (1979)
surveyed 458 colleges and universities across the nation to learn more about
the role and function of career services, including courses. Part of the interest in conducting this
national survey was to determine the extent to which the career education
concept was being discussed on campuses at that time. Of 299 respondents, approximately 29 percent (87) indicated that
a career planning course for credit was available at their campus. Further, 33 percent noted that the issue of
career education was being studied at their school. The authors concluded that in spite of Goldstein’s (1977)
pessimism about the acceptance of career education on college campuses, the
survey results indicated some positive response to the idea.
In a larger study, Haney and Howland (1978) found evidence of a growing proliferation of career development courses in the 1970s in an extensive survey of 2,400 two- and four-year institutions. Of the respondents, 38 percent (353) reported offering career courses for credit. Additionally, these researchers described the importance of career courses providing academic credit because of the value and respect attributed to courses within higher education that offer academic credit.
Mead and Korschgen (1994) randomly surveyed two colleges from each of the 50 states in order to learn about current practices with career courses. They obtained responses from 61 schools in 32 states, and 62% offered some kind of career course. Three broad types of courses were offered, including those geared either toward career decision making, job search preparation, or specific disciplines. Students enrolled were almost equally distributed across the four college years. They reported that 95% of the respondents granted from one to three hours of credit, and 5% of the courses were graded pass/fail.
In the most recent national survey we found, Collins (1998) surveyed 1,688 college members of the National Association of Colleges and Employers in 1997 and obtained responses from 26.8%. She found that credit-bearing courses were offered by 30% of those responding, a figure that has held steady since 1981, while 24% offered noncredit-bearing courses. Halasz and Kempton (2000) conducted and e-mail survey using various listservers and found that 70% (28 of 40) of responding institutions reported having a career course. They noted that the course was most usually offered for one credit, and that the presence or absence of administrative and faculty support was a key issue in offering a career course. Halasz and Kempton (2000) found evidence that the long battle between student and academic affairs was still being waged in regards to offering credit for career courses.
Specialty Career Courses
In research focused on career courses in a specific school or college in a university, Montana (1989) surveyed business schools across the nation and found that 64 percent (N = 120) of the respondents offered some type of career planning and development instruction, and nearly 50 percent offered formal instruction. In 43 percent (N = 81) of the schools, the career planning and placement staff provided the instruction. Using a different approach that involved a case study, Heppner and Krause (1979) described a course offered at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) that consisted of two hours of academic credit. The course was designed such that each academic department or college could offer the course within the department and use departmental faculty to teach the course. The authors suggested this course system could be an efficient use of career counselors’ time through employing the use of academic department faculty to increase student career development competencies. In a report on career course development in the speech department at the University of Rhode Island, Erhart and Gilmore (1977) discussed some of the issues encountered by career professionals in obtaining approval from academic committees to award credit for career development courses. In spite of these obstacles, a credit course on interviewing, including job hunting, was successfully launched at the upper division level. Finally, Dodson, Chastain, and Landrum (1996) described the development and operation of a junior/senior team-taught credit course for psychology majors. They noted that the course was graded pass/fail, student journaling was required, graduate school options were emphasized, no written papers or text were used, and quantitative assessments were used to evaluate the course.
Over the years, various authors have
described alternative strategies for developing and managing career
courses. To assess alternative methods
of instruction in a career course, Salinger (1966) reported a four year course
development project at Ferris State College.
Beginning with a highly structured approach, the course evolved to one
that featured small group discussion on career topics and the extensive use of
outside resource persons. A similar
course development activity intended to increase an awareness of gender roles
in career planning was reported by Gerkin, Reardon, and Bash (1988). Bradley and Mims (1992) reported how family
systems and birth order were used as the basis for a college career
decision-making course. Filer (1986)
discussed varied issues in grading student performance in career courses. Four other articles by Barkhaus and Bolyard
(1977), Lee and Anthony (1974), Swails and Hess (1977), and Ramsey (1975) were
published in the Journal of College Placement in the 1970s that
described the development of comprehensive university-level career
courses. The latter course was designed
especially for women.
Swain (1984) described the
development of a comprehensive, three-credit course developed at the University
of Illinois. This course, Ed Psych 250
Career Development Theory and Practice, was jointly offered by the Educational
Psychology Department in the College of Education, the Career Development and
Placement Center, and Division of Counseling Psychology (counseling
center). Ed Psych 250 was theory based,
open to students at all undergraduate levels, taught by graduate students
supervised by a faculty member, and offered in 5-10 sections per semester.
More recently, Brooks (1995)
described two career courses offered at North Carolina State University in the
business area. Using a case study
approach, Brooks offered suggestions to other professionals interested in
teaching career courses. Brooks
reported that career course participants tended to begin their career planning
earlier, develop greater self-awareness, grasp realities of the job market, and
write their resumes before graduation.
She also reported positive evaluations by employers. A post-course evaluation form developed by
the author and completed by students formed the basis for comments as to the
value and usefulness of these courses.
In an effort to learn more about the
impact results of career courses, several meta-analyses provide insight into
the effects of career-related courses.
Spokane and Oliver (1983) reported that group or class interventions
were more effective than individual counseling or other interventions. Later, Oliver and Spokane (1988) reported an
analysis of 240 treatment-control comparisons in 58 studies comparing 11
different types of career interventions.
They found that career guidance classes produced the largest effect size
with regard to client gains resulting from the assortment of career
interventions considered. Classes also
involved the largest number of hours and sessions, but were the most expensive
intervention according to Oliver and Spokane (1988). Hardesty (1991) also conducted a meta-analysis consisting of 12
studies that evaluated career development courses offered for credit. Results of this meta-analysis confirmed
previous research findings as to overall positive effects of undergraduate career
courses on increasing both career decidedness (48% more certain) and career
maturity (40% more capable of making a realistic decision) of college
students. However, Hardesty noted that
the long-term effects of career courses, e.g., within a year or two or longer
after completion of the courses, had not been established.
A more recent meta-analysis by
Whiston, Sexton and Lasoff (1998) examined 47 studies conducted between 1983
and 1995, including nine studies of career classes. Whiston et al. (1998) found that career classes were the third
most effective career intervention out of eight different catagories of
interventions examined. Career classes
followed individual and group counseling in effectiveness, but were ahead of
group test interpretation, workshops, computer interventions, counselor-free
interventions, and other nonclassified interventions. The researchers found classes followed counselor-free
interventions and computer interventions as least costly. These findings are similar to those reported
by Oliver and Spokane (1988) ten years earlier, except for the matter of cost.
Brown and Krane (2000), in reviewing
a series of meta-analyses, concluded that demonstrably effective career
interventions, including career courses, have five components: (1) allow clients to clarify career and life
goals in writing; (2) provide clients with individualized interpretations and
feedback, e.g., test results; (3) provide current information on the risks and
rewards of selected occupations and career fields; (4) include study of models
and mentors who demonstrate effective career behavior; and (5) assistance in
developing support networks for pursuing career aspirations. Brown and Krane suggest that persons
designing and evaluating the impact of career courses should assess the extent
to which at least three of the five components are included in the course.
In reflecting on the research
available at the time, Gimmestad (1984) provided an insightful discussion about
the use of instruction in career planning.
He pointed out the benefits of a systematic approach to delivery of
career services provided by career course interventions. The course provides for efficient use of
staff and delivery of services. Even
more important, when academic credit is involved, the sponsoring institution
almost always stands to benefit due to commonly used funding formulae that are
based on the generation of student credit hours. Indeed, credit career courses are somewhat unique among other
career interventions, e.g., individual counseling, in that students actually
pay for the intervention prior to service delivery.
Sounding a recurring theme in this
literature, Lent, Larkin, and Hasegawa (1986) noted that the efficient delivery
of career services to large numbers of students is a major advantage of career
planning courses. The growing interest
over the past few years in career development courses has become international
in scope. For example, The Open
University has introduced a university wide optional for-credit module on
personal career development (Watts & Hawthorn, 1992). Additionally, Peng (1996) reported on the
positive effects of a career education course on career related decision-making
among business college students in Taiwan.
In concluding this overview of
career courses, we might note that our check of Amazon.com, an online
bookstore, revealed more than 50 books that could be used as texts for college
level career courses. It is apparent
that there is a strong interest in writing and publishing career course
textbooks, which probably is a response to a strong market demand for such
materials.
A review of the impact of college
career courses can be framed in terms of accountability, or the outputs and
outcomes of this career intervention.
These two concepts are part of the five basic elements of accountability
in human service interventions, i.e., diagnosis, prescription, process, output,
and outcome, which were discussed by Peterson and Burck (1982) in proposing an
accountability model for human services programs. Outputs refer to the
skills, knowledge, and attitudes acquired by participants as the result of an
intervention (Peterson & Burck, 1982).
Specific examples include more positive career planning thoughts, and
increased career decidedness, vocational identity, internal locus-of-control,
and career maturity. In contrast to
output variables, outcomes of career
service interventions refer to the resultant effects occurring at some later
point in time. Examples of outcomes of
a career planning course are job performance ratings, course satisfaction,
level of personal adjustment, deciding on a major, timely graduation from
college, and cumulative GPA.
In reviewing the research literature
on the effects of career courses, an understanding of the distinction between outputs and outcomes is helpful in evaluating the studies. For example, most of the research we found
was focused on outputs, e.g., changes in level of vocational identity or career
maturity, or improved decision-making skills.
In contrast, only a few of the studies were concerned with an outcome
variable, and it was retention in college.
This matter led Fretz (1981) to worry that in evaluation studies “So
many career interventions are focused on students in the educational system
that outcomes more appropriate to persons already in or about to enter the
world of work have been neglected” (p. 85).
Moreover, Fretz urged that evaluations of career service interventions
should employ outcome rather than output criteria to the extent possible. In like manner, Peterson and Burck (1982)
stated, “By using the attainment of
competencies to connote output and their resultant efforts as outcomes, a
sharper perspective on human service work is gained that may well lead to more
effective decision making that will in turn result in more effective,
efficient, and worthwhile programs” (p. 495).
Research on both the outputs and
outcomes of career courses is needed, but the ultimate value of career courses
in higher education will probably be most affected by outcome research that
documents the impact of courses on student retention in college and the quality
of work and life roles after college.
However, outputs remain important in our understanding of outcomes, as
they are inextricably linked or related. In this regard, Tinto (1993) noted
that indecision with regard to career goals, an output variable, is one of the
factors that may influence student retention, an outcome variable. Tinto suggested that prolonged career uncertainty
by students leads them to call into question the reasons for their continued
presence on campus (Tinto, 1993).
Sounding a similar theme, Noel, Levitz, and Saluri (1984, p. 12)
summarized the matter this way: “My
experience indicates that the second major theme of attrition, uncertainty
about what to study, is the most frequent reason talented students give for
dropping out of college.”
To summarize this discussion of the
outputs and outcomes of career courses, Tinto and Noel suggest that output
variables, such as career indecision, may have a direct effect on outcomes,
such as retention in college. This
understanding is helpful in evaluating career courses with respect to
accountability.
It was not until the 1970s that formal research on career courses began to appear in academic journals. For the most part, career services professionals could only guess as to the effectiveness of these courses prior to this time (Gimmestad, 1984). Many of the studies before 1980 were plagued by methodological shortcomings, such as the failure to employ adequate controls for extraneous effects upon outcome measures (Lent, Larkin, & Hasegawa, 1986). In spite of these problems, the early studies of career courses conducted in the 1970s provided an indication of the effectiveness of these courses which was later confirmed by more methodologically sound research.
The study of career development courses has continued into 2001. In this review of literature we found 46 studies that reported outputs and outcomes (see Table 1). Fourteen (3%) of the studies cited are dissertation reports (Baldwin, Bash, Broley, Folsom, Kilk, Lisansky, Montolio, Oreshnick, Peng, Robinson, Wachs, Weist, Wiseman, and Williamson) and one is unpublished (Schmidt). In the following paragraphs, we will briefly describe the dependent variables used as outputs and major findings in the studies we reviewed. We begin with the earliest studies.
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Insert Table 1 about here
Summary of Studies of Career Course Outputs and Outcomes
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Table 1 includes more than six
outputs that are measured by standardized instruments. In this paragraph, we introduce the most
frequently used outputs, generally in the order of their presentation in the
table. The career maturity output
reported in several studies was measured by the Career Maturity Inventory
(CMI; Crites, 1973) and reflects subjective reactions toward making a career
decision along with other cognitive variables involved in a career choice. A related instrument, The Career
Development Inventory (CDI; Super, Thompson, Lindeman, Jordaan, &
Myers, 1981), assesses statements of occupational preference, knowledge of self
and career, and career planning orientation.
Internal locus of control refers to increased autonomy and self-reliance
with career planning and decision making as measured by Rotter’s Internal-External
Locus-of-Control Scale (Rotter, 1966.
The career decidedness or decreased career indecision output is intended
to capture those studies that either reported increased career decidedness or
reduced career indecision. This output
is often measured by the Career Decision Scale (CDS; Osipow, Carney,
Winer, Yanico, & Koschier, 1976).
Career decision-making ability refers to skills at making career
decisions with a more rational career decision-making approach. The vocational identity outcome is concerned
with clarity of vocational goals, interests, and personality and is measured by
the My Vocational Situation (MVS; Holland, Daiger, & Power,
1980). The career thoughts output is
measured by the Career Thoughts Inventory (CTI; Sampson, Peterson, Lenz,
Reardon, & Saunders, 1996).
At this point, we want to add an
additional word about the Career Thoughts Inventory (CTI; Sampson,
Peterson, Lenz, Reardon, & Sanders, 1996).
Since its publication in 1996, investigators such as Kilk (1997) and
Reed, Lenz, Reardon, and Leierer (2001) have begun to examine the role of
thinking in career problem solving and decision making. The CTI is based on Cognitive Information
Processing (CIP) theory (Peterson, Sampson, & Reardon, 1991; Peterson, Sampson,
Reardon, & Lenz, 1996). Three
construct scores are included in the CTI assessment: Decision Making Confusion, which is characterized by inability to
begin or continue the career decision-making process; Commitment Anxiety, which
is characterized by reluctance to commit to a single career choice; and
External Conflict, which denotes negative thinking concerning the balancing of
one’s own career perceptions against those of significant others (Sampson et
al., 1996). In a criterion-related
validity study, Sampson et al. (1996) reported that the CTI accurately
discriminated between clients (those seeking career services) and nonclients,
with clients always indicating more negative or dysfunctional career thoughts.
Career Course Output
Studies, 1970-1979
In one of the earliest studies in
the 1970s, Babcock and Kaufman (1976) used two experimental groups and one
control group to study outputs of a career course. The student body of the academic departmental site used in this
study consisted of mostly females, and thus men were omitted from the
study. One treatment group was composed
of members of a career development class, “Career Environment and Individual
Development,” and a second treatment group was composed of students not in the
class that had requested individual career counseling. The control group consisted of a group of
students who received neither of the treatments. The primary measuring instrument used in the study was a revised
version of the CDI (Super et al., 1981).
Results indicated that the career development course was more effective
than counseling or no treatment at facilitating vocational development of the
women in the study.
Touchton, Wertheimer, Cornfeld, and
Harrison (1977) created a career course at the University of Maryland based on
cognitive development theory (Knefelkamp & Slepitza, 1976). This model sought to move students from a
dualistic level of thinking to a more complex level identified as multiplicity. The two sections of the experimental course
were based on a developmental theory of instruction and cognitive development,
the two traditional sections were taught by instructors with no knowledge of
developmental instruction, and one section was taught in a mixed format. Touchton et al. (1977) reported that the
experimental course produced the largest gains in cognitive complexity with
respect to careers.
Evans and Rector (1978) conducted a
study similar to many others of this time period that established the value of
a career guidance course in increasing the career decidedness of participating
students. The independent variable in
this study was a college credit course, “Decision Making for Career
Development.” The dependent variable
was students’ vocational development as determined by pre- and postcourse
scores on the Vocational Decision Checklist (VDC; Harren, 1978), as well
as another questionnaire developed for the study by the researchers. Results provided evidence of the
effectiveness of the course in facilitating the vocational decidedness output of
students who completed the course.
Indicative of increased rigor in the research methodology of these studies was an evaluation of a career development course conducted by Ganster and Lovell (1978) that used a quasi-experimental design. The sample consisted of both students taking a business management class and students enrolled in a career development seminar. A 2 x 2 factorial design was employed in order to control for both initial comparability of the control and treatment groups and for any possible re-testing effects. The measuring instrument was the CMI (Crites, 1973). This instrument assesses subjective reactions toward making a career decision along with other cognitive variables involved in a career choice. Results demonstrated the effectiveness of this career development seminar in increasing the level of career maturity of college students.
Locus of control was the output
variable of interest in a study conducted by Bartsch and Hackett (1978). A pretest, treatment, posttest design was
employed in administering Rotter’s Internal-External Locus-of-Control Scale
(Rotter, 1966) to participants in a course entitled “Effective Personal and
Career Decision Making.” The study
involved use of two experimental and two no-treatment control groups. A primary finding of the study was that
students who had participated in this two-credit course altered their
locus-of-control beliefs toward greater internality which is believed to lead
to increased autonomy and responsibility with career planning and
decision-making.
Williamson (1979) sought to evaluate
the effectiveness of a career planning and decision-making course intended to
assist freshmen and sophomore college students with career decision
making. A comparison group was used in
this study. The career planning
decision-making output was measured using Harren’s (1978) Assessment of
Career Decision Making. This
instrument was used in numerous studies during this time period to test
effectiveness of career counseling or instructional interventions (Williamson,
1979). The study also examined the
internal-external decision orientation of students who had completed the course
using Rotter’s (1966) Locus-of-Control Scale. Results of this study indicated that those students who completed
the course, compared with those who did not, demonstrated higher levels of
career decision making concerning choice of a future occupation. The two groups were found to be similar in
terms of internal-external decision styles (Williamson, 1979).
Career Course Output
Studies, 1980-1989
Several studies of career courses found limited or no positive outputs from career courses (see Table 1). For example, Weist (1980) examined the effects of a life career-planning course on self-esteem, career maturity, and sex-role stereotypes and found little evidence to indicate that participation in a career-planning course would lead to changes in the outcome variables of interest. Also, Baldwin (1981) reported on a study of the effects of a career development course on career maturity levels using the Career Development Inventory (CDI; Super et al., 1981). For the most part, results showed a lack of increase in career maturity as measured by the CDI. Only the “Resources for Exploration” scale of this instrument showed a significant pretest to posttest increase.
As was the case with Ganster and
Lovell (1978) earlier, Smith (1981) used the CMI (Crites, 1973) to evaluate the
outputs of a career guidance class.
This study included two career guidance classes and a control group
comprised of randomly selected students living in a residence hall who did not
participate in the course. Smith was
also interested in comparing the two career guidance classes relative to some
philosophical and methodological differences used in teaching the course. In examining the results, Smith (1981) found
that the more highly structured class significantly exceeded the less
structured class and the control group in measures of career maturity. These findings suggest that the effect of a
career course may be dependent on a high level of class organization or
structure.
Ware (1981) conducted a second study
of a career course using the CMI (Crites, 1973) as a primary measuring
instrument. The objective of this study
was to evaluate the outputs of a career development course for upper level
psychology majors. The experimental
group consisted of upper division psychology majors enrolled in a career
development course and the control group consisted of psychology majors who did
not enroll in the course. Results
provided evidence that the course appeared to be effective in increasing
students’ career maturity and level of self-knowledge.
Another study of this period that
used effective control measures in evaluating career development courses was conducted
by Barker (1981). This researcher
evaluated the effectiveness of a pilot career planning and decision-making
college course, which was developed by the Division of Career Guidance at
Appalachia Educational Laboratory. The
study involved field testing the course at 14 participating colleges. A nonequivalent control group design was
employed utilizing 15 experimental and 15 control classes. The control classes were similar to the
experimental classes in terms of class structure, organization, student
composition, and student desire to participate in a career guidance class. However, control group classes consisted of
academic classes that did not deal with career development issues. Students were pre- and posttested using both
the Assessment of Career Decision Making (ACDM; Harren, 1978) and a
researcher-developed post-course evaluation survey. The ACDM is based on the career development theory of Tiedeman
and O’Hara (1963) and assesses style of decision making and level of progress
in completing several college-related career development tasks, including
adjustment to college, major selection, and occupation selection (Barker,
1981). A student survey developed by
the researcher had been previously validated through pilot and field
testing. It was designed to test the
following outcomes: self-knowledge,
knowledge of career milieu, and decision-making ability (Barker, 1981). Analysis of the data indicated differences
in many of the criteria that were examined between experimental and control groups,
including a positive effect on career decision-making ability and selection of
a major. Barker (1981) reported the
summative evaluation indicated the effectiveness of this pilot course as a
career development intervention.
Johnson, Smither, and Holland (1981) evaluated two career development courses at Johns Hopkins University to see what kind of interventions were helping which students. The courses were listed as seminars and included a variety of interventions, e.g., inventories, workbooks, written assignments, individual counseling, and students were asked to evaluate each activity. The seminar was offered five times, with the first three providing less structure and the last two were more structured and organized around a specific career decision-making model. Johnson et al. (1981) found a strong impact of the course on increasing vocational identity as measured by the MVS (Holland et al., 1980).
Stonewater and Daniels (1983)
reported the development of Guidance 100, a first year two-credit course at
Southern Illinois University—Carbondale designed to help students acquire
knowledge and skill in career planning.
In a comparative study of this course and an introductory psychology
course using an instrument developed by Knefelkamp and Slepitza (1976) and the Student
Development Task Inventory (Winston, Miller, & Prince, 1979),
Stonewater and Daniels found that students in Guidance 100 made significant
gains in cognitive development from the beginning to the end of the course.
Rayman, Bernard, Holland, and
Barnett (1983) used the My Vocational Situation (MVS; Holland, Daiger,
& Power, 1980) to evaluate effects of a career course on undecided college
students. The vocational identity
output as measured by the MVS is concerned with the clarity of vocational
goals, interests, and personality. A
pretest, midterm, posttest procedure was conducted using a relatively large
sample of 255 students in 11 sections of a one credit course. Results indicated that the treatments
included in the course had a positive effect on vocational identity as measured
by the MVS. Moreover, these gains did
not appear related to the sex of the instructor, sex of the student, tentative
major, age of the instructor, educational level of the instructor, or
commitment to teaching the course on the part of the instructor. However, gains in vocational identity were
not consistent across the 11 week term, because men showed gains in the period
leading up to midterms and women had gains in identity scores following midterms.
Remer, O’Neill, and Gohs (1984) used
a rather complex research design intended to gauge multiple outcomes of a
life-career development course. This
study consisted of eight career-related inventories administered pre- and
postcourse including 12 sub-scales to assess the impact of the course. Given that a randomly assigned control group
was not feasible, a modification of the institutional cycle design was used
(Cook & Campbell, 1979). This is a
type of cohort design that uses “cohort similarity” to control for several
threats to validity not otherwise possible with a simpler pre-post design
absent a control group (Remer, O’Neill, & Gohs, 1984). Among the positive results reported, course
participants became more certain about career choices, more rational in their
career decision-making process, and clearer in their vocational identity.
Carver and Smart (1985) reported that students in a career and self-exploration course reduced their career indecision as measured by the Career Decision Scale (CDS; Osipow, Carney, Winer, Yanico, & Koschier, 1976). This instrument was initially designed to measure the level of academic and career indecision of college students. In addition, the CDS has been shown to be quite sensitive to changes in college student career decisiveness fostered by career development programs, and test-retest reliability and criterion validity have shown the CDS to be good (Osipow et al., 1976). Carver’s methodology included use of a quasi-experimental design which sought to strengthen content validity by controlling for such extraneous variables as class level, age, sex, level of financial aid, college residence, and undecided status. In addition, Carver and Smart (1985) used a pre- and immediate postcourse assessment procedure with the CDS. They suggested that future research address longer-term affects of career development courses, such as retention.
A second study conducted by Ware
(1985) used the My Vocational Situation (MVS; Holland et al., 1980) in
addition to the CMI (Crites, 1973) as the measuring instruments to assess the
outputs of a career development course on upper-level psychology students. A pretest-posttest design was used. No significant differences were found
concerning the CMI measures, but significant pretest to posttest differences
were found with each of the three MVS sub-scales (vocational identity, need for
occupational information, and barriers to career planning). Ware (1985) concluded that these results
indicated the course was achieving desired objectives with upper division
students, particularly with the increased levels of vocational identity that
were indicated.
Lent, Schmidt, and Larkin (1985)
reported the development and impact of a career course in science and
technology for returning adult students at the University of Minnesota. This work
involved the adaptation of an existing 2-credit course, Introduction to Careers
in Science and Technology, for students with an interest in technical
careers. Occupational information
related to science and technology occupations consumed about 60% of the
course. Lent et al. (1985) found that
the students improved in career decision making as measured by the Career
Decision Scale (Osipow et al., 1976).
They also noted that they students reported increased self-knowledge in
relation to careers, knowledge of career information, and career-information
seeking behavior outside of the class.
They suggested that such targeted career courses might also be effective
in other fields, e.g., social services, business, the arts.
Wachs (1986) conducted a study aimed
at assessing the effects of a career planning course on Holland’s construct of
vocational identity (Holland et al., 1980 ).
A comparison group was composed of students enrolled in non-career
related courses. Both groups were pre-
and posttested using the MVS (Holland et al., 1980). Results demonstrated that women who had completed the career
planning course had higher scores in vocational identity as measured by the MVS
than their counterparts in the comparison group, but this finding was not true
for men. Wachs (1986) postulated that
this difference in treatment output according to gender may have been due to
the fact that pretest vocational identity scores for the women in the treatment
group were significantly higher than pretest vocational identity scores for men
in the treatment group. In general,
studies of career course outputs have not reported gender differences in the
results.
Similar to the study by Bartsch and
Hackett (1978) earlier, Broley (1986) evaluated the effect of a career
development course on the locus-of-control of female undergraduate
students. The experimental group
consisted of 22 female students enrolled in a career development course and the
control group consisted of 22 female students enrolled in a psychology course
with no career-related content. Results
indicated that the students who completed the course had significant increases
in internality of locus-of-control relative to career decision-making in
comparison with those students who did not complete the course.
Using the previously discussed CDS,
(Osipow, Carney, Winer, Yanico, & Koschier, 1976) and CMI (Crites, 1973) as
measuring instruments, Davis and Horne (1986) compared the effects of a
small-group counseling and a career course on career decidedness and
maturity. A pretest, treatment,
posttest design was used. The study did
not use a control group due to practical constraints. Results indicated no significant difference between the group
counseling and career course treatments, although both the CMI and CDS measures
indicated significant pretest/posttest increases in scores following the
interventions. The researchers
concluded that career development courses may be just as effective as small
group career counseling at effecting positive changes in career decidedness and
maturity of college students. However,
they noted that career development courses were the more cost-effective
intervention.
Lent, Larkin, and Hasegawa (1986)
completed a study that sought to depart from the shortcomings of past studies
failing to use adequate controls for extraneous variables. Their study employed a quasi-control
condition in order to account for general occupation objectives, age, GPA, and
class level. The sample included
science and engineering students. The
CDS (Osipow et al., 1976) was used as the measuring instrument, and the
commonly used pretest, treatment, posttest design was employed. Results indicated that students who
completed the career course reported significantly less postcourse career
indecision than did the quasi-control group.
Bash (1987), in a
pretest-treatment-posttest design study of a career course, sought to examine
changes in irrational beliefs, vocational identity, consistency in interests
related to Holland’s (1997) theory, and career decision making
certainty/satisfaction. Posttest
results indicated that vocational identity measured by the MVS (Holland et al.
1980) increased from pretest levels, and certainty/satisfaction with vocational
choice increased the most for students with the lowest vocational identity at
the pretest. Bash (1987) suggested that
students with the lowest vocational identity had the most to gain in completing
the career course.
Another study addressing effects of a career and life planning course on vocational identity and college adjustment was reported by Montolio (1988). The “Vocational Identity Scale” from the MVS (Holland et al., 1980) was administered pre- and postcourse to both a treatment group (class participants) and a control group consisting of randomly selected students from residence halls, the Greek system, and 13 students who registered for the career and life planning course, but subsequently dropped. Results showed that students who completed the career and life planning course had significantly higher scores on the vocational identity scale of the MVS and better adjustment to college.
During this period, two studies
failed to show positive change in output variables used in a study of a career
course. Weisman (1988) used the CDS
(Osipow et al., 1976) and the Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy Scale
(Taylor & Betz, 1983) to study the influence of a career course and a
career course cognitive restructuring combination on self-efficacy, career decidedness,
and career indecision. A
pretest-posttest design with a control group was used. The results indicated no significant changes
in the outcome measures effected by the interventions used in this study.
Taking a slightly different
approach, Quinn and Lewis (1989) reported an effort to incorporate career
instruction into an existing upper-division business personnel and organization
behavior course. The career
instructional materials included use of SIGI PLUS, development of a job
campaign strategy, writing a resume, and attending employability
presentations. Using a matched control
group and the Career Decision Scale (Osipow et al., 1976), Quinn and
Lewis found career certainty increased for the course treatment group. They suggested that career counselors could
work as consultants with academic faculty in incorporating career instruction
into traditional courses.
Career Course Output
Studies, 1990-2001
Garis and Niles (1990) conducted a
study that involved students in career planning classes at both Penn State
University (PSU) and the University of Virginia (UVA). The study involved 112 students who
completed the Survey of Career Development (SCD; Rayman & Super,
1978), the Self-Assessment of Confidence and Progress in Educational/Career
Planning (SACP; Garis, 1982), and the Career Decision Scale (CDS;
Osipow et al., 1976). The study also
involved a control group and other treatment conditions involving SIGI and
Discover. Garis and Niles found
significant positive results for the career courses. On the SCD, the career course compared to the control group
produced higher scores at both universities; on the SACP, the course produced
significant differences at UVA; and on the CDS, the course scores were significantly
lower than in the control condition at PSU.
They concluded that the career courses were highly effective in
positively affecting career output measures.
In a second study, Kern (1990)
examined the effect of a career planning and decision-making course on career
indecision and self-concept. The
experimental group included students that had enrolled in a “World of Work”
course and a control group of students that had enrolled in a sociology
course. The CDS (Osipow, et al., 1976)
was used as the instrument to measure career decidedness. In addition, the Tennessee Self-Concept
Scale (Fitts, 1965) was used to measure changes in the nature of students’
self-concept. A pre- posttest procedure
yielded results indicating that students who participated in the career
planning and decision-making course did not experience a decrease in their
career indecision and actually had higher levels of career indecision than the
comparison group at the end of the course.
This finding was partially explained by the fact that students with
higher initial levels of career indecision chose to enroll in the career
planning and decision-making course. In
addition, results indicated no significant within group change or difference
between the two groups with regard to the self-concept output variable.
Lisansky (1990) sought to evaluate
the effects of a life and career planning course on the cognitive style of
decision-making and level of career decidedness of undecided freshmen college
students. An experimental group and a
control group were used. The previously
discussed CDS (Osipow et al., 1976) was the measuring instrument used in this
study. CDS score results did indicate
that the experimental group had more rational, less dependent career
decision-making styles, and showed an increase in the level of career
decidedness.
Oreshnick (1991) reported results of
a study indicating enhanced career decision making resulting from a university
career course intervention. A control
group was used in this study. The
measuring instrument was the Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy Scale
(CDMSE; Taylor & Betz, 1983), which is an instrument designed to assess
students’ career decision-making expectations.
Results indicated significant pre-posttest increases in career
decision-making self-efficacy for the treatment group compared to the control
group.
A more recent output study which
also employed the use of a control group was conducted by Johnson and Smouse
(1993). Researchers sought to control
for common factors including age, gender, ethnicity, college class, and
GPA. The measuring instrument was the Career
Decision Profile (CDP; Jones, 1989), which includes six sub-scales related
to career decision: decidedness,
comfort, self-clarity, knowledge of occupations, decisiveness, and choice
importance. This multi-dimensional
assessment revealed greater specificity as to which career-decision problems
may be best treated by a career planning course. The instrument was administered during the second week of the
course and again during the final week of class. In comparison with a control group, students in the career class
indicated a significant increase in career decidedness, comfort, and
self-clarity as measured by the CDP.
Henry (1993) examined the impact of
three different kinds of credit courses on the vocational identity of 64
undergraduate and graduate students in a medical/dental preparatory
program. The overall program was
intended to increase the number of qualified applicants underrepresented in the
medical profession. The courses were an
orientation seminar, a medical seminar, and a clinical experience. Significant increases were made on the three
scales of the MVS (Holland et al., 1980), indicating higher vocational
identity, less need for occupational information, and fewer barriers to vocational
plans by students in the course. No
control group was used in this study.
Robinson (1995) reported on a
pre-posttest study of the effects of a career course on the career maturity of
undergraduates. The measuring
instrument was the Career Development Inventory (CDI; Super et al.,
1981). The CDI was developed in
response to the unidimensional feature characteristic of previous measures of
career maturity such as the CMI (Crites, 1973). It is rooted in developmental theory and characterized by principals
such as “mature individuals select and pursue goals” (Thompson et al., 1984, p.
2). According to the results of
Robinson’s study, participation in the career course by students appeared to
positively affect the output of thinking about career planning as indicated by
more positive career attitudes.
A similar study by Peng (1996) used
a treatment and control group design with the CDS (Osipow, et al., 1976) as the
pre- posttest measure. The design of
the study included two experimental groups and one control group. Results confirmed prior research by
indicating that students who had completed the course demonstrated greater
certainty and decreased indecision on CDS posttest results than did the control
group students. Peng (1996) did not
find differences on the Career Beliefs Inventory (Krumboltz, 1991).
In an unpublished study, Schmidt (1999) analyzed the pre-posttest measures of a sample of 378 students who completed the career course at California State University—Long Beach. Students were tested on Rotter’s (1966) ten-point Locus-of-Control Scale and the CDS (Osipow et al., 1976). On the Locus-of-Control Scale, results indicated a statistically significant increase in pre-post course gains in internality of locus-of-control. Likewise, results indicated a statistically significant increase in career decidedness by students who completed the course as measured by the CDS.
Halasz and Kempton (2000) compared a
credit career course, Exploring Careers, with two non-career related
courses. Using both developmental and
experiential instructional techniques to increase learning about careers in
psychology, the researchers administered the CDS (Osipow et al., 1976) as a
pre-posttest measure of course impact on career certainty and indecision. They found that students in the career
course, in comparison to students in another psychology course and a
communications course, indicated more comfort with their career decision-making
situation and more certainty about their career choices.
Reed et al. (2001) evaluated the impact of a career development course on negative or dysfunctional career thoughts with a pretest, midterm, and posttest administration of the CTI. The midterm administration of the CTI took place in conjunction with an explanation of the CTI as a measure of dysfunctional career thinking which can be a barrier to productive career planning. Course instructors provided interpretive discussions of CTI scores with individual students. The course text (Reardon, Lenz, Sampson, & Peterson, 2000) includes a discussion of cognitive information processing theory and the procedures for reframing negative career thoughts. Results of the study indicated that posttest CTI scores were lower than pretest scores indicating that students completing this course reduced their negative thinking relative to career planning. This finding applied to all three CTI Scales, Decision Making Confusion, Commitment Anxiety, and External Conflict. Indeed, the largest decreases in negative career thoughts occurred with students scoring highest on the pretest (most negative career thoughts). Although test-retest bias combined with test familiarity may have been a factor in the improved CTI scores, researchers concluded from the results of this study that this career development course appears to have a positive effect on reducing negative career thinking, which should lead to more effective educational/career problem solving and decision making.
To summarize this section, we reviewed 38 studies of career course outputs. Output variables, such as career thoughts, career decision-making skills, career decidedness, and vocational identity, are theoretically related to outcomes of career interventions, such as persistence (retention) in college, and job satisfaction or satisfaction with field of study. In this analysis, we found 34 studies (90%) reporting positive gains in measured output variables, and 4 studies (10%) reporting no changes in output variables. In the following section, we will review the studies that have examined the outcomes of career courses.
As we noted earlier, outcomes of career service interventions
refer to the resultant effects occurring at some later point in time. Examples of outcomes of a career planning
course are job satisfaction, selecting a major, course satisfaction, time to
graduation from college, and cumulative GPA.
More specifically, selecting a major refers to students' choosing
academic majors at increased rates following completion of a career development
course. Retention as an outcome
variable is intended to reflect both retention to graduation as well as
retention to the next school term. In
this section, we review 14 studies related to career course outcomes in
historical order. Additional
information about these studies is presented in Table 1.
Career Course Outcome
Studies, 1970-1979
Touchton et al. (1977) compared
three different types of career courses at the University of Maryland. The two sections of the experimental course
were based on a developmental theory of instruction, the two traditional
sections were taught by instructors with no knowledge of developmental
instruction, and one section was taught in a mixed format. While overall student ratings of all the
career courses were very positive, the developmental classes showed higher
satisfaction ratings by students with respect to instructor performance, course
organization, feelings of competence, and recommending the course to others.
The first study we found that
considered retention as an outcome was reported by Bechtol (1978). The report began by noting the difficulty
experienced by the institution in retaining undecided freshmen students. More specifically, Bechtol (1978) found that
approximately half of the undecided freshmen did not return following the fall
1975 term. A course entitled “Orientation to Higher Education” was
developed to address this concern.
Three objectives of the course were (1) academic planning, (2) selection
of an academic advisor, and (3) selection of a major and a tentative career
plan. Results of the study indicated
that undecided freshmen who completed the course returned for the following
school term at a rate significantly greater than undecided freshmen that did
not complete the course.
As noted earlier, Heppner and Krause
(1979) developed a comprehensive, two credit course for undecided students at
the University of Nebraska. In an
outcome evaluation using student self-evaluations, individual interviews,
formal and informal written feedback, they found that 100% of the students
reported gains in self-awareness, self-knowledge, and knowledge of interests
and skills. The same percentage (100%)
reported increased knowledge about the world-of-work and job hunting.
In a similar course evaluation report, Gillingham and Lounsbury (1979) evaluated Humanities 397, a career exploration course at Central Michigan University. They used a post-course evaluation form completed by 104 students. Impetus for the development of the course emanated from a campus survey indicating that 33 percent of responding students reported a need for assistance with life planning. Of the responding students, 81 percent reported that the course “helped” or “helped some” in making career decisions, and 70 percent claimed to be closer to a career decision (Gillingham & Lounsbury, 1979).
Career Course Outcome
Studies, 1980-1989
As noted earlier, Johnson et al. (1981) evaluated two variations on a career development course at Johns Hopkins University to see what kind of interventions were helping which students. While finding a strong main effect for increased vocational identity, they were unable to identify any systematic relationships between more than 15 course interventions and student preferences. The author’s noted several problems in trying to specify the best interventions: (1) each course is made up of different students and has its own mood and climate; (2) each intervention has multiple possible effects, e.g., SDS results could provide cognitive structure and emotional reassurance; and (3) there is little success in finding positive interactions in other areas of instruction. Johnson et al. (1981) suggested that practitioners focus on creating main effects by using a wide variety of interventions with less emphasis on student-treatment interactions. They further suggested that all treatments used in a course should be rated immediately after use, seminars led by two or more leaders should be compared to learn more about the role of the instructor, and logs should be maintained of the success or failure of each intervention for various students.
In an attempt to learn more about
the academic credibility of career development courses in a university, Reardon
and Regan (1981) conducted a study of student reactions to a career development
course offered at Florida State University.
These researchers compared scores from a standardized instrument for the
career development course and other university courses taught in a standard
classroom format. The comparison was
based on five factors reported in the instrument: (1) level of instructor involvement, (2) level of student
interest, (3) amount of student-instructor interaction, (4) extent of course
demands, and (5) level of course organization.
No significant differences in mean scores were found between the
university wide courses and the career planning course with regard to levels of
instructor involvement, student interest, and course demands; however, the
career course received higher ratings in amount of student-instructor
interaction and level of course organization.
Hence, the researchers concluded that the career development course
compared very favorably in terms of academic acumen with other courses in the
academic marketplace, and better in terms of student-instructor interaction and
course structure or organization.
At a national conference, Goodson
(1982) reported on a longitudinal 10-year follow-up study of undecided students
who took a non-credit career orientation class in the fall of 1966. A comparison group was composed of a random
selection of undecided (academic major) students who did not take the career
orientation class. Results indicated
that a significantly higher percentage of undecided students that completed the
course finished their college degree within 10 years than those undecided major
students who did not complete the course.
Goodson recommended that similar studies be conducted with regard to
career academic credit courses to assess the longer-term effects of these
courses.
Carver and Smart (1985) evaluated a
career planning course offered at the University of Northern Colorado and
concluded that the course exerted at least some positive effect on the
retention rate of enrolled students.
However, they pointed out that this assumption needed to be verified by
further research. They specifically
recommended follow-up studies to view longer-term effects of the course on
retention as had Goodson (1982) earlier.
Career Course Outcome
Studies, 1990-2001
Besides examining the career
decidedness output as noted in the previous section, Lisansky (1990) also
sought to evaluate the effects of a life and career planning course on the
retention of undecided freshmen college students. Both an experimental group (course) and control group were
used. No significant difference between
the two groups was found with regard to rates of retention.
Dodson, Chastain, and Landrum (1996)
reported that psychology students changed the level of their postgraduate educational
goals following the course intervention, e.g., from doctoral to masters level
degrees, and became more planful regarding graduate school. Using a 10-point rating scale, with 10
indicating the highest possible satisfaction, students rated the course 9.50
and the instructors 9.65. “In summary,
Psychology Seminar: Careers and Graduate Study in psychology is an effective
way to inform students about the options for careers and graduate study in
psychology (Dodson, Chastain, & Landrum, 1996, p. 239).
In an outcome study related to career thoughts, Kilk (1997) found that