FYE 103 Career Exploration - 2nd Edition

Reviewed by Summer Baber, Human Development Instructor, Mount Hood Community College on 6/29/24

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

The book does a good job of including the essential/critical topics for undecided students interested in career exploration. It has a table of contents organized by unit.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The material is current, anccurate, and error-free.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The stories, videos, and suggested websites/apps are interesting and relevant. Some sections could become outdated but links can be easily updated as needed.

Clarity rating: 5

The book is written to be accessible by students and jargon/terminology is explained using plain language.

Consistency rating: 5

Consistent terminology and framework.

Modularity rating: 5

The authors did a great job of breaking up the text with images and videos. It doesn't feel daunting to look at (approachable).

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

Easy to follow, logical format.

Interface rating: 4

There are no significant issues with the interface or navigation of the pdf format. No online format available that I'm aware of.

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

A few minor grammatical errors were found.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

The text is not culturally insensitive; however, it could be more inclusive of a wider variety of backgrounds and experiences.

I have been looking for a career exploration text that can supplement my 1-credit college success course. I plan to use parts of this book for my online course this year. The topics are relevant, particularly the chapter on managing stress.

Pros: Has essential/critical topics for career exploration, well organized, written from the student perspective, and provides useful graphics and websites/videos.
Needs Improvement: More graphics and stories that represent a wider variety of backgrounds/experiences.

Reviewed by Eden Isenstein, Faculty Counselor, Mount Hood Community College on 4/3/24

Comprehensiveness rating: 3 see less

The book has a comprehensive list of career exploration topics though the individual units lack titles, making it a bit challenging to navigate if you are looking for a specific topic. The book covers self assessment, creating a plan, stress management and positive thinking. The accompanying videos in each unit are interesting, but don't seem to align well with the overall unit topics. And it isn't totally clear who the audience is for this book. College students deciding on a major? Job seekers, gathering information on how to find a job that is a good fit? Lastly, the final unit on stress is useful in that we could all use support around stress management, but the link to career exploration isn't explicit.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

One web link is broken, but otherwise appears to be free of errors.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

Information is relevant though the risk of using web links is that links will change or go away.

Clarity rating: 3

The information is relatively clear and video transcripts are helpful. Though more direct linking of the topics to career exploration (especially unit 3) could be helpful in addition to titles for each unit and a glossary. Additionally, a more in depth explanation of self assessments would be additive.

Consistency rating: 4

Each unit has a similar layout which is helpful for the reader.

Modularity rating: 4

There are 3 units that are each divided into 8-9 shorter sections.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

The organization of this book from self assessment to taking action to stress management is a logical flow. Though, again, a more direct connection to career exploration in Unit 3 would be helpful.

Interface rating: 4

Interface is functional though the PDF format limits reader's ability to move around the book easily.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

The text appears to be free of grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 3

The text was not offensive, but it did not directly speak to the diversity of experiences of people of various races, cultures or backgrounds.

Reviewed by Katie Maher, Career Coach, Radford University on 5/26/23

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

Text covers a wide range of steps and processes for assisting the reader within their career exploration and navigation. Breaking the information down into 3 modules allows the reader to take it in steps and walk through the process with support and guidance. Text does not have an index or glossary.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

Content is accurate to topics, error-free except for broken links, and unbiased.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

Book used links rather than including statistics in the book, however, a lot of these links are now not working making it difficult to fully understand the concept being discussed. Updates to links throughout would make book relevant.

Clarity rating: 5

Text is clear and easy to understand for the reader. One comment is the book does not have a glossary for terms section, this could add ease for readers if there are certain terms which they didn't understand

Consistency rating: 5

Book remains consistent and in line with the topic and the goals for the reader throughput

Modularity rating: 5

Book is split into three main sections which allow for the book to be used for progression through a college course.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The organization of this book is very clean. Content is broken down into 3 main modules that allow for information to be broken into smaller bite-size sections for ease of navigation. It also flows in an order that makes sense regarding navigating the career journey the book is looking to guide students.

Interface rating: 3

Multiple links do not work within the book. Other than this, the breakdown and layout of images and charts within text are proportional and fit within text.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

Book appears to be free of any grammatical errors

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

Book does not look into the career search from different cultural aspects. Fails to mention and incorporate these into writing

Book lays out a good path and progression through the process, allowing individuals to discover all elements and aspects of themselves to better make an informed career decision moving forward.

Reviewed by Brenda Williams, Part-time Faculty, Lane Community College on 3/10/23

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

I like how it talks about the stress involved with exploration and how to cope with it.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

It has one broken link but is otherwise error-free.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

It is up-to-date and relatable for people learning about their personality and how that ties into a career path.

Clarity rating: 5

It is easy to understand.

Consistency rating: 5

Every chapter has the same layout. I really like the assignment page layout with the verbs to start each sentence. I like that it includes the video transcript. There was a note about one video not mentioning something so an additional resource was included. I like that.

Modularity rating: 5

It is easy to read.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

It is very logical. The stress part is last which makes sense.

Interface rating: 5

Everything looked fine. There was one broken link.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

None.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

It was inclusive.

Reviewed by Samantha Hicks, Assistant Professor of Social Work, Director of Field Education, Clarke University on 1/9/23

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

This book covers many of the areas for student career exploration but does not provide an index or glossary for terms used.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

Book contains minor errors in formatting and all web links are not current.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

Information all appeared to be relevant. I appreciate that as opposed to citing current US labor statistics, etc. the author linked to the US Labor Statistics website for the reading to find current statistics.

Clarity rating: 5

This book is written in a way that is clear and very easy to follow. It does not have the flow of an academic book that can sometimes be overwhelming for first year students.

Consistency rating: 5

The terminology used in the text was consistent.

Modularity rating: 5

This text very easy to follow due to great use of subheading, unit outlines, use of links, charts, illustrations, etc.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

Organization is good. The book is divided into 3 separate unites. Within each unit are several sub-units. I appreciated that at the beginning of each unit the author provided short, easy to understand objectives and reviewed at the end of the unit. Everything included in the book was directly related to an objective, never leaving the reading wondering "what does this have to do with the topic?"

Interface rating: 4

One of the web links failed to be accurate.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

The book appears to be free of grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

The text did not include any insensitive or offensive material. It did not, however, specifically point out the varied experiences people from different background experience when job seeking.

Reviewed by Sofia Montero, Senior Lecturer, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley on 12/20/22

Comprehensiveness rating: 3 see less

The book covers some of the relevant material pertaining to career exploration. The book contains 3 units that discuss self-discovery, career outlook and planning, and stress management. The first unit has some excellent assessments and reflection exercises, although an explanation of the assessments is not contained within the text itself. The career planning section contained some valuable information but did not include networking, resumes, cover letters, internships, job shadowing, and other relevant career planning components.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The information in the book is accurate and unbiased.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 3

The content is relevant and up-to-date. However, the reader is redirected to many external websites for completing assessments or reading relevant information. The sites may change or be discontinued in the future, rendering the text obsolete.

Clarity rating: 5

This book is easy to read and will be easily understood by the reader.

Consistency rating: 4

The book is consistent in terms of terminology. However, the last unit was not well connected to the topic of career exploration.

Modularity rating: 5

The book contains three units and each lesson/topic is about one page in length.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The book is organized in a way that walks students through different aspects of self-discovery then guides them to prepare for their career search.

Interface rating: 4

There were no interface issues. However, the navigation was only at the top, so the reader has to scroll back to the top to navigate the book. This book is only available in PDF format.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

The text contains no grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

errors. No evidence of insensitive or offensive material was noted. A broad representation of ethnic or racial groups was not observed.

Reviewed by Denise Pruitt, Professor, Massachusetts Bay Community College on 11/1/22

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

I have a new course HL109 Health Career Exploration and this book has all the foundational information I will need for the course.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The information in the book is up-to-date and accurate.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

This book has everything needed for a good foundation for my Health Career Exploration course.

Clarity rating: 5

The book is very clear and will be easy for learners to read and comprehend.

Consistency rating: 5

The book uses terminology that will be easily understood by the learner.

Modularity rating: 5

The book is broken down into three units and will be great for planning the semester.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

This book is organized perfectly.

Interface rating: 5

This book outlines basic concepts that are easy to follow.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

In another part of my life I review textbooks and did not find any errors or omissions in this book.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

Question not applicable

I like the book and will adopt it for my new HL109 Health Career Exploration course.
The book gives a great foundation for what I will teach. I will add some other
OER elements to the course.