The Evolution of Assessment Technology: An Ontario School Counsellor’s Perspective

By Marc Verhoeve

Last month, I was cleaning out some cupboards in our Counseling Office when I came across the Occupational Card Sort. The concept of the use of an awl to continually release occupational cards whenever an additional parameter was chosen was brilliant in its apparent simplicity. The evolution of career assessment from this low–tech tool to the present web–based assessment “virtual tools” in less than thirty years is extraordinary!

When I was pursuing graduate school at the University of Western Ontario in Canada in the late seventies, I discovered the JVIS [Jackson Vocational Interest Survey] which I compared with the Strong–Campbell Interest Inventory. I further discovered that the designer, Dr. Douglas Jackson, also resided at UWO. Since my approach of him to discuss further applications of the JVIS, I have had the opportunity to be an integral part of the evolution of this tool to its present web–version [http://www.jvis.com/]. Using the JVIS as a vehicle, I shall take a journey through the technological evolution of career assessment.

In the seventies, we used cardboard templates to overlay on the bubbled score–forms. This then gave us scores that could be used to interface with norming charts, thus producing a “hit–list” of high–scoring occupations. With the advent of computers, customized reports were generated by mailing to the publisher the scan–sheet for processing. This quickly evolved into the purchase of stand–alone report–processing software that contained a limited number of scorings. This stage was a significant one insofar that the practitioner was empowered to generate the reports onsite.

Onsite scoring also placed the practitioner at a crossroads. Convenience came with a price. In JVIS workshops that I presented in the 1980’s, some career counsellors were resistant to the onsite scoring option because they did not feel the need for the fast return–rate of a higher–priced scoring version. Underlying was also a resistance to learning the required computer–literacy skill set.

With the advent of the 1990’s came the birth of a quantum–shifting communication vehicle…. the Internet. In 1996, I launched an e–column, entitled Cybercounsellor”, in my role as the I.T. Liaison for the Ontario School Counsellors Association. In this column, I have had as a mission the call for career practitioners to become web–literate. The Internet has had a profound (impact) on the field of career assessment. In an e–article that I authored in 1999 for ACA’s Cybercounseling website, I stated:

“It will be essential that this career cybercounseling phenomenon have three concomitant dimensions:

1. There will be a need for a cadre of computer and Internet–literate career practitioners. This group will comprise the scouts for this new territory. [ACA is to be congratulated for its decision to create an ERIC–based “virtual bookshelf”, entitled “Cybercounseling and Education in the New Millennium”, and thus nurture professional growth in this field.]. These scouts will quickly move us from email–based counseling to live–chats, web–based tutorial packages, and live e–conferencing.
2. Cyberconsultants will be required to provide web–based inservicing and case–specific advice to front–line web–practitioners.
3. Web–based resources, such as career–educational and career–resource gateway sites and online career–assessment tools, will be essential to the career cybercounselor. When the practitioner’s professional toolkit is completely “dot–commed”[on the web], the cybercounselor can truly have a global practice. “

In my role as a cybertraining consultant for Sigma Assessment Systems [the publisher of JVIS.com], I worked with Dr. Jackson and the design team on this e–product. The movement of a career assessment tool to a web–platform carries with it three critical issues:

1. A reclarification of the psychometric uniqueness of a standardized test
2. A redefinition of the marketplace
3. Cyber–Ethics

1. Standardized testing must make a line in the web–sand:

Career assessment has become big business on the web. But, there is a fundamental issue that must be addressed, as I stated in an article that I authored for Quintessential Careers, the top–ranked job–resource site on the web:

“With the growth of Internet–driven career resources, a plethora of short online career interest quizzes has become available to career–searchers. It must be emphasized that there is a danger in using career quizzes that have no proof of their accuracy, validity, norming, or reliability. Brevity should not be confused with accuracy.”
http://www.quintcareers.com/online_career_assessment.html

Career assessment is being attacked by the market–expectations of the fast food, drive–thru generation, who expect instantaneous, cheap [or free] career assessment tools that can help them in their job–search. It is essential that we, as career–assessment professionals, clarify to the marketplace that the multitude of free “quizzes” are not a replacement for a true standardized career “test”. We must be able to demonstrate through the quality of the profile and the value–added dimension that there is a reason for the cost involved as a result of the research, norming and analysis required.

2. The Global Neighborhood Marketplace:

The Internet has dramatically redefined the client–base of career assessment tools in two dimensions.

Firstly, there is the global ease of product–access for career practitioners. This has imposed a new expectation on the test publishers. In my role as a cybertraining consultant for Sigma Assessment Systems, I service web–based interpretative and psychometric inquiries globally from practitioners… from Istanbul to Aukland. This requires that the publisher also be literate about the different cultures and professional resources.

Secondly, there is direct–access by clients of the online tool. This is in contrast to the traditional model of practitioner–driven access to tests. When Sigma Assessment Systems began offering a web version of the JVIS, we discussed at length two critical issues. The online interpretation had to maintain the test’s integrity, but also be readily understandable to the remote client. Also, there was a concerted effort to clarify that this does not replace the career practitioner; the online client is encouraged to follow up with a consultation with a career professional regarding further clarification of the profile and consequent careerpathing strategies.

The new dimension of the use of online career assessment is to blend this seamlessly with a more detailed online interpretation…what we are describing as a “cyber–interpretation”. We are presently fine–tuning the protocols for this value–added service.

3. Cyber–Ethics:

Two years ago, I was tasked by the Ontario School Counsellors’ Association with the creation a cyber–ethics chapter for our latest Ethical Guidelines for school counsellors. This publication has just been published: [http://www.osca.ca/ethical.htm]. As can readily be surmised from the previous discussion, this is an essential dimension with the use of online assessment. Issues such as the online client’s identity, data–caching protocols, security [and possible encryption] must be addressed to conform to professional ethical standards.

In this article, I have attempted to highlight the impact of technology and the internet on career assessment. In the past thirty years, the input–tools for career assessments have evolved from the awl to the mouse. The challenge that we have as career–assessment professionals is to refine and update our web–literacy and e–commerce skills to address the rapidly evolving expectations of our clients.

Marc Verhoeve has been a counsellor since 1975. In addition to being a secondary school Counselling Head, he is also a private career practitioner, as well as a cybertraining consultant. He is a Board Director for Contact Point, CERIC Learning & Development Committee-Member, and Vice President of the Ontario School Counsellors Association (OSCA). He is also PAC Vice-Chair for Conestoga College’s Career Development Practitioner Program, and member of the Assessment Technology Committee of the American Association of Assessment in Counseling & Education.

Contact Point has received permission from the author to reprint this article in the Contact Point Bulletin. This article first appeared in the Spring 2004 issue of NewsNotes, published by the American Association of Assessment in Counseling & Education.