Career Exploration for Special Education Students -- Abstract Summary

Research has found that when at-risk students have goals they wish to attain, they are more apt to be successful. Career and occupation goals seem especially pertinent to these individuals. Learning more about careers from individuals using email on the Internet seemed like an excellent way to utilize online communication as well as learn about vocational opportunities.

Sixteen special education students in grades 7-12 at Valmeyer Community Unit District #3 wrote a two letters to a selected group of resource people regarding their careers. The resource people were all volunteers who had been contacted previously. The students sent the letters asking about careers and usually received a response within three days from the resource people. The students read the responses and wrote thank you notes.

At the beginning of the project the students all reported that they had used a computer in school before. However, only 25% felt very comfortable with using a computer, while 38% felt somewhat comfortable and the same percentage of students stated that they did not feel very comfortable at all. Students were asked how important they thought computers would be in their future careers. Thirty-one percent stated very important and the same percentage said somewhat important. The remaining 38% felt that computers would not be very important. Students reported that they would like to learn computer games, followed by the Internet and word processing.

At the end of the project the students filled out a post questionnaire. Twenty percent stated that they were very comfortable with using a computer, while 60% stated they felt somewhat comfortable and the remaining 20% did not feel very comfortable. On the question regarding how important did they think computers would be in their future careers, the students responded about the same as the pre-survey. When asked if they would like additional experience in using the computer, seventy percent responded yes, while only 30% responded no. All of the students stated that they gained knowledge of using the Internet and email. Eighty percent of the students felt that the project was worthwhile. Sixty percent felt that they gained knowledge about different careers.

The project was successful. However, if possible, having a computer for every student would be optimal. Also, most of the resource people had advanced training and degrees that the special education students found interesting, but probably unrealistic for future career choices. However, at this point in time, the pool of resource people that the students utilize is limited by those who use the Internet, and these people tend to be more technology orientated than the general public.

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