Volume 1, Number 1 Fall 2005
Welcome to the first issue of the OKCIS NAVIGATOR. This publication is for and about
users of OKCIS. Each issue will include: what’s new in OKCIS, helpful tips on using
specific features of OKCIS, ways to use and implement OKCIS from users like you,
new OKCIS sites and more.
IN THIS ISSUE
CAREER QUEST
Tips
GLOSSERY
Online
New PLAN OF STUDY
What’s New in OKCIS for Fall 2005
Staff News
Fall OKCIS WORKSHOPS
OKCIS Fall Preview (screen shots)
OKCIS SITES
Career Quest: TIPS
OKCIS for Internet’s Career Quest (previously
called Occupation Sort) provides you
with a powerful career development tool. You
will find it under the list of Assessments.
The following questions and answers will help
you better understand the Career Quest
and explain its use.
What is a factor and what makes it valuable?
A factor is a characteristic of an occupation. Career Quest matches what users
indicate as their preferences
with the requirements, or features, of
occupations. There are 28 occupation factors, or characteristics,
used in Career Quest. For individuals who understand
the importance of knowing themselves and using
that knowledge to identify compatible
occupations, Career Quest can produce a reasonable size list of
occupations for exploration.
How important is it to prioritize the factors?
The factor you select as the most important (highest priority) is likely to
have a large impact on your list of
occupations
because it is the first factor to eliminate occupations. Lower priority factors
are likely to
have
proportionately smaller impacts because occupations have already been
eliminated by your highest
priority
factors.
Think about a home buying metaphor presented on the worksheet. If living in a
particular neighborhood is your
most
important criteria for buying a home, this choice may remove many homes from your
list even if they
match other
criteria. You may not be able to consider all of your other criteria (such as
price) before the
list of homes
becomes too small. Similarly in Career Quest, depending upon the factors you
choose, the
priorities
you set, and the preferred and acceptable levels you select, you may not be
able to consider all of your
factors
before your list of matching occupations becomes too small. You want to make
sure the most important
factors are
considered.
Which is best - selecting and ranking factors using the
worksheet or using the computer?
The worksheet encourages you to consider all twenty-eight factors and reflect
on your priorities. It also saves you
time on the
computer. After completing the worksheet, click on “Select Factors” on the
first screen. Then select
your factors
by clicking on each in the priority order you recorded on the worksheet.
Career Quest will not allow me to finish selecting
preferences for the factors I chose. What do I do?
When the number of occupations on your list is fewer than 10, you are taken to
the Summary screen before
you have
rated all your factors. Rating more factors would likely make the list even
smaller. From the Review
Responses
screen, you can view which factors you have not rated, but you cannot rate them
- your un-rated
factors are
gray. You must go back to one of the factors that you previously rated and
change your preferences
so that your
list includes more than 10 occupations. Then you can continue to rate factors
until your list decreases
to fewer than
10 once again.
Why should I choose factors I want to avoid?
Going back to the example of buying a home, imagine that you do not want a
formal dining room. You need to
tell your
real estate agent that you do not want this feature so the agent does not show
you homes with formal
dining rooms.
Similarly, you need to choose factors in Occupation Sort that you want to
avoid. Travel is an
example of a
factor you should select if you do not want to travel in your work. Select
“Hardly ever” as your
preference
level to eliminate occupations that require travel.
Can I choose fewer than 10 factors? What happens if I do?
|
Career Quest works best if you choose 10 to 15 factors. However, you can select
any number of factors. Fewer
factors can
result in a large list of occupations. Selecting only one factor will result in
a very large list of
occupations
coded for your preference on that factor. If a small set of factors results in
more than 25 occupations
on your list,
click on “Select Additional Factors” when you reach the Summary.
What
is a good number of titles to have on an Career Quest List?
The goal of Career Quest is to help you explore of the world of work. A list of
between 10 and 25 occupation
titles is
considered a reasonable list. When your final list has 10 to 25 occupations, a
Summary message will
encourage you
to:
OKCIS at a Glance
Occupations:
Contains job descriptions and topics that
cover the working conditions, physical demands, preparation, skills,
abilities, and knowledge required of each
occupation.
Job Search:
Information on topics such as writing
resumes and cover letters, interview preparation, and labor laws.
Occupation Sort:
Identify occupations based on your
abilities, interests, and preferences.
Keep That Job:
Information on how to work successfully with
your employer and co-workers.
Skills:
A sorting tool that helps you to identify
and prioritize your skills and match them to occupations.
Self Employment:
Information about going into business for
yourself.
Military Employment:
Descriptions of occupations and work life in
the military.
Skills:
Allows you to match your skills to
occupations.
O*NET Interest Profiler:
Complete this assessment on-line. Identify
your strongest work-related interests. Then explore occupations that
meet your interests.
Assessment Link:
Connects results of PLAN assessment test and
other assessments to a list of OKCIS occupations.
Practical Learning
Activities:
Promote career exploration with these
classroom activities, projects, and assignments.
Work Importance Locator:
Take this quick assessment on-line. Find out
which work values are most important to you, then explore the
occupations that match your values.
Programs of Study and
Training:
Descriptions of academic and vocational post-secondary educational programs, including general information
about admissions requirements and course
work.
Schools (Oklahoma &
National):
Information on Oklahoma's accredited
public/private universities, colleges, and technology centers with links
to school Web sties. The file also includes information on
admissions, costs, housing, and enrollment.
Financial Aid Sort:
A sorting tool that allows you to list
financial aid sources based upon your education plans, talents, and other
related categories.
School Sort:
A sorting took that allows you to generate a
list of schools from the National School file based upon your
education plans and preferences.
Have
you found a great way to use OKCIS with your students/clients?
Are
you willing to share your successes with others?
Email: jkahn@okcareertech.org
What’s New in OKCIS Fall 2005
INFORMATION CHANGES
New Occupations - Some
titles will be added, some deleted, and some changed to better
reflect Oklahoma’s labor market. A sampling of the new
occupations—Arbitrators and Mediators,
Financial Examiners, and Middle School Teachers.
NEW EXPLORATION TOOL
IDEAS™ Assessment in Spanish
-
For sites that license IDEAS™,
this interest inventory will be available in Spanish at no extra
-
charge. (Sites must pay a
separate $110 license fee for IDEAS™.)
IMPROVED FEATURES
Navigation - Universal
navigation tabs and Quick Links help you know where you are and move
quickly to other components.
Keyword Search - New
functionality will find matches based on the first five letters of the word
entered and has optional “alternate title” and “full
text” searches.
Assessment - Printouts
will be combined for a more complete report option.
PORTFOLIO ENHANCEMENTS
Online Plan of Study
In the OKCIS online Portfolio an eight year course
planner will help students create/plan their
courses that will help them prepare for their future.
(See article in this issue)
My Education and Work
History
New fields and new reports will increase options for the
use of this valuable component.
Teacher/Counselor
Monitoring and Reporting
Sites will be able to assign portfolios to groups so that
teachers and counselors can track their
assigned students’ progress.
New Reports
Administration Tools will be improved with a variety of
organizing and reporting options.
Opt-in Control
Sites will be able to set
universal student or client access permissions.
CRN/OKCIS Welcomes new
staff
Natalie has worked with the Career
Resource Network at CareerTech since December 2004.
Natalie
and her family moved from Utah to Oklahoma to allow her husband to prepare at
OSU
for his second career pathway— architecture.
Prior to working at CareerTech, Natalie worked for Brigham Young
University as an
internship
coordinator, Utah Valley State College with the International Student Office,
Novell, Inc.
as
an administrative assistant for Corporate Develop Relations, The Institute of
International
Education
in Washington DC, and most recently as the manager/counselor/chauffeur of two
highly
energetic children. She has degrees in German and International Relations from
Brigham
Young
University and a great set of computer software skills.
When Natalie is not adding data to OKCIS,
setting up new subscriptions or helping Oklahomans
iron
out the bugs of their OKCIS system, she is biking, sewing, being a mom, and
dreaming of ski slopes.
Welcome Natalie!
Natalie can be reached -
by email: mailto:ngay@okcareertech.org
by telephone: 405-743-5573
MY PLAN OF STUDY:
A NEW ONLINE
TOOL
This fall,
OKCIS is adding a much-requested component to My Career Plan in the OKCIS
Portfolio - an online Plan of Study. This new
feature will allow students/clients to organize
and plan up to an eight year course schedule/plan of
study, modify it as needed, update it
with grades upon completion of a year, and print it out
for reference. Users can begin
their Plan of Study at anytime. Planning can start with
8th graders selecting courses for high
school. Four years of post-secondary course planning can
also be added to/recorded in My
Plan of Study.
Using
My Plan of Study, users will have pull down lists to select; the year, subject,
term,
required or elective, and number of units/credits. They
will enter the course title and, later,
their grades. The printout will include the list of all
courses entered. The online planner
will have links to a general guide of course requirements
for high school graduation and
college preparation as well as Career Cluster Plan of
Study outlines.
GLOSSARY OF CAREER PLANNING TERMS NOW ONLINE
Some of you may have noticed a new feature on OKCIS for Internet – the
Glossary of Career
Related Terminology. The online glossary is accessible under the
Additional Resources Heading
and in the Quick Links. It provides clarification for any words used in
OKCIS that you may
not be clearly defined.
OKCIS New User and OKCIS
Update Training
Many of you have asked
about OKCIS training for new users and training on new OKCIS features, so here
is the plan:
- As soon as we know when the 2005-6 OKCIS for the Internet will be released (should
be September 2005),
we will schedule training sessions around
the state that you can attend. Some sessions will be designed for
new users and some just OKCIS new features
sessions.
Call Jo or Natalie at the OKCIS office to
learn more - 405-743-5404 or 405-743-5573
OKCIS Now Available in 554
Locations
OKCIS is
moving into its’ third year as Oklahoma’s comprehensive career information
system,
and we are pleased to
announce that over 554 agencies and schools have made OKCIS available
to their students/clients.
Below is a list of the colleges/universities and technology centers that
make OKCIS available to
their students and some statistics about the rest of the licensed sites.
Thank you all for providing
your students/clients with the most comprehensive Oklahoma specific
career information system
available. If you do not have OKCIS and are interested in providing
it to your students/clients
call 405-743-5404 or 405-743-5573.
Colleges/Universities
Carl Albert State College
Eastern Okla. State College
NEO A&M College
Northern Oklahoma College
Northern Oklahoma
College-Enid
OKC Community College
OSU-Oklahoma City
OSU-Stillwater
Redlands Community College
Seminole State College
Southwestern Oklahoma State University
Tulsa Community College-SE
Campus
Tulsa Community College-NE
Campus
Technology Centers
Caddo Kiowa Technology Center
Canadian Valley Technology Center -Chickasha
Canadian Valley Technology Center.-El Reno
Central Technology Center -
Drumright
Central Technology Center - Sapulpa
Chisholm Trail Technology Center
Eastern OK County Technology Center
Francis Tuttle Technology Center
Gordon Cooper Technology Center
Great Plains Technology Center -
Frederick
Great Plains Technology Center -
Lawton
Green Country Technology Center
High Plains Technology Center
Indian Capital Technology Center -
Muskogee
Indian Capital Technology
Center.-Sallisaw
Indian Capital Technology
Center-Stilwell
Indian Capital Technology
Center-Tahlequah
Kiamichi Technology Center - Atoka
Kiamichi Technology Center - Durant
Kiamichi Technology Center - Hugo
Kiamichi Technology Center - Idabel
Kiamichi Technology Center - Poteau
Kiamichi Technology Center -
Talihina
Kiamichi Technology Center-McAlester
Kiamichi Technology Center-Stigler
Meridian Technology Center
Metro Technology Center - ACE Campus
Metro Technology Center - South
Bryant
Metro Technology Center - Springlake
Mid-America Technology Center
Moore Norman Technology Center
Northeast Technology Center-Afton
Northeast Technology Center-Kansas
Northeast Technology Center-Pryor
Northwest Technology Center-Alva
Northwest Technology Center-Fairview
Pioneer Technology Center
Pontotoc Technology Center
Red River Technology Center
Southwest Technology Center
Tri-County Technology Center
Tulsa Technology Center-Broken Arrow
Tulsa Technology Center-Lemley
Tulsa Technology Center-Peoria
Tulsa Technology Center-Riverside
Wes Watkins Technology Center
Western Technology Center-Burns Flat
Western Technology Center-Hobart
Western Technology Center-Sayre
Western Technology
Center-Weatherford
40 Workforce Oklahoma sites
225 High Schools
114 K-12 schools
81 Elementary, Middle, and Jr. High Schools
13 Cherokee Career Services offices
Other: organizations, churches,
libraries
CareerTech is an equal opportunity, affirmative action institution
committed to cultural diversity and
compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.