European Guidance and Counselling Research Forum

Technology plays an increasingly greater role in the modern society and eventually contributes to its progress. The development of digital technology and the technology of optical fibers leads us fast towards a future society, where all kinds of information and service are available to all people and our capabilities for communication are unlimited (Tiffin & Rajasinghaum, 1995).

Teaching experience is expected to change drastically in the coming years. These changes will cover the whole of the educational function. First of all, its context will change. Knowledge will not be delivered only at school any more. With the existence of the Internet and a computer terminal, all houses will become libraries and information receivers.

The form of teaching will change, also. The book, the paradise of paper and letters, will not be sufficient enough. Technology provides us with the possibility not only to imagine images and sounds described in it, but to feel them, also. This development is bound to place the limits of imagination sky-high, boosting altogether the pleasure of reading.

The style and way of presentation will change. The possibility of interaction between those involved in the procedure of learning opens a new road of opportunities. Time, space, climate, mood don’t play any longερ a part in learning. The student will be able to receive knowledge whenever he desires, wherever finds it fit. The development of multimedia promotes the interactive relationship between teacher and student with constant computer support.

Finally, the skills will change. Students will learn how to learn, not just how to seek knowledge. Teachers will be able to acquire easily the content of their subject, and present it with equally simple and easy to understand manner. However, their responsibilities will enhance. They will have to teach their students how to use their judgment and analyze the information that they will easily acquire. Obviously, knowledge of technology will became a skill, that will be taught primarily (Dierker, 1995).

Undoubtedly, New Technologies lead to better services of School Career Guidance. However, reality nowadays shows us that the use of NTs by the School Career Counselors is limited and concerns only the use of the webpage / website of the SCG Sector of the Pedagogic Institute and the use of the Intranet e-mail service (Tzepoglou et al., 1998 & 1999).

New Technologies are widely implemented in consultation, especially in evaluation (Gyspers κ.ά., 1998). What is important is that the New Technologies improve the efficiency of the consultation procedure through the use of probing instruments in Personal Computer [PC]. Thus the Counselor is enabled to focus more on the interpersonal level, helping the student to know him/herself and plan his/her career (Seligman, 1994).

Up to this moment, the choices that exist in Career Counseling with the help of NT are:

• Feeding a program with data concerning the client, with the use of a keyboard or special devices for people with Special Needs,
• Feeding via scanner the profile of a client that has come out of the answers of a test,
• Taking a test directly in the computer instead of using pencil and paper,
• Getting the results of a test immediately,
• Creating a profile (personality or skills) of the consultee via the PC,
• Creating a database with all the information concerning the consultation procedure,
• Using CD-ROMs including tests and other material for Career Counseling.

Especially, the benefits of administering and processing tests in electronic form are significant. A test in electronic form can be administered, standardized or explained without the need of the physical presence of the counselor.

In the last decade, the implementation of the Internet and multimedia technology has flourished, boosted by socioeconomic demands and by huge technological progress (Isaacson & Brown, 1997). Such implementations can be seen as:

Remote learning, which involves storing and upgrading the content of a lesson in electronic form, managed by a central server. The students have access to the lesson through Internet, from their houses or their school. They can, also communicate with their teacher through the Net, who can direct the lesson via a special account in the Web, providing the opportunity to access multimedia databases with educational material, browsing through electronic libraries and visiting virtual laboratories.

Multimedia - video conferencing, which involves the teacher delivering the lesson from a classroom equipped with audiovisual means, cameras and appropriate direction. The remote learners "watch" the lesson through central monitors or multimedia PCs. During the lesson they can communicate with the teacher and with each other via a two-way communication network. Every lesson is stored in a video server, which is accessible from the Internet.

Use of educational CD-ROM & DVD, the making of which is done with multimedia tools, such as Macromedia Authorware, Director, Asymetrix Toolbook, etc. The students could be given a DVD, where many stored videos of professionals are talking about their jobs, giving the advantages and the disadvantages from their point of view. Moreover, vignettes describing jobs could be included in this DVD. This disc could easily be complementary to the school book or replace it altogether.

Internet telelearning Services, which could support: a) seeking from databases information and educational material concerning SCC and job recovery, b) presentation of available material, c) recovery of information, on the grounds that it is available on-line. The realization of such services depends on Interactive WEB Pages (combination of HTML, JAVA, Javascript), and Video & Audio Streaming Technologies (Real Media, ASF). Inside the classroom the students could sit by twos in front of a PC and browse for information in the Internet (in specific pages and databases). They could, also, fill free questionnaires of career guidance, with or without the help of the teacher. The profile that each of them gets, can be used in future career planning.

In order to take real advantage of the possibilities opened by the New Technologies, cooperation must exist between: a) professional groups (teachers, counselors, psychologists, directors etc), b) educational structures (schools, education districts, ministry), c) research institutes-public and private research teams.

In Greece the development of complete systems of remote information, learning and guidance in SCG is limited, despite the fact that there exists a great and growing knowledge in the areas of multimedia and Internet technologies. Up to now there isn't any organized attempt to study, design and implement a complete program of School Career Guidance through the New Technologies, apart from the efforts of SCG Sector of the Pedagogic Institute (Tzepoglou et al., 1998 & 1999).

¹ 27th International School Psychology Colloquium 2005: Promoting the well - being of children and youth: A challenge for the school, the family and school psychologist, Athens, July 13 - 17, 2005

REFERENCES

Dierker, Robert A. (1995). The Future of Electronic Education. Στο Erwin Boschmann (εκδ.), The electronic classroom : a handbook for education in the electronic environment. Medford: Learned Information.
Gyspers, N. C., Heppner, M. J., Johnston, J. A., (1998). Career Counseling. Process, Issues and Techniques. USA: Allyn & Bacon.
Isaacson, L. E., & Brown, D. (1997). Career Information, Career Counseling, and Career Development. (6th ed.). USA: Allyn & Bacon.
Seligman, L. (1994). Developmental Career Counseling and Assessment. (2nd Edition). USA: Sage Publications, Inc.
Tiffin, John & Rajasinghaum, Lalita (1995). In Search of the Virtual Class: Education in an Information Society. London: Routledge.
Tzepoglou, S. et al. (1998). Deltio Epikoinonias, Vol. 1. Athens: SCG Sector: Pedagogic Institute.
Tzepoglou, S. et al. (1999). Deltio Epikoinonias, Vol. 3. Athens: SCG Sector: Pedagogic Institute.