Once the user is well aware of personal values, he or she is ready to proceed to the LOCATE subsystem. In this module the user may use any five of the values simultaneously. Ordinarily these will be the five most highly weighted, but the user is not restricted to that choice and can make substitutions as he or she progresses in the system. Within each value selected the user may assign any one of four, five, or six levels or types. High income includes five levels ranging from less than $13,000 annually to more than $32,000, field of interest includes six types, and all other values are assigned four levels. The computer presents lists of occupations that meet the combinations of value levels specified by the user. If the list exceeds forty entries, the user is encouraged to increase the level on some or all of the values included. If the list is nonexistent, he or she is encouraged to reduce the level on one or more of the included values. The user may change the values and the specified levels as much as desired; each change, of course, revises the list of occupations presented. Because SIGI was developed for use with community college students, its occupational file lacks the depth possessed by most systems. Fewer than 200 occupations are included and about two-thirds of these require more than a year of postsecondary education. The entire occupational file is based on national data.
The list of occupations identified for further exploration is carried forward to the COMPARE subsystem. Here the user may ask any of twenty-eight specific questions about such items as work activities, entry requirements, income, personal satisfactions, working conditions, and outlook, and compare any three occupations simultaneously. The occupations selected for comparison may include others than those identified in the previous module.
The PREDICTION subsystem can be used only if the local institution has developed the data on which this module functions. If the subsystem is operational, the user can enter personal data such as earlier academic performance, test scores, and estimates of possible grades, and receives probability statements predicting the grade that would be earned in key courses in various preparatory programs being considered. The predictions are based on grades of previous students. The quality and usefulness of this subsystem is highly dependent on the care used in developing the data as well as such variables as stable faculty, well-established course content, uniform evaluation procedures, and significance of the course in the overall program.
The user next proceeds to PLANNING, or goes directly to this subsystem if the local site has not developed the PREDICTION module. Here the user is shown the requirements for entry in the occupation(s) being considered. He or she is assisted in judging personal willingness to meet the requirements. If the user is uncertain, he or she is shown the rewards and risks involved in trying the preparatory program for a semester versus switching to another program. As the client proceeds in the subsystem, he or she is shown the preparation recommended for the occupation. The local site can incorporate local information, if desired, such as specific course titles and numbers. A semester-by-semester program is usually included. Information about financial aid is also in the PLANNING subsystem.
The STRATEGY subsystem focuses on the decision-making process. Three occupations at a time can be matched against the earlier weighted values, the occupational questions considered, and the previous predictions. The display shows a rating of the likelihood of each of the three occupations providing the satisfaction or reward related to each value. The weight of each value is multiplied by the degree of opportunity offered by the occupation to produce an overall index of the occupation's desirability for the user. This desirability is then matched against probability of successful entry and the relative risks and rewards. The user can compare as many different occupational options as desired.
Both SIGI and DISCOVER use terminals with CRT screens. This system is easier for most users because the computer response is generally more readable than that of the hard-copy printer. The disadvantage encountered is that the user has no record of previous decisions as he or she proceeds through the module.
Each subsystem includes some didactic material related to that specific module, and since each piece is an essential part of SIGFs view of the career-decision process, the didactic material teaches that total process. Assessment focuses almost entirely on personal value structure. Although other personal attributes are incorporated, there is no online procedure for directly considering or evaluating these factors. The information included relates directly to the goals and expected clientele of SIGI, consequently less occupational information is included and preparatory information tends to focus on local-site resources. Information not in SIGI includes such topics as search procedures for jobs or schools and military information. The materials that are in the subsystems are updated annually.
Maze and Cummings (1982) report that the average user spends three-and-one-half hours to complete the process. This time is all computer connect time and terminal use time and therefore is relatively costly under present conditions. SIGI software has been developed for use with a variety of computers of all three sizes. Use of mini- and microcomputers requires some adjustment to the program, but the essentials remain constant. As microcomputers decrease in cost and increase in usability, one can expect wider applications of systems like SIGL
Like other systems, SIGrs strengths and weaknesses depend upon how those characteristics are valued by user sites. SIGI is forthrightly based on a clearly conceived theoretical position. By emphasizing the importance of values, it will be seen by some as underplaying other important attributes. By focusing on an educationally related clientele, it will be seen as serving other groups less adequately. By requiring the user to progress methodically through its conception of the career-decision process, it will be seen as more rigid and less flexible than systems that do not adhere to a clear philosophic position. Research studies by Cochran et al. (1977) with students at Illinois State Normal, by Pyle and Stripling (1976) at Santa Fe Community College in Florida, and by Dewees (1983) with adults in Ohio learning centers report high acceptance by users and generally higher levels of career maturity after completing the SIGI program.
How One System Works
We will consider in more detail how a typical system operates. Our purpose is to illustrate the kinds of services that can be provided in typical situations at reasonable cost. Each of the systems has some unique features as well as many commonly held characteristics. It is important to keep in mind that the system described here is not proposed as a prototype or ideal model, or as a reflection of what may develop in the future; rather, this is a program that serves a broad range of clientele through several diverse participating agencies, widely scattered geographically, and does so effectively and economically. Like the other systems now in operation, this one is evolving as technology improves and as user needs become more apparent. That process of change will undoubtedly continue for several years.
The Training and Educational Data Service, Inc. (TEDS) was formed in Indiana in 1981 as a private not-for-profit corporation. It was, and is, a cooperative venture of five state agencies (Indiana Office of Occupational
Development, Department of Public Instruction, State Board of Vocational and Technical Education, Commission for Higher Education, and Indiana Rehabilitation Services). Three years (1978-1981) were devoted to determining existing needs in various clientele populations and developing plans to meet those needs. Early in the process the study group determined that sufficient information existed but that the major need was for a comprehensive delivery system that would provide accurate, current career information quickly and easily.
Prospective users also indicated early a need for localized or regional information more specific than statewide or national data. A cooperative agreement was soon formed with the State Occupational Information Coordinating Committee (INDOICC) so that the agency responsible for coordinating occupational data could work closely with the agency (TEDS) responsible for coordinating educational and training data. The dimensions of the information to be included in the system soon became extensive, with the scope stretching across occupations and all the types of training and education used to prepare for those occupations, and the depth covering regional, state, and national levels of that information. The Guidance Information System was adopted as the national base of occupational and educational information, and these files were supplemented by state and regional information developed by INDOICC, TEDS, and the State Division of Employment Security.
The mass of data to be used in the system compelled adopting a computerized system. The variety and scattered locations of user agencies, however, necessitated providing alternative types of access because computer hardware costs were beyond the budgets for several user agencies. By late 1983, six ways to access the data bank had been developed. These include the following:
- A telephone service by which the user agency employs a toll-free number to reach a centrally located terminal operator who instantly conducts the search, reports the obtained information orally, and mails the print-out to the agency.
- A direct, dial-up terminal connection between a local terminal and the centrally located computer, using either a wide-area telephone service or regular telephone lines.
- The installation of the TEDS data base in a local mainframe computer to serve local clients and local agency customers.
- Access to a local or nearby distribution center that has the TEDS data base in a mainframe computer.
- Installation of the TEDS data base in a local Apple III Microprocessor.
- An arrangement by which a TEDS representative brings a terminal to a local site for short-term (usually half- or full-day) usage via wide-area telephone lines.
INOC**-the occupational file contains 1025 occupations including local and regional data for about 500.
ASOC-information on approximately 100 armed-services occupations.
INVT*-information about 235 institutions offering non-degree job-training programs.
COL2-two-year college file.
COL4-four-year college file (about 3200 institutions are included in the COL2, COL4, and GRAD files).
GRAD-graduate school information.
AIDS-information on 400 national sources of financial aid.
INFA*-information on 340 sources of in-state financial aid.
INSE*-information on 320 agencies providing services to the handicapped.
Files marked with one asterisk consist of statewide information developed by TEDS. The INOC file, marked with two asterisks, includes national GIS data as well as state and regional data developed by cooperating state agencies.
Like GIS programs in other user sites, an individual may use the files to obtain general or specific information about an occupation or training/ educational program applying the direct method, as previously described. The user also may use the system using the Search method to obtain lists of occupations or training/education programs that meet user-identified characteristics. The first of these two methods is a straightforward acquisition of current information parallel to effective use of a comprehensive reference library. The second method is a useful component in the career-counseling process; therefore, we will focus our attention on its application.
GIS does not incorporate either a method for self-appraisal or any assessment instruments. If the client is to make effective use of search procedures with either occupational or training/educational data, he or she must complete this step before log-in. TEDS does make available the Self-Directed Search, the EUREKA Skills Assessment, and the SAT Verbal Familiarization online to users, but computer charge-time makes this costly and inefficient except when the user is accessing via the Micro-TEDS system with a local microprocessor or using a local mainframe data bank.
Ordinarily, client and counselor will discuss, clarify, and rank order significant client characteristics before employing the computer. If the career-counseling process has been followed, using a computer assisted system occurs logically when the client and counselor are ready to turn to the expanding/narrowing phase. If a client expects to use the system without counselor assistance, he or she must have sufficient understanding of self to be able to identify important characteristics, both for inclusion and exclusion. Although users can proceed experimentally by adding and subtracting a wide array of characteristics, and deleting commands whenever a prior command wipes out the list, they are likely to find this approach generally unsatisfactory. In other words, most users will find it advantageous to discuss their psychological world with a counselor so that they have a fairly clear idea of themselves before they approach the terminal.
The GIS Guide provides an identifier code number for each characteristic included in the national file. A similar system is applied by TEDS to characteristics included in the locally developed files. Local user agencies often develop a worksheet for their clients that facilitates the identification of those characteristics that are important to the individual user. Such worksheets customarily abbreviate the descriptions included in the Guide so the user may need to refer frequently to that publication for more information about the characteristics.
Clients often need help in understanding that they should mark only those characteristics that are important to them. One common mistake is to view the worksheet like a test and attempt to respond to each characteristic. They also often need help in avoiding self-defeating contradictory choices, for example, choosing scientific and technical interests and less than high school diploma, or operating machines and equipment and subtracting the dexterity and coordination characteristics. The user also needs to understand that the EITHER/OR command keeps the options wider than a single ADD command.
The major reason for urging the client to arrange characteristics, both ADD and SUBTRACT commands, in priority order is to help the client deal first with those characteristics that are truly most important personally. Because some commands can produce very restrictive results, the client may prefer to keep that command only when it is very important. If such a restriction occurs well down the client's list, he or she may elect to delete the command and consider an EITHER/OR option or drop it entirely. On the other hand, if the factor is important, the client needs to be aware of how restricting that choice becomes.
When the client has completed the summary section of the worksheet and is satisfied that the rank order developed there is most representative of self, he or she is ready to initiate the search. The actual use of the computer is a relatively simple process. It can be done by the client alone or, depending on local agency policy or the needs of the individual client, may be completed with the help of the counselor or a peer assistant. This form assumes that either the telephone service or the terminal connection service is available to the user. Instructions might be slightly different in those settings that use a local computer or microprocessor.
Although Linda has several options for obtaining more information about these institutions, either collectively or individually, on those items listed in the search worksheet, she elects to discontinue the search. At this time, she may wish to confer with her parents, talk to friends or relatives who are familiar with some of the schools, look at college catalogs or college directories in the school library, and similar activities before returning to the computer file for more information. As she narrows the list she will probably talk further with the counselor, request more specific itemized data from the file, and ultimately visit some of the campuses.
