Good Example Of Essay On Narrative Evaluation

In the current world we live in, a career course is practical, helping students to prepare for their future lives as working adults. I found that the Career Development course was overall beneficial for my future and I am glad that I got to understand what a career means and how one can develop the chosen career. There were, however, aspects that I found more difficult to comprehend and some of the information presented across the syllabus was heavy and redundant at times. I also wished there were other topics included in the career development course syllabus. I explore in this essay the aspects that I consider not helpful and the topics that I would have liked to find in the syllabus, hoping that my evaluation will be constructive for a future reorganization of the Career Development course.
The classroom environment contributes to students’ capacity of assimilating information or on the contrary, impedes this thing to occur if the academic environment is not supportive or engaging. Fox (2008) indicates that students stop paying attention when they are not engaged and are interested and pay attention when the topics and lessons are applied to real life situations. Regarding the Career Development class, I considered the topics about the models to be more theoretical than practical, and for this reason the information taught within these topics were more difficult to assimilate. Model of Career Management, Applications of CM Model: Exploration, Applications of CM Model: Goals/Strategies were the topics from syllabus that I found less useful, because they incorporated complex terms and concepts that I could hardly translate into real life information. The courses that teach too much information are less interesting and do not engage students. Rose (1998) punctuates that when subjects are interesting, students learn better, but on the contrary, when students consider the subjects boring, they have a difficult time learning them. This is what happened to me during the above mentioned courses. I stopped paying attention, because I considered the taught information as too complex to understand. This disengaging attitude had repercussions, as I had to read the courses three times to understand them properly. Even after I understood them, I cannot really affirm that I found a connection between their content and the real life; hence, I could say that they were not really helpful. In addition, after I learned the courses I found that many of the information repeated from one topic to another, which made the model courses redundant.
Being a career course, I would have liked it to be more practical, with more on – field classes. I am the adept of the “learning by doing” method, which means adjusting the theoretical information to real life situations, by going in the field to apply them (Vernoy, 2008, p. 20). The field experience helps students learn what skills they need to build, besides the necessary information required, in order to do a job right. I worked as a volunteer for Windsor senor living. Assisting seniors with various tasks, I gained insightful experience but also knowledge about the skills that I would need if I were to dedicate my career to healthcare environments. Patience, kindness, politeness, understanding, compassion, are necessary human values for assisting Alzheimer patients that a career development course taught in a classroom environment does not teach. However, these abilities and others can be gained in practical experiences, which is why I consider crucial that a career development course should incorporate volunteer activities. Volunteering or interning in various environments, such as healthcare, business, administrative, governmental, private or public institutions would provide students with a more comprehensive view of what working life is really like. Moreover, such experiences would be very helpful in helping the students to understand to what environments they best fit, in order to be able to decide on the career that they would like to pursue.
Another topic that I would have wanted to exist in the syllabus would be the career tests. There are so many information around me and so many fields that I would like to work in that I do not know how to choose my career path. I am not very certain about my skills and competencies and I am not quite certain about what I would like to do for the rest of my life after I will be graduating. There are plenty career tests, which assess individuals’ interest, preparedness or potential of following a specific career (Grutter & Hammer, 2013). I know that for me and probably for other students, still undecided about what career they should pursue, such tests would be helpful at least in shaping several activity domains that we might focus in our future careers.
Practical activities, such as volunteering or internships in governmental, nongovernmental or private organizations would be beneficial for the career development course, as the students would get to interact with real life situations, understanding the specific skill set required for certain roles. Career tests would also enhance the course’s quality, providing students a more relevant picture regarding the road they will pursue as adult workers. The Career Development course should include more practical approaches and should reorganize the theoretical topics that incorporate too complex and redundant information that disengage the students such as the model topics.

References

Grutter, J. & Hammer, A.L. (2013) Strong interest inventory and Myers-Briggs Type Indicator career report with strong profile. CPP, Inc.
Fox, J. (2008) Your child’s strengths: A guide for parents and teachers. New York: The Penguin Group.
Rose, C. (1998) Accelerated learning for the 21ste century. New York: Dell Publishing Group Inc.
Vernoy, R. (2008) Learning from the field: Innovating China’s higher education system. Ottawa: International Development Research Centre.