Careers - Find Your Future

About This Course

This course is designed to guide students through the process of exploring and choosing potential career pathways. Students will engage in self-exploration activities such as skills and interests assessments and apply what they learn to the process of choosing a career. Course features include an exploration of post-secondary educational options and requirements, informational interview and job shadowing experiences, as well as problem solving and goal setting activities. This student-centered course focuses on helping students get to know themselves so they can find the future that’s right for them! Instead of a final exam, students will complete an end-of-course project. To complete this project students will use the assignments in each unit to help them begin to develop an Educational Development Plan (EDP). An Educational Development Plan is designed to help students identify their career and educational goals as they relate to academic requirements. An EDP is a way for students to document their progress toward career and educational goals. If students have already started an EDP at their schools, they can use this final project to update it with the most current information about their career and educational goals. Prerequisites: 8th Grade Reading Level

Course Objectives: Upon completion of this course, students will be able to...

• Organize career information and labor market trends from diverse sources
• Explain the benefits and challenges of self-employment, working for others, and employment in various organizational sizes
• Examine information and preferences from work-based opportunities
• Interpret data from career assessments to identify career interests and abilities
• Apply a decision-making model to select a suitable career pathway using assessment information
• Evaluate and refine career-related data
• Distinguish and interpret information from multiple sources to make informed career decisions
• Determine personal goals and develop an actionable plan with defined timelines
• Prepare for and evaluate work-based learning experiences such as job shadowing, mentorships, and internships
• Apply career and labor market insights to secure employment or pursue further education
• Research educational opportunities, financial requirements, and available resources
• Observe and document hands-on, real-world experiences related to technology-based careers

Course Outline:

Unit 1: Get the Facts

Unit 2: Find Yourself

Unit 3: Find your Path

Unit 4: Explore Your Path

Unit 5: Get Educated

Unit 6: Finding Job Opportunities

Unit 7: Find Your Future

End-of-Course Project

Resources Included: Online lesson instruction and activities, opportunities to engage with a certified, online instructor and classmates, when appropriate, and online assessments to measure student performance of course objectives and readiness for subsequent academic pursuits.

Additional Costs: None

Scoring System: Michigan Virtual does not assign letter grades, grant credit for courses, nor issue diplomas. A final score out of total points earned will be submitted to your school mentor for conversion to their own letter grading system.

Time Commitment: Semester sessions are 18-weeks long: Students must be able to spend 1 or more hours per day in the course to be successful. Summer sessions are 10 weeks long: Students must be able to spend a minimum of 2 or more hours per day, or about 90 hours during the summer, for the student to be successful in any course. Trimester sessions are 12-weeks long: Students must be able to spend 1.5 or more hours per day in the course to be successful.

Technology Requirements: Students will require a computer device with headphones, a microphone, webcam, up-to-date Chrome Web Browser, and access to YouTube.

Ensure that your school or district network and device administrator establishes network access permissions or exceptions for online resources relevant to the course in which you are choosing to enroll. Ref., Michigan Virtual Course Allow List

Please review the Michigan Virtual Technology Requirements.

Instructor Support System: For technical issues within your course, contact the Customer Care Center by email at CustomerCare@michiganvirtual.org or by phone at (888) 889-2840.

Instructor Contact Expectations: Students can use email or the private message system within the Student Learning Portal to access highly qualified teachers when they need instructor assistance. Students will also receive feedback on their work inside the learning management system. The Instructor Info area of their course may describe additional communication options.

Academic Support Available: In addition to access to a highly qualified, Michigan certified teacher, students have access to academic videos and outside resources verified by Michigan Virtual. For technical issues within the course, students can contact the Michigan Virtual Customer Care by email at customercare@michiganvirtual.org or by phone at (888) 889-2840.

Required Assessment: Online assessments consist of formative and summative assessments represented by computer-graded multiple choice, instructor-graded writing assignments including hands-on projects, model building, discussion-based assessments (one-on-one conversations with your teacher), and other forms of authentic assessments.

Technical Skills Needed: Basic technology skills necessary to locate and share information and files as well as interact with others in a Learning Management System (LMS), include the ability to:

• Download, edit, save, convert, and upload files
• Download and install software
• Use a messaging service similar to email
• Communicate with others in online discussion or message boards, following basic rules of netiquette
• Open attachments shared in messages
• Create, save, and submit files in commonly used word processing program formats and as a PDF
• Edit file share settings in cloud-based applications, such as Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides
• Save a file as a .pdf
• Copy and paste and format text using your mouse, keyboard, or an html editor’s toolbar menu
• Insert images or links into a file or html editor
• Search for information within a document using Ctrl+F or Command+F keyboard shortcuts
• Work in multiple browser windows and tabs simultaneously
• Activate a microphone or webcam on your device, and record and upload or link audio and/or video files
• Use presentation and graphics programs
• Follow an online pacing guide or calendar of due dates
• Use spell-check, citation editors, and tools commonly provided in word processing tool menus
• Create and maintain usernames and passwords

Additional Information: None