Course Reflection Prompts
Respond in the expandable boxes below. Remember to copy and paste your responses to your wiki.
1. What outcomes had you envisioned for this course? Did you achieve those outcomes? Did the actual course outcomes align with those that you envisioned?
The outcomes that I had envisioned for this course met and exceeded. I had expected to learn how to help students research their career interest and explore ways to open students’ minds to explore themselves to find their interest and abilities. The depth of the assignments allowed me to meet and exceed my envision. The actual course outcomes aligned with my envision, but I had not envisioned growing in my counseling abilities so greatly. I am excited to have finished a course that I can take into my career and use the material immediately. I feel well prepared and excited about leading students to find a career that will match their interest and abilities.
2. To the extent that you achived the outcomes, are they still relevant to the work that you do in your school? Why or why not?
The achieved outcomes from this course are perfectly relevant to the work that I do in my school. My job is to prepare students for the future. By helping the students, whether it is in elementary or high school, learn about a career path, I will be fulfilling my job duties. Counselors have an enormous amount of responsibility to lead, guide and direct students to their future. Not only do these students need to explore a career that will help them be monetarily successful in life, but also a career that will satisfy their need of happiness, self-fulfillment and self-worth.
3. What outcomes did you not achieve? What prevented you from achieving them?
An outcome that I did not achieve, was taking my daughter to observe in the career cluster of her choice. I administered the Self-Directed Search to my 14-year-old daughter, Jacie Janek. Her top two career choices were an ultrasound technologist and a preschool teacher. My intention was to take her to observe these careers in action. Because of time restraints, I was not able to accomplish this mission. Luckily, she is only 14 years old and I have time to fulfill this goal. I plan to give her the SDS again in a couple of years to evaluate her career interest at a more mature age.
4. Were you successful in completing the course assignments? If not, what prevented or discouraged you?
I was successful in completing the course assignments. For the most part, the instructions were very clear and precise. The first four field assignments were informative and enjoyable. I learned more than I had expected. The information is used directly with what I do as a counselor. The final field assignment was a huge challenge. The instructions were confusing and it was not clear of what was expected. Another challenge was the large amount of points that were given to the final assignment. This was intimidating. I was not sure, if the assignment needed to be much longer than the others were, or if it was worth many points because it required a lot more thinking. From this challenge, I learned that a master’s program requires creativity and individuality. By not having an example or clear instructions, I had to do the best I could and act as if I were the professor and imagine what I would expect from my students.
5. What did you learn from this course: about yourself, your technology and leadership skills, and your attitudes?
From this course, I learned a great deal of information about myself, technology, leadership skills and my attitude. The live conference helped me to be confident with trying new technology skills. In the next course, I will be confident enough to open up the web camera and not just watch others. Giving assessments to students are informative and fun. I had a great time watching my daughter learn from her Self-Directed Search. She will be able to use that learned information for her future and her career possibilities. My attitude about this course is definitely positive. I grew confident with my abilities to lead students to find a career of their choice.
