Career Development and Assessment Guidelines and Assessment Standards

Course Logistics and Course Progress

• Current Standing: This is the second lecture for the course 1011 PSY, occurring in week 3 of the trimester.

• Tutorial Progress: Students should have attended their first tutorial last week. Key activities included:     * Meeting tutors.     * Learning how to use PebblePad for creating learning portfolios.     * Collecting evidence of learning and professional development.     * Exploring reflective thinking techniques.

• Module Completion Checklist: By the end of this week, students are expected to have completed:     * Module 2, Part 1 (originally scheduled for completion in week 2).     * Module 2, Part 2 (scheduled for this week).

• Worksheet Checklist:     * Worksheet 1 (should have been completed in week 1).     * Worksheet 2 (to be completed by the end of week 3).

• Upcoming Focus: From next week (week 4), the course will move into Module 3, which focuses on career and career focusing, specifically relating to life and work experience.

• Assessment Status: By now, students should have decided on the professional they intend to interview for Assessment 1. The goal is to finish drafting next week to submit by Friday at $11:59\,a.m.$ (noon).

The Historical Evolution of Career and Work

• The Agrarian World of Work:     * Timeline: Spanned roughly the last 1000 years prior to the Industrial Revolution.     * Nature of Work: Primarily agricultural. People worked on family farms or the land.     * Sustainability: Only took what was needed and allowed the land to regrow.     * Hardship: Work was physically demanding and lacked modern farming technology.

• Industrial Revolution:     * Transformation: A period of significant technological and societal shift from rural farming to industrialized cities.     * Characteristics: Focused on machines and power sources.     * Career Retention: This was the first era where people typically stayed in one career for their entire lives; turnover rates were very low.

• The Post-Industrial Era:     * Focus: A shift away from manufacturing toward services, technology, and knowledge.     * Influences: Driven by globalization and a constant push to invent and create.     * Job Nature: Work has become more casual, project-based, and subject to frequent changes in job roles and career paths.

Key Theories in Career Psychology

• Frank Parson and the Trait and Factor Theory:     * Profile: Known as the founder of vocational guidance.     * Core Idea: Career selection should match a person’s talents, skills, personalities, and capabilities.     * Philosophy: People are naturally better at certain things; enjoying what one is good at leads to higher satisfaction and productivity.     * 3 Key Factors for Career Decisions:         1. Understanding self (skills, values, abilities/capabilities).         2. Understanding the job market (available jobs).         3. Finding the connection (matching personal capabilities with job opportunities).

• Standard Career Approaches:     * Career Identity: How a career connects to an individual’s sense of self (e.g., introducing oneself by job title rather than hobbies).     * Career Decision-Making Efficacy: Feeling confident and sure about the career decisions being made.

• Donald Super’s Theory (1980s):     * Dimensions: Career development occurs across two dimensions: Lifespan and Life Space.     * Lifespan (5 Stages of Career Development):         1. Growth (Childhood): Discovering interests.         2. Exploration (Teens to early 20s): Trying different career options.         3. Establishment ($20s$ to $40s$): Building and advancing in a chosen career.         4. Maintenance ($40s$ to $60s$): Contributing to and improving the career.         5. Decline ($60s$ onward): Preparing for retirement.     * Life Space: Humans play multiple roles simultaneously (child, parent, student, partner), and career choices are influenced by how these roles overlap and change.     * Self-Concept: Our sense of self, interest, and values shapes our career path over time.

The Role of Values in Career Development

• Components of Choice: Career narratives are shaped by the interaction of values (what is important), skills (what you can do), and interests (what you enjoy).

• Self-Awareness: Knowing one's values helps set realistic goals. Aligning career choices with values leads to higher professional satisfaction.

• Fluidity of Values: Values are not static; they change based on culture, experience, and lifecycle. Students should plan based on current values but remain aware of future shifts.

• Required Activities: Students must complete two surveys on Canvas under the "Lecture Materials" section for Lecture 2:     1. Life Values Inventory: Rate items from $1$ to $5$.     2. Work and Values Questionnaire: Rate items from $1$ to $6$.

• Reflection Exercise: Compare the top three values identified through personal intuition with the results generated by these formal surveys.

Career Exploration Resources

• Job and Skills Australia: A government website providing information on occupation types, required qualifications, and future demand for specific roles in Australia.

• Griffith Career and Employment Resources: Available on Canvas, covering:     * Developing employability.     * Evidencing skills.     * Job searching and networking.     * Preparing CVs and for interviews.

• Career Stories: YouTube channels and recordings on Canvas featuring interviews with clinical psychologists, organizational psychologists, and counseling psychologists discussing their qualifications and daily duties.

Assessment 1: Interview with a Professional

• Task Overview: Interview a professional (age $18+$) with a well-established career.

• Due Date: Friday, 27 March at $11:59\,a.m.$ (Midday/Noon).

• Weight: $25\%$ of the final grade.

• Word Count: Absolute maximum of $800\,\text{words}$.     * Section 1 (Career Summary): Approximately $300\,\text{words}$.     * Section 2 (Learning Reflection): Approximately $500\text{ words}$.     * Note: There is no $10\%$ lee-way rule; keep it close to $800\,\text{words}$.

• Technical Requirements:     * Must be completed on a new page in PebblePad (do not use a portfolio template or it will not submit properly to Atlas).     * Video Evidence: A $2\text{-minute}$ clip from the interview must be uploaded to the PebblePad page.     * Visibility: Both the student and the interviewee should be visible. If the interviewee is uncomfortable, they can be filmed from the side/back, but the student must face the camera.     * Audio/Video Quality: Must be clear, but professional editing is not required.     * Subtitles: Required if the interview is conducted in a language other than English.

• Evidence Requirements:     * Written Consent Statement: A sample sentence is provided in the guide: "I received a verbal consent from the interviewee to be recorded for the purpose of this assessment."     * Relevant Evidence: A photo, company logo, or website link representing the interviewee’s career field.

• Summary Section ($300\,\text{words}$, 4 Paragraphs):     1. How they decided on their career path and what life events led to it.     2. What makes them a good fit for this work.     3. Difficult aspects of their career development.     4. Advice they would give to someone entering the field.

• Reflection Section ($500\text{ words}$, 3 Paragraphs):     1. What the experience of interviewing the professional was like and why.     2. What was learned regarding career development in general and the student’s own career journey.     3. Future takeaways to improve the student’s own career development.

• Formatting/Language:     * Use "I" language (first person) as it is a reflection.     * Adhere to APA 7th edition for any external references (though referencing is not strictly required).     * Markdown points/bullets are not acceptable for the written sections; they must be full paragraphs.

Submission Policies and Procedures

• Late Penalties: According to university policy, late submissions lose $5\%$ of the final mark per day. After 7 days, a grade of $0$ is awarded.

• Submitting via PebblePad:     1. Click "I want to" on the top right.     2. Select "Share."     3. Choose "With Atlas."     4. Select "1011 PSYA1."

• Work-in-Progress: Students can submit to Atlas early. Any changes saved in PebblePad will automatically update the submission until the deadline. After the deadline, Atlas locks the version.

• Backup: Students are strongly advised to keep a backup of their text in a Word document in case of technical failure.

Questions & Discussion

• Question (Student): I can't see the specific workbook for 1011 PSY in my PebblePad.

• Response (Speaker 1): The speaker offered to check the student's PebblePad account after the lecture to resolve the visibility issue.

• Question (Student): Regarding the 2-minute video, what part should I share?

• Response (Speaker 1): Any 2-minute segment you feel comfortable sharing. Most students share the beginning, but any part works as long as it shows clear audio and video of the two people involved.

• Question (Student): If my interviewee doesn't want their face on camera, what do I do?

• Response (Speaker 1): Record them from the side or back, but you (the student) must face the camera directly. If online (Zoom/Teams), ensure you are on the larger screen.

• Question (Student): Does the word count include the title or section headers?

• Response (Speaker 1): No, titles and headers for different parts of the assessment are not counted, nor is the consent statement or URLs for evidence. Only the reflection text counts.

• Question (Student): What is reflective writing exactly?

• Response (Speaker 1/2): Next week's tutorial specifically covers reflective writing. Module 2, Part 2 on Canvas also has an activity for this. Summary writing is descriptive, but the rest of the assignment must be reflective.

• Question (Student): What is the minimum interview length?

• Response (Speaker 1): The interview itself should be at least $15\,\text{minutes}$. A shorter interview likely won't provide enough depth for a good reflection.

• Question (Student): Can I reflect on 1011 PSY if I don't have a career yet?

• Response (Speaker 1): Yes, reflect on your future goals and how the interview helps you see where you might be heading.

• Question (Student): My internet is down for the next two weeks and I don't have a car to get to campus easily. What is most urgent?

• Response (Speaker 1): Focus on Module 2, Part 2 (reflective writing) and attend next week's tutorial. Print out the assessment information sheet and guide at the library so you have physical copies to work from while offline.