Ontario S Annual Education Plan & Career Cruising

Ontario S Annual Education Plan & Career Cruising

Ontario’s Annual Education Plan & Career Cruising

Career and education exploration are key aspects of Ontario’s new Annual Education Plan and Teacher-Advisor Program. Career Cruising provides many simple, effective and fun ways for students to fulfil these goals.

Below are a few ways in which Career Cruising can help students meet their career and educational exploration goals. On the following pages, you will find a series of helpful, one-page activity sheets that can be distributed to students.

Goals

Explore Interests and Match Interests with Specific Careers

Academic Achievement and Careers

Explore Career Options

Explore Education

Explore Education

Action Plan / Activity Sheet

Career Matchmaker – Interactive assessment tool matches students’ interests with occupations.

School Subjects and Careers – Students select their favourite and/or strongest subject and learn about occupations related to that subject, as well as the education/training required for those occupations.

Career Profiles & Multimedia Interviews – Students learn about specific occupations and education/training requirements, and see multimedia interviews with people in those occupations.

Explore Colleges & Universities – Choose a community college or university and learn more about it.

Explore College & University Programs – Choose an education/training program and find out which colleges or universities offer it, as well as their admission requirements.

Please note that these activities can be used together. For instance, the Career Matchmaker activity leads naturally into the Career Profiles/Multimedia Interviews activity and the School Subjects and Careers activity leads naturally to Explore College & University Programs.

If you would like to have your students go through a more extensive exercise, please take a look at Career Cruising’s Classroom Activities.

Activity Sheet #1 – Career Matchmaker

  1. Go to and enter your school’s username and password.

Username: ______Password: ______

  1. From the Main screen, click on CAREER MATCHMAKER. Enter your first and last names, then click on START A NEW MATCHMAKER SESSION. Read the instructions on the Introduction page, then click START!
  1. Answer the first 39 questions. (Consider each question carefully. The more thought you put into your answers, the better your results will be.) Career Matchmaker will suggest careers that match your answers.
  1. Optional: We strongly suggest that you go through the second round of questions as well. Just click on the blue ANSWER MORE QUESTIONS TO IMPROVE MY RESULTS button on the right side of the screen. Answer as many questions as possible, then click the grey VIEW CAREER SUGGESTIONS SO FAR button near the bottom of the screen. Career Matchmaker will update your list of career suggestions.
  1. Optional: You can save your career suggestions by clicking on the SAVE MY RESULTS button and entering a personal password to make sure your suggestions stay private.
  1. Click on one of the suggested careers (those near the top are your best matches!)

Career:______

  1. Now you get to see how this career suits your answers. Write down the Central and Secondary Aspects to which you responded “Like” or “Like very much”.

______

______

______

  1. Browse through Job Description, Working Conditions, Earnings and Career Path.
  1. Read Education (including Other Suggested Qualifications and Related Subjects). What education, training or other preparation do you need for this career?

______

______

______

  1. What could you do in this school year to help you prepare for this career and the education/training you need to get into it? (E.g. classes at school, extracurricular or volunteer activities, community involvement, part-time jobs, etc.)

______

______

______

Activity Sheet #2 – School Subjects and Careers

  1. Go to and enter your school’s username and password.

Username: ______Password: ______

  1. From the Main screen, click on EXPLORE CAREERS, then click on SEARCH BY SCHOOL SUBJECT.
  1. Choose a subject (either your favourite or the one in which you have the highest marks).
  1. Optional: Click on the level of education you are planning to complete – high school, university or community college/vocational.
  1. Scroll through the list of careers. Click on a career if you want to learn more about it. Use the back () button at the top of the screen to return to the list of careers. Write down the name of the career that you are most interested in pursuing.

Career: ______

  1. Browse through Job Description, Working Conditions, Earnings and Career Path.
  1. Click on the one of the two INTERVIEWS. Person’s name: ______

You can ask the person questions about his/her job by clicking on the blue buttons on the left.

  1. Use the back () button at the top of the screen to return to the general information about the career (i.e. the Job Description, Working Conditions, etc.).
  1. Read Education (including Other Suggested Qualifications and Related Subjects). What education, training or other preparation do you need for this career?

______

______

______

______

  1. What could you do in this school year to help you prepare for this career and the education/training you need to get into it? (E.g. classes at school, extracurricular or volunteer activities, community involvement, part-time jobs, etc.)

______

______

______

______

Activity Sheet #3 – Career Profiles & Multimedia Interviews
  1. Go to and enter your school’s username and password.

Username: ______Password: ______

  1. From the Main screen, click on EXPLORE CAREERS. In the box beside SEARCH FOR CAREERS, enter the name of a career that you would like to pursue or have seriously considered (e.g. nurse, welder, webmaster, helicopter pilot, etc). Click GO!

(Note: If you are having trouble finding a career, click on the blue CAREERS button at the top of the screen. Then click on SEARCH BY INDEX to find a career alphabetically.)

  1. Once you have found a career that interests you, click on it.

Career: ______

  1. Browse through JOB DESCRIPTION, WORKING CONDITIONS, EARNINGS, CAREER PATH and EDUCATION. Write down things that you would like or dislike about this career (e.g. working environment, earnings, work responsibilities, etc.)

Likes

______

______

______

Dislikes

______

______

______

  1. Click on the one of the two INTERVIEWS. Person’s name: ______

Ask the person questions about his/her job by clicking on the blue buttons on the left.

Write down 3 important things that you learned about the career from this interview (e.g. advice to people who want to go into this career, what personal characteristics are important for success, etc.)

1. ______

2. ______

3. ______

  1. Now that you have learned more about this career, are you still interested in going into it yourself? Why or why not?

______

______

______

______

Activity Sheet #4 – Explore Colleges and Universities

  1. Go to and enter your school’s username and password.

Username: ______Password: ______

  1. From the Main screen, click EXPLORE COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES, then click on SEARCH FOR SCHOOLS.
  1. Beside Search for a School, enter the name of a university or community college that you have heard about or are interested in (e.g. McGill University, Capilano College, Winnipeg Technical College, Ryerson, etc.). Click GO.

Or, click on the Province in which the university or community college is located and find it within the alphabetical list.

  1. Once you find the school you are looking for, click on it.

School name: ______

  1. Find the following information:

Mailing Address: ______

______

Admissions Email (or telephone #): ______

Campus Enrolment: ______

Web Site: ______

  1. Click on the blue PROGRAM INFO button on the left side of the screen. Scroll through the list of programs to find one that you are interested in taking. Write down the name of the program.

Program: ______

  1. Do you still think that this school and program are a good choice for you? Do you need more information to make a decision? How will you go about getting this information?

______

______

______

______

Activity Sheet #5 – Explore College & University Programs

  1. Go to and enter your school’s username and password.

Username: ______Password: ______

  1. From the Main screen, click on EXPLORE COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES, then click on SEARCH FOR PROGRAMS.
  1. In the space beside Search for a Program, enter the name of a program or major you would like to take at university or community college (e.g. journalism, accounting, mechanical drafting, etc.). Click GO!

Or, click on one of the Program Clusters and try to find a program that interests you that way.

  1. Once you have found the program you want, click on it.

Program: ______

Now you will see a list of the schools that offer this program.

  1. Click on one of the schools. School: ______
  1. Gather the following information about this school:

Location(s): ______

Telephone #s: ______

Web Site:______

  1. Click on the school’s web site address. (If your computer is linked to the Internet, the school’s web site should come up automatically.)
  1. Try to find information about the program you selected above in the school’s web site. (Hint: look for “admissions”, “academic programs”, “student resources” or “course calendar”.) Answer the following questions:

What type of program is it? (e.g. bachelor’s degree, diploma, certificate, apprenticeship, etc) How many months/semesters/years does it take to complete?

How are the tuition costs for this program? (hint: look for “costs”, “fees” or “expenses”)

What admission requirements or prerequisites are there for this program? (i.e. courses or skills needed before you can enter the program)

What can you do in this school year to help you prepare for taking this college/university program? (E.g. classes at school, extracurricular or volunteer activities, part-time jobs to get experience or earn money, etc.)

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