Career Development/Ceric/Letter of Intent/MOOC Research

Proposal Overview
Learning for Career Development: Researching, Learning and Applying LinkedIn and Social Media Applications for Better Career Counselling Outcomes in the Digital Economy.

A career development MOOC to assist career counsellors and job seekers alike to make the most of LinkedIn and social media for career development.


 * Learning: To provide career counsellors in universities and colleges with skills in using LinkedIn and other social media applications to engage and support their client-students interested in exploring career options, networking and finding employment.


 * Research: To gather and interpret trainee perceptions regarding the training; to elicit career counsellor assessments of the effectiveness of LinkedIn and other social media applications in their work; to probe perceptions about integrating new learning and skill development into on-the-job performance and professional practice.

Literature and existing research that informs their proposal

 * Norm completes

Context of research
(MOOC taught, designed, university/organizational affiliation, MOOC provider, publisher)
 * CERIC;

Data sources being considered for the project

 * Discussion groups
 * Key Informant Interviews
 * Baseline - ICTC digital competencies

Methodology planned for research activities
- FG can be done by phone
 * Online Survey (2) - quantitative pre- and post-course delivery
 * Focus Groups (2) qualitative - pre- and post- course delivery - open-ended questions

Although these networking websites have become indispensable in employment networking, because of their origin outside of career counselling per se, their use and value have generally not been realized among employment counsellors. At the same time, competence in their use is by no means universal among younger (or older) job seekers. In addition, they are much less one or more "tools" than they are a context or milieu, accommodating many different communities, subcultures and practices. This extends well beyond keeping compromising photos off of Facebook, and extends to the art of professional self-presentation, network building and online publication on both formal and informal networks. All of this makes training in their effective use among career counsellors of great importance and value, but at the same time, also of significant difficulty. The fact that this is occurring at a time of high unemployment and rapid change compounds these pressures and priorities.

LinkedIn is the fastest growing professional network with 200+ million user accounts. It is the go-to place for people wishing to network, participate in groups, look for work, advertise their skills and seek additional opportunities. It is a critical element of a career counsellor's toolkit.

See: http://www.moocresearch.com/research-initiative/about#Alternative%20MOOC%20Formats