Deborah S. Briihl et al.
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This difference was statistically reliable, t(113) = 2.34, p = .021, with students registering
on average 47% more logins during the Spring term than in the Fall term.
Although the interpretation of the login data may be ambiguous, the course revision
was also associated with a significant increase in the percentage of enrolled students who
successfully completed the course (75.8% in Fall 2005; 93.2% in Spring 2006), χ
2
(1, N =- = 6.64, p < .01. Online courses frequently have a serious problem with students who
fail to monitor their progress appropriately during the semester, procrastinate, and fall too
far behind to complete the course. This finding suggests that a fairly simple intervention
can produce a large improvement in successful completion of the course.
In summary, assessment of the careers course suggested that students improved their
level of skill in various components of critical thinking. Successful completion of course
modules by meeting mastery standards corroborated the students’ self-reports of increased
competence in these skills. Moreover, these improvements in academic and critical think-
ing skills were associated with increased levels of reported self-efficacy related to career
decision making.
Thinking Critically about Careers in Psychology at the Senior Level
As students prepare to graduate, they need to reflect upon what they have learned in their
undergraduate program and how it will apply to their future job choices. Students need to
choose a career that will suit them, not a career chosen on the basis of recommendations
from friends and family (such as “There are no jobs in that field so you shouldn’t do that”
or “Gee, you’re a really good listener, you should be a therapist”) or because it is the hot
trend at the moment (such as wanting to be a profiler or start a dot.com business). In order
to make a wise career choice, students need to engage in reasonable and reflective think-
ing. They must gather information about the job that interests them and do a realistic
self-assessment of their “fit” for this job. This process is more involved than just identify-
ing what they think they would like to do.
Students need to examine their thinking processes, biases, and assumptions to make the
most effective decisions. Students frequently think they have selected the appropriate
graduate program and later realize that this program was not where they wanted to be after
all. Although many people may believe that career exploration should be a project that
students should do early in their major, students should also explore career options again
at the end of their major. Students develop cognitively and gain a better understanding of
their strengths and weaknesses throughout their undergraduate careers, so it is important
to reassess job choices and skills to ensure that their initial choice is still a suitable job
choice for them. In the Senior Seminar at Valdosta State University, students develop a job
paper project over the semester.
The first part of the job paper project asks students to assess their personality, values,
and skills. In the personality section, students must select characteristics that describe
them, such as accurate, creative, empathetic, self-reliant, open-minded, organized, thorough,
and calm. In the values section, students select aspects of the job that are important to
them, such as time freedom, change and variety, public contact, helping others, independence,