NCDA 2013 Global Career Development Conference

Hollandcodes.com is honored to be chosen to be present at the 2013 National Career Development Conference (NDCA) in Boston, MA.

Key resources:

            - Millennial Overview flip book

            - Youtube Video:  Profiles of Generation M2  

            - Youtube Video:  A Vision of Students Today

            - Youtube Video:  Engage Me - Viewpoints of Students

Read about -

Social Media and Career Development Workshop

Title:  Social Media and Career Development Technology Building Millennial Momentum and Motivation

Abstract: 

Millennials are ethnically diverse, achieving, expressive, liberal, technological, community-oriented, connected, optimistic, yet pressured and impatient students that are altering the face of academia and the marketplace. 

Career development professionals are responding by adopting innovative, creative, and effective technological strategies to engage encourage, support, and empower students.

Millennial Generation

The latest Census reports that Americans 18-34 make up 23 percent of the U.S. population.

Here are characteristics for the Millennial Generation -

  1. Technologically sophisticated: Digital natives, Native speakers, Nets, Internet generation, iGeneration and Nintendo digital generation
  2. Optimistic: Generation Y and Sunshine generation, an inclusive and hopeful generation
  3. Generation C:  Connected, communicating, content-centric, computerized, community-oriented, always clicking
  4. Connected: watching online video (27%), visiting social networking/blog sites (27%), owning tablets (33%) and using a smartphone (39%) connectivity through text messaging, instant messaging, blogging (Web logs, My Space) and video gaming are familiar to most Millennials
  5. Confident: They are motivated, goal-oriented, and confident in themselves and the future
  6. Conventional: Respectful to the point of not questioning authority.
  7. Diverse: Millennials are the most racially and ethnically diverse generation in the whole world.
  8. Multitasking: Information handling and communicating.hand-held gadgets while doing daily activities using multiple media simultaneously, using computers and the Internet at the same time as video games, print media, music, and the phone
  9. More highly educated when ranked with other generations at comparable ages. More than half of Millennials have at least some college education (54%), compared with 49% of Gen Xers, 36% of Boomers and 24% of the Silent generation when they were ages 18 to 28.
  10. Net Generation: Leveragers of technology, customizers, scrutinizers, entertainment seekers, collaborators and innovators
  11. Special: Have always been treated as special and important
  12. Sheltered: Highly protected as children
  13. Team-Oriented: They are group oriented rather than being individualists.
  14. Achieving: Grade points are rising with this generation and crime is falling.
  15. Pressured: Tightly scheduled as children and used to having every hour of their day filled with structured activity.
  16. Other names:  Echo boomers, the boomlets, the Nexters and Generation N

Effective Learning Environment

Effective learning methods should be the following factors -

  • Relevance: Make your learning relevant. Millennials like to connect their lessons to real life. Use of "real," "relevant," and "current" examples.
  • Relaxed: Millennials prefer a less formal learning environment that allows them to interact informally with the staff and fellow students.
  • Techno-savvy: Millennials view a professional’s ability to effectively utilize technology as an indicator of his or her connectedness to Millennial culture. Tailor services to individuals. A multimedia format is utilized, including podcasts, on-line activities, video, PowerPoint, etc.
  • Rationale: Provide a rationale for specific policies and assignments
  • Rapport: Millennials are extremely relational. Millennials prefer team orientation, teamwork, team dynamics, interdependence, and desire for connection. An ideal learning environment is interactive, collaborative, and participatory. 
  • Research-based methods: Millennials prefer a variety of active and collaborative learning methods.
  • Experiential and Exploratory Learners:  Millennials strongly prefer learning by doing.  Multiplayer gaming, computer simulations, and social networks are favorite learning and entertainment environments a
  • Flexibility / Convenience:  Millennials prefer to do projects in their own time and their own preferred location. 
  • Multitasking:   Millennials prefer accelerate their learning by handling more than one task at the same time. 
  • Ideal learning environment: Engagement with collaborative learning, cooperative learning, interactive learning including activities, scenarios, feedback, storytelling, simulations and interaction to show Millennials the value of the training.”

Career Development and Digital Learning

What is digital learning, LMS , or Canvas?

Digital learning is any instructional tool or resource that effectively uses technology to help someone complete self-awareness, self-assessment, career exploration, and college major exploration activities.  Digital learning is –

  • Personal and flexible designed to meet the needs of the student
  • A program that allows students to work at their own pace, according to their competency and mastery levels
  • An environment that allows anytime, anywhere learning
  • An atmosphere that promotes sharing and collaboration
  • An approach that appeals the techno-savvy learners

Examples of digital learning are -

  • Courses
  • Video lectures
  • Career tests
  • Activity sheets
  • Worksheets
  • Learning Management System (or LMS) that are presented virtually so that students can access the resources and tools any time, any where

A Learning Management System (or LMS) is –

  • A software package, that manages and deliveries of information, content, and resources to students
  • Web-based to facilitate “anytime, anywhere” access to learning tools and resources

Career Development Digital Learning Tools

Hollandcodes.com uses the Canvas Learning management system to deliver highly illustrated, digital, web-based career development courses, resources and tools to clients of all ages -

  • Battery of career tests
  • Occupational posters (Flash/ MP4)
  • Career research web sites
  • College search web sites
  • Career videos
  • Career exploration web sites
  • Activity sheets
  • Training resources
  • Marketing materials
  • Flash Cards and Bingo Cards

Digital Career Development Courses

Hollandcodes.com uses the Canvas Learning management system to deliver career development resources and tools to clients of all ages -

  • Holland Codes for Kids (Elementary & Middle School)
  • Destiny Development (All ages - African American Children to Adults)
  • Purpose Development (All ages - Children to Adults)
  • Career Decision Making (High School to Adults)

Social Media Resources

Hollandcodes.com is maximizing our use of social media tools.

Social media tools are mobile and web technologies, e.g. Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter.

Media technology promotes social networking, using already existing contacts to meet new people as potential social or business links.

According to Michael Wu, Ph.D., two major types of media tools:

Media Technology helps us -

  • Generate highly powerful traffic
  • Promote your products
  • Access to customer’s feedback
  • Announcing new products or services
  • Discover your customers’ preferences

Review the examples, highlights, descriptions, illustrations, and contact information for these applications -

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