MeganPoore.com

I had a fantastic time in Wollongong recently, speaking to a whole bunch of tremendous people at the NAGCAS conference (NAGCAS is the National Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services).

I was asked along to give a presentation on how Careers Advisors can use Web 2.0 technologies in their daily practice, so I took the opportunity to introduce the audience to three of the most powerful tools that I think educators can be using in their context today: wikis, blogs and podcasts. I called the talk ‘Employing technology: Harnessing Web 2.0 technologies for career development learning’ and we focused on how to use these techs to engage students’ career aspirations and how to hook into their everyday experiences in ways that build on their current knowledge.

I was up-front in pitching the talk at the level of the novice and I think just about all of the 50-odd people in the lecture theatre were glad that I did! We started with clarifying the fact that Web 2.0 is not a software package, but more of a concept: that is, it’s the ‘read-write’ web, a communication, participation, collaboration web where anyone with internet access can now have an online presence through sites such as Facebook, Flickr, WordPress, Blogger, etc. What an exciting thing! You don’t have to know html code, have access to your own server, or have any super-technical skills to have your own website anymore!

We then moved on to what wikis, blogs and podcasts actually are and how to use them for careers advising purposes. Here are some of the things I suggested.

Blogging by Careers Advisors. You could:

• Provide tips on job searching, writing resumes, networking
• Reflect on careers advising practice
• Discuss issues relating to the profession
• Communicate the latest info to students
• Point to showcases and fairs

Blogging by students. Get students to start blogs to:

• Discuss the ‘job journey’
• Comment on current issues in employment
• Communicate with potential employers

Podcasting by Careers Advisors. Create podcasts around any number of careers topics:

• Clarifying your career goals
• Dressing for interviews
• Writing thank you letters
• Career planning
• And heaps, heaps more!

Wikis for everyone. Create a wikispace to:

• Collaborate with colleagues
• Provide info to students
• Post careers guides
• Brainstorm issues
• Share resources

Those were just some of the terrific possibilities we touched on. I’ll be blogging some more about Web 2.0 and careers advising soon, so watch out for posts about things to consider when using these technologies, as well as links to resources that will help you get on your way in the Web 2.0 world.