As students begin to perform research on a career area of interest, they need to become familiar with career resources that are available to them, and how to use those career resources. A career resource that school counselors often use is O-Net which is a free database of career information assembled by the US government. The purpose of this lesson is to be introduced to O-Net, begin to understand its navigation, and evaluate it for usefulness.

O-Net Source Code: a number assigned to each career that allows for easier access to that specific career and a faster look-up

Median Wages: average salary for that career

Projected Growth: what the website figures will be the number of job openings in the future which can impact how easy it is to get a job in that field.

Number Employed:  How many people currently have that position in the United States.

1.  Students will gain experience using O-Net and use it to find career information.  

2.  Students will gain an understanding and be able to locate various subheadings under each specific career and will be able to find and identify information as requested.

3.  Students will be able to navigate and look-up various careers on the O-Net website.

4.  Students will select a career that interests them and look it up on O-Net to identify earnings and projected growth for that career.

5.  Students will evaluate the usefulness of O-Net and describe why or why it was not useful.

75 Minutes

 

Introduction to ONet.pdf

 

http://www.onetonline.org/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

W:	The teacher should introduce O-Net as an online resource for career information.  The purpose of today's lesson is to become familiar with O-Net and how it works.  The website will be used much more significantly in later projects as students research careers of interest.
H:	The teacher should navigate the room, keeping students on task, and answering questions as needed.  Students may require initial help as they begin to navigate O-Net.
E:	Towards the end of the paper, the students will apply O-Net to personal interests and will begin researching a career that potentially interests them.
R:	The careers selected on this form, for the most part, are careers that should be familiar to them.  The paper will begin to get the students to think about careers in a larger context, and evaluate careers in a variety of ways.  Students may begin to rethink some of their career decisions once they receive some of the "real world" information.
E:	They will use self evaluation and express understanding when they begin to apply O-Net to personal career choice.
T:	When completing the form, most students have basic quesitons that can be answered in a few seconds.  Other students may require hand-over-hand assistance when beginning to navigate O-Net, but may catch on and be able to work it independently.  Other students will need hand-over-hand assistance throughout the whole activity.
O:	The purpose of the activity is for the students to be able to navigate O-Net independenty and collect information for career choice on their own.

The teacher should give an introduction to O-Net, explaining that it is a federal resource that students can use to research occupations of interest.  The teacher can explain that the students will be using O-Net extensively in future projects and the purpose today is to learn to use the system.  The teacher can then pass out the handout with a list of things to find on O-Net.

The teacher should circulate the room, helping students with initially learning how to use the system, and then how to find specific information as it relates to each career.  As the students become familiar with O-Net, the teacher can then sit down with students who need more hands-on help.

The students should complete the handout, relying on the teacher for questions, and locating information if they are struggling with finding it.  The students will then relate O-Net to a career of their interest in the last few questions and then evaluate the helpfulness and usefulness of onet as a website resource.

The students will be assessed by their ability to complete the form.  If they can complete the form, then they should be able to navigate O-Net successfully.

Introduction to ONet.pdf

http://www.onetonline.org/

Career Resources O-Net Careers Career Information

Michael Simmons General McLane School District James W. Parker Middle School

March 11, 2013