Awards of Excellence 2007
Educational
Programming—College
University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign—EPICS: Exploring Pathways in Career Success
When the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) re-engineered its new student orientation to better facilitate students’ transition to college, Gail Rooney, director of the career center, jumped at the opportunity to bring career and professional exploration into the mix.
“In
the past, orientation was two days in the summer and then two days just
before classes were set to start,” she explained. Because students were
focused on who their roommates were, which classes they were in, and the
like, the orientation wasn’t particularly effective at helping students
get beyond the basic “nuts-and-bolts” information they needed.
The new approach breaks up the orientation process and includes a new piece— a “university 101” initiative. Implemented so that academic colleges could tailor the course to their curriculum, this offered an opportunity to bring career and professional exploration to freshmen. In Fall 2006, more than a third of the freshman class was involved in the initiative. Rooney expects that to grow as more colleges move into the initiative.
Building career and professional exploration into “University 101”
To bring career development into the initiative, Rooney and the EPICS (Exploring Pathways in Career Services) team planned to deliver the program to account for the specific needs and wants of each academic college. “We knew from the beginning that we wanted our piece to be online and that we didn’t want to just give information. We wanted it to be interactive,” she says.
The EPICS team wanted the effort to be collaborative and empowering for students and for the academic departments, colleges, and faculty involved. The idea, says Rooney, was to provide the colleges and faculty with the tools, help, and support they needed to bring career exploration to students.
The result: The EPICS program, an interactive, online, modular program designed to get students thinking about their career choices early in their college experience. The EPICS program has two components: Online modules and classroom work.
For the program’s Fall 2005 debut, the EPICS team developed two online modules (the Interest Explorer and the Competency Builder—the Dream Resume Builder was added for Fall 2006) that students use to assess their needs, get immediate feedback, and plan their next steps.
Each module requires reflection on the part of the student and “commits the student to action,” says Rooney.
Using the Interest Explorer, the student assesses his or her interests and then makes potential matches with majors available at UIUC. Through the Competency Builder, the student learns about the skills employers most desire in candidates, how he or she measures up in terms of those skills, and how to build those critical skills during college.
The Dream Resume Builder focuses on helping students think about “what to do to build a ‘dream resume.’ For example, what skills do you need to build? What experiences can help you do that?,” explains Rooney. ” Based on the choices the student has made, the module gives a student a glimpse into the future by showing how those experiences will look on a resume.
In addition, the EPICS team developed materials and trained instructors to teach the material in group and individual settings. The online modules function as students’ “homework.”
“They work through the modules, print their results, and bring them to class,” says Rooney. The students can also use the information independently.
Positive evaluations, positive outcomes
A satisfaction/learning outcomes survey conducted in December 2006 found that nearly two out of three (64 percent) of participants had a “positive” or “very positive” experience with EPICS, 78 percent said they would refer others to use EPICS, and 68 percent indicated that EPICS helped them to plan for their academic and career success.
Feedback shows that “students are starting to ‘get’ it,” says Rooney. “They are recognizing that the job search is not as far away as they might have thought. In some cases, EPICS has helped confirm for them their choice of major.”
A tool to span the college experience
Two additional modules will be added to the EPICS program for Fall 2007. One will focus on helping students learn how to make decisions and the second is “a module that links majors to careers,” says Rooney. “One that will help them think about the possibilities and expand their thinking.”
The next module the team plans to develop will focus on diversity and cultural competency, and another that is envisioned as an expanded skills module.
Although the ultimate goal is to develop a comprehensive program that spans the student’s four-year experience, Rooney says that the program is designed to fit with student needs and doesn’t require students to conform to one timeline. “The modules are building blocks. Students come into [EPICS] at different places in their career development,” she explains.
