Virtual Reality in Career Exploration:

Professional Development for Educators​​

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During the course of the school year, school counselors visit certain classrooms to enroll students in their desired courses for the following school year. These courses are called Think Tank (a 7th-grade course) and College and Career Readiness (an 8th-grade course). The counselors will spend about a week, per course, visiting these classes since they see all the grade-level students during this time. It normally happens in the fall, around September or October. The counselors have a one-sided sheet of paper listing all the elective courses (and a few others) that students are able to take in the following grade level. The problem with this is that all the students have to go by is a course name and a teacher's name. The students have no idea what this class entails or what they will learn. Therefore, they have a hard time understanding whether the content is what they're interested in, beyond the obvious choir or band. The counselors "try" to give an explanation, but they don't fully know what we teach as well. So, the students are at a loss. When the 8th graders transition to high school, they are assigned to a career path to help guide them toward what they would like to do upon graduation. This will provide them with the courses they need for classes such as cosmetology, automotive repair, FFA (Future Farmers of America), and Criminal Justice, among others. 

When I was asked to develop an innovation proposal in EDLD 5305, this was a point in our educational system and within our district that I felt really needed some attention. My innovation plan literature review aims to incorporate VR (virtual reality) technology into the course selection process, and through those classes, to provide clearer guidance on possible career options upon high school graduation. If you'd like to see the implementation outline I created in EDLD 5305, click here. By allowing students to have COVA in their course selection, we are allowing them the opportunity to have choice, ownership, and authenticity in their future. We are providing them with the opportunity to choose the type of autodidactic learner they want to be (Harapnuik, 2018). 

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Therefore, for this initiative to be successful, it's important to provide these teachers with meaningful and effective professional development. Since we will be introducing new technology, we need to ensure that it is fun, enjoyable, and interactive. The traditional "sit-and-get" models have been criticized for their inability to engage learners and foster long-term change (Knowles et. al, 2015). ​By focusing our professional learning on hands-on and immersive VR experiences that inspire teachers personally, it will make the technology relevant and meaningful for their teaching practice within the classroom. "Great leadership is about human experiences, not processes or methodologies." (Kotter, 2014).