agreed to meet with Eva once a week to report on his progress, help
him stay motivated, and monitor his thinking, especially when he
finds himself losing motivation or becoming overwhelmed.
During their second meeting, Eva shared with K a resource
called the Guide to Good Decision Making—an exercise that
could be used to help him keep track of the information he would
be collecting through this process. Eva also introduced K to the
CTI Workbookas an activity to help him challenge some of the
thinking that may be interfering with his career problem solving
and decision making. K liked the fact that he could use the work-
book at his own pace whenever he felt like it. Finally, they also dis-
cussed the idea of K’s doing an internship over the summer to give
him some experience with occupations related to his career inter-
ests (Execution).
Execute ILP. Over the next several weeks, K spent time both at
home and in the career resource center using print and Internet
resources to learn more about options he was considering. He found
the Internet-based guidance system useful for researching computer
and architecture occupations but felt it didn’t adequately cover
some of the more creative options he was considering. He talked
with Eva about this, and she encouraged him to pursue additional
Internet research to find contacts in the field. Eva showed him a
directory of professional associations that included listings related
to his interests. He was excited to know that such groups existed,
and he jotted down their Web sites to use in further exploring op-
tions related to video game software design and skateboard manu-
facturing. She also showed him how to use the center’s Web-based
networking program to find persons working in some of the fields in
which he has an interest.
Using contacts from the career center’s faculty-staff resource
directory, he made appointments with selected advisers to learn
more about specific majors he was considering. He learned about a
combined degree program that involved computer graphics and
information studies. He also visited with advisers in the film and
A COGNITIVE INFORMATION PROCESSING APPROACH 351