UMUC-EUROPE GRADUATE PROGRAMS
BOWIE STATE UNIVERSITY

GUCO608 Syllabus

Course Title Career Counseling and Development
Term TERM 4, 2006/2007
Education Center KAISERSLAUTERN-KAP-GRAD
Faculty Member Brian Price - priceb@faculty.ed.umuc.edu

Faculty Contact Information:

telephone: to be given out in class
email: priceb@faculty.ed.umuc.edu

Consultation:

Available by email prior to class, after class on Day One, or by appointment.

Required Texts and Readings:

American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

Niles, S.G., and Harris-Bowlsbey, J.  (2004). Career Development Interventions in the 21st Century. (2nd ed.) Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Supplementary Readings:

All graduate students should be prepared to utilize the UMUC online library at http://www.umuc.edu/library/.  The library contains a large number of full text academic journals that are free of charge and immediately available.  The library homepage also contains a number of links related to improving students’ research and writing skills.


Two standardized assessment instruments that students can
take online and that are reflective of what they may encounter in a school or testing center will be available for credit card payment, costing under $30.  These are:
1. The Campbell Interest and Skill Survey (CISS), a Campbell Development Survey from Pearson Assessments http://www.pearsonassessments.com/tests/ciss.htm; and
2. The Self-Directed Search by Dr. John Holland http://www.self-directed-search.com/payment.html.

Recommended Journals:

A variety of full-text, online, free-of-charge and pay-per-view academic journals are listed on the Counseling Webboard at http://www.ed.umuc.edu/graduate/webboards/

Course Description:

This course is designed to provide students with an understanding of career development as it impacts on individuals throughout the life span. A basic assumption of the course is that understanding the adjustment of individuals is highly dependent upon understanding the choices they have made throughout their lives. Emphasis is placed on career and vocational choice theories, counseling delivery systems, career information, and social and psychological factors in career decision-making. Formal and informal occupational classification systems are covered. A great deal of emphasis is placed on practical applications of career theory to individual counseling, group guidance, job search and placement, and career adjustment. As this course replaces GUCO 508, students may receive credit for only one of the following courses: GUCO 608, GUCO 508 or EDCP 611.

Course Goals:

The course focuses on theory and the development of skills needed to offer career counseling. The class examines the developmental and longitudinal changes people experience in a life span. Information is provided on service delivery models, application of counseling skills, and discussion of key professional issues. The course provides opportunities for students to administer, score, and interpret select career assessment instruments.

Course Objectives:

  • Understand, compare, and contrast the different theories of career development through their own life and through the journey of others.
  • Understand and apply the process of assessment to their own career development.
  • Understand cultural and cross-cultural issues related to career development and career counseling.
  • Identify resource information systems for career guidance and counseling which will include on-line computer resources.
  • Develop appropriate entry-level skills and strategies to assist individuals in educational, occupational, and career decision making.
  • Develop appropriate entry-level competencies in acquiring, evaluating, and programming for the dissemination of career information.
  • Understand the role of current research that refines, and updates theories of career development.
  • Develop an enhanced self-awareness of personal strengths, interests, and abilities.
  • Be familiar with legal and ethical issues in career counseling.

Grading Information:

Students’ performance will be graded based upon a percentage of a total of possible 500 points obtained during the course. In general, it will be necessary to obtain a minimum of 90% of the course points to achieve an A, at least 80% of the points for B, at least 70% of total possible points for a C, and anything below 70% is a F.

Please note that Bowie State University does not use "D" for graduate students. The grade F(a) is used to designate academic failure. F(n) is used to designate failure for non-completion. Grades of Incomplete or Withdrawal are governed by UMUC-Europe policies. For further details, please refer to the UMUC-Europe Graduate Catalog, available in your local Education Center or online at http://www.ed.umuc.edu/general_info/publications/catalogs.

Course Requirements:

The distribution of the proportion of total grade points for the required tasks are:

1. Paper/Project presentation.........20%
2. Written Paper and/or Project.......20%
3. Midterm Career Autobiography.......20%
4. Midterm Exam.......................15%
5. Final Exam.........................15%
6. Participation......................10%

Description of Course Requirements:

1. Project/Paper Presentation. For this course you need to write either a "review of the literature" paper or complete a project on a topic pertinent to the course. You may select from the following topics or may choose a topic with the approval of the instructor. The written part of your paper or project is to be between 8-10 pages, word-processed and double-spaced. This paper is to be in APA format, logically organized, and free of spelling and grammar errors. Your written paper or project is due on the date that you receive your final test questions.

Some topic ideas:

Dual career couples
Career indecision
Special issues in career counseling with women
Career counseling in business and industry (or outplacement counseling)
A career guidance curriculum as part of a comprehensive guidance and counseling program
School-to-work programs
Financial aid
Retirement counseling

Your presentation may be related to your project or paper, but does not have to be. Your presentation must be approximately one hour in length. Your presentation will receive feedback by the instructor and your fellow students, although the final grade will be primarily from the instructor.
2. Self-study project. Using yourself as a subject, create a self-analysis similar to what we would expect our clients to apply to themselves. Begin with a description of your own career development, then examine your career history from the perspective of two career theories that are discussed in the textbook. For example, take the key concepts from each theory and discuss the extent to which they explain some of your experiences or enable a deeper understanding of your career development. Include any limitations that you notice when applying a particular theory. Then use various career assessment instruments to generate personal data to add to the pool of information. Part of your assessment should include the use of O*NET and other available sources for formal assessment. Include your reaction to the instruments you used and discuss your willingness to use them with your clients. Then summarize your self-study as it applies to your personal career development.

3. Mid-Term Exam and Final Exam: These will be take-home essay type examinations and/or case material with one or two choices among the items. You will be given one week to complete the exams. Usually these will consist of 3-4 essay items.

4. Contribution to a positive learning environment: This class will be conducted in a "structured seminar" format, rather than a didactic approach. Attendance is essential for the benefit of everyone in class. As well as attending classes, this means participating in the topic discussions, trying to maintain a positive attitude toward working with the material and encouraging your classmates.

Resubmission of course work from previous classes (whether or not taken at UMUC, UMUC-Europe or BSU), partially or in its entirety, is not acceptable in this course and will result in an automatic failure on the assignment.

Course Schedule:

TENTATIVE COURSE SCHEDULE

Weekend 1

Course overview
What is Career Counseling
History of Career Counseling
Trait Factor Career Theory: John Holland's Theory
Trait Factor Career Theory: Theory of Work Adjustment & Ann Roe’s Classification System


Reading Assignments:

Text: Chapter 1 and 2, handout.

www.ncda.org/

Meir, E., Rubin, A., Temple, R. & Osipow, S. (1997). Examination of interest inventories based on Roe’s classification. The Career Development Quarterly, 46, 48-59.

Weekend Two

Developmental Career Theory: Donald Super, Ginzburg, et al.
Developmental Career Theory: Gottfredson ‘s Theory of Circumscription and Compromise
Social Learning Theory - Self-Efficacy Beliefs (Betz and Hackett)
Social Learning Theory - John Krumboltz
Career Decision-Making
Career Assessment
Interests, Preferences, and Occupational Considerations

Reading Assignments:

Text: Chapter 2, 4, 7.

Super, D. E., Osborne, W. L., Walsh, D. J., Brown, S. D., & Niles, S. G. (1992). Developmental career assessment and counseling: The C-DAC model. Journal of Counseling and Development, 71, 74-80.

Betz, N. (1992). Counseling uses of career self-efficacy theory. The Career Development Quarterly, 41, 22-26.


EXAM 1 COVERING CAREER THEORY DUE ONE WEEK AFTER END OF SECOND WEEKEND

Weekend Three

Career Assessment, cont.
Personality, Values and Work Reinforcers
Using assessment results in career counseling
Occupational Classification Systems
Use of Computer-Assisted Guidance Systems

Reading assignment:

Chapter 20, 21, 5, 6, handout.
Chapter 5, 6, 8

Reading Assignments: Sequence of chapter readings to be determined by choice of student topics


Weekend Four

Student Presentations

Reading Assignments: Sequence of chapter readings to be determined by choice of student topics

PAPER AND FINAL EXAM DUE BY END OF WEEKEND FOUR

Academic Policies:

Note: Any written assignment in this course may be submitted to TurnItIn.Com. This statement constitutes prior notice.

The official university policy on Plagiarism and Academic Dishonesty can be found at http://www.umuc.edu/policy/aa15025.shtml. Section I.C. states: "Faculty may determine if the resubmission of course work from previous classes (whether or not taken at UMUC), partially or in its entirety, is acceptable when assigning a grade on that piece of course work. Faculty must provide this information in their written syllabi. If the resubmission of course work is deemed to be unacceptable, a charge may not be brought under this Policy and will be handled as indicated in the written syllabi."

Please refer to Description of Course Requirements for specific information on how resubmissions will be treated in this course and to the UMUC-Europe Graduate Catalog for information on the following:

Academic Integrity
Course Load
Exception to Policy
Grade Appeal Process
Make-up Examinations
Nondiscrimination
Students with Disabilities

Hard copies of the catalog are available at your local Education Center.

Faculty Bio:

I am a Collegiate Professor, teaching both undergraduate psychology and graduate counseling classes for Maryland. Having grown up in the Ozarks of Missouri, I sought all my degrees from Midwestern institutions (Central Missouri State, University of Kansas, and Iowa State University). This is my eighth year teaching for UMUC in the overseas division and my two major professional interests included the interface between mental health policy and law and cross-cultural issues in counseling and psychology.


Last updated by Brian Price: March 2, 2007, 9:44 am
Find this syllabus linked from the schedule at: http://www.ed.umuc.edu/schedule