Design and Implementation of a Computerized Career Guidance Information System for Higher Institution
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
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- Background of Study
Career pertains to an occupation or a profession that is usually involves special training or formal education and is considered to be a person’s lifework. Despite the successful market economy reforms and economic growth of recent years, the situation on the Nigerian labour market remains tense. Unemployment and unfilled jobs are a reflection of the skills mismatch between workforce supply and demand. Potential employees on one hand no longer match the available jobs on the other hand. At the same, young people are deciding on their future Careers without adequate knowledge and insight of the changing educational, training and employment markets, and without full awareness or consideration of their own interest and strengths.
There is practically no Computerized Career Guidance available to school students in Nigeria. With the aim of filling this gap in the nation’s educational systems, there is need to design a Computerized Career Guidance Information System.
College students in the process of Career exploration need a variety of information as well as effective decision-making skills. They need easily accessible, up to date and reliable source of Career information which is part of a comprehensive Career Development System. Career information includes knowledge about occupational areas and specific jobs; information about Career preparation and where to obtain suitable education and training; facts about employment, including work environments and appropriate job behavior: job-search skills, and self-knowledge such as individual interests, values, and needs. Computers are an ideal medium for delivering Career Information because they can present current information objectives in an interactive format that is appealing to many clients.
This project is designed in order to implement intelligence test of secondary school leavers on computer System. Computerized Career Guidance System will be capable of performing comprehensive counseling functions including assistance in gathering self-information such as individual interests, values, and abilities; learning a Career decision-making process; and gathering Information concerning Careers and educational programs.
In most educational centers today, students are faced with the challenge of making Career choices. Young people are deciding on their future Careers without full awareness or consideration of their own interests and strengths.
IMFI ICT Academy located at No. 54 Nsikak Eduok Avenue, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State has consult with the Nigerian Ministry of Education and Science, the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the Ministry of Economic and Regional Development together, have draft a Career counseling strategy.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
The need for Information technology centers to affect Computerized Career Guidance Information System arose from unemployment and frustration; as young people are deciding on their future Careers without adequate knowledge and insight of the changing educational, training and employment markets. This limitation has given rise to the Design and Implementation of Computerized Career Guidance Information System.
1.3 Motivation
The motivation for the adoption of this research topic is because of the manual way of recording Information in the organization and delay in operation.
1.4 Objective of the Study
The objective of the study is to find the most suitable ways of designing a System that can be easily accessible, up to date and reliable source of Career Information which is part of comprehensive Career development. This System will:
- Reduce unemployment and frustration faced by college graduates.
- To meet the changing educational, training and employment markets.
- Serve to augment counselor functions and provide additional resource of Career planning assistance in counseling centers.
- Be capable of performing comprehensive counseling functions including assistance in gathering self-information such as individual interests, values, and abilities, learning a Career decision-making process and gathering information concerning Career and educational programs.
1.5 Purpose of the Study
The main purpose of this study is to Design and Implement a Computerized Career Guidance Information System for the organization.
1.6 Significance of the Study
The important of the study is that of enabling users have access to adequate, up to date and reliable Information to decide on their future Careers.
1.7 Organisation of Work
This work is segmented into five chapters;
Chapter one talks about the introduction of the project work, background of the study, statement of the problem, motivation, objectives, purpose of the study, significance of the study, organization of the work and definition of terms.
Chapter two discusses the literature reviews by some authors concerning a Computerized Career Guidance Information System.
Chapter three states clearly the research methodology while chapter four explains the implementation and evaluation of the new System.
Chapter five gives a succinct conclusions and recommendations.
1.8 Definition of Terms
Career: – Is a person’s course or progress through life (or a distinct portion of life).
Guidance: – is help or advice given to somebody, especially by somebody older or with more experience.
Information: – this is the process of (and results of) generating, transmitting, receiving, storing, and retrieving of symbols.
Computer: – An interconnection of related sub-system that work harmoniously together in accepting input, processing them and relinquish the output as a solution to man’s problems at a fantastic speed.
Student: – a person who is studying at a university or college.
Xampp: – is a free and open source cross –platform web server solution stack package.
Apache: – is a freely available web server that is distributed under an open source and the most widely used web server software.
MySQL: – is a Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) that uses Structured Query Language (SQL). SQL is the most popular language for adding, accessing and managing content in a database.
Htdocs: – is the directory that the web server software looks for files to serve on your domain. Anything you want web-viewable needs to be inside htdocs.
Organogram: – is an organizational chart, is a diagram that shows how an organization is structured, and how the positions in the organization are related to each other.
