New Module, Teaching the Career Strategic Plan, Available Now!

Timely assignment includes comprehensive materials to integrate unit into advanced business communication classrooms.

With news of the bad economy bombarding us from every arena, undergraduates will be even more apprehensive than usual about entering the workforce. But help is here! I've just added a new teaching module to my Web site that contains everything you'll need to take students through the process of creating their own career strategic plan.

Teaching the Career Strategic Plan in Upper Division Undergraduate Business Communication Courses is a 23-page, classroom-tested module with a wealth of instructional resources you can use in your classroom. It includes learning objectives, detailed content segments that double as lecture notes, handouts of assignments with grading rubrics, and transparencies.

Professor Janet Mizrahi of the University of California, Santa Barbara, wrote the module and explains its purpose. "Teaching the Career Strategic Plan is designed to walk students through the process of mapping a path toward a satisfying career and to help them transition to the workplace," she says. "As they write their plans, students also learn the basics of strategic planning, a common and important business communication genre."

Mizrahi notes that businesses from mom-and-pops to multinational conglomerates use strategic planning to set a course that achieves their goals and objectives. By adapting the strategic plan genre to the individual, students isolate factors that will affect their career choices.

The module presents two ways to use the Career Strategic Plan Assignment in the business communication classroom: (1) as a comprehensive unit with several short assignments that lead up to the ultimate outcome, or (2) as one condensed, major assignment.

Gathering the information to write the strategic plan is broken into steps, whichever way the instructor chooses to use the module. First, students take a psychological test to help define their interests. Such tools are often offered at campus career centers. After the test results are interpreted, students pick an industry that meshes with their interests. The next step requires research. Students delve into the current state of their chosen field using campus library resources and conduct informational interviews to learn about specific jobs and career trajectories. Last, students perform a self-analysis in which they identify their hard and soft skills and are ready to create a career strategic plan.

This valuable instructional module provides detailed tips to help instructors teach this topic with confidence. One fact is certain - in this economic climate, the Career Strategic Plan is one assignment students will be glad they have completed!

To recieve a digital copy of Professor Mizrahi's teaching module, write to Dr. Guffey at m.e.guffey @ cox.net.

After April 30, 2009, the module will be available at www.meguffey.com. For returning users, click "Sign in." For new visitors, click "Register" and fill out the form. Once you access the Instructor site, look for the tab "Teaching Modules" and find Teaching the Career Strategic Plan in Upper Division Undergraduate Business Communication Courses on the drop-down menu.