{"id":11535,"date":"2014-06-17T11:35:20","date_gmt":"2014-06-17T15:35:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/webmakerblog.wpengine.com\/?p=11535"},"modified":"2019-02-26T12:41:15","modified_gmt":"2019-02-26T20:41:15","slug":"discover-a-career-youll-love-and-map-the-skills-you-need-with-mozilladiscover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/foundation-archive\/mozilla-learning\/discover-a-career-youll-love-and-map-the-skills-you-need-with-mozilladiscover\/","title":{"rendered":"Discover a career you'll love and map the skills you need with #MozillaDiscover"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mozilla is proud to share Discover<\/a>, a prototype for a tool that empowers young people to identify an amazing career, then map the skills and experiences needed to land it.<\/b>
\nFinding a career can be challenging. Cool jobs exist, but attaining them can seem impossible — especially for young people with varied interests and skills. Mozilla’s Discover<\/a> project helps identify great careers by profiling the learning experiences of working professionals, then allowing youth to map their own path to a rewarding job tailored to their skills and interests.<\/p>\n

“This is awesome, it’s like a much cooler and helpful version of my career adviser at school. And it looks like a game app.”<\/p>\n

– Sarah, 10th grader from Brooklyn user testing at a Hive event<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Discover works by connecting Open Badges<\/a> to young people’s education, experiences, personality traits and interests. These paint a picture of\u00a0 their skills — and where they need to\u00a0 grow — to apply for their dream job, volunteer position or learning\u00a0 opportunity.
\nLearners begin by browsing career paths of real-world professionals on the Discover<\/a> site. The skills and experiences necessary for exciting careers are visualized as badges within editable maps. Learners can pledge to follow a similar path, or design their own career pathway from scratch. The pathways feature progress indicators and room for notes, so the experience is entirely customizable.<\/p>\n

\"Discover<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

Working in partnership with industry leaders and professionals, the Discover project has created badge ecosystems in three major fields of employment: technology,\u00a0 healthcare and service. While pathways are primarily intended to help young people maximize their own strengths to access careers, they are also aimed at meeting the expectations of employers, and can function as a valuable tool for matching candidates with opportunities.
\nThe team behind Discover was greatly inspired by game-like mechanics and based their prototype on the following design principles:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Learning Pathways Are Malleable<\/h3>\n

Pathways are non-prescriptive and highly customizable experiences that evolve\u00a0 according to a learner’s personal needs. In her book MindSet<\/i><\/span><\/a>, psychologist Carol Dweck introduced the idea of a “growth mindset” in which intelligence and talent are malleable\u00a0 factors. Dweck writes that cultivating a growth mindset <\/span>“<\/i><\/span>creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment.\u201d <\/span>As such pathways were imagined as puzzles, where users can rearrange their badges and add new ones as they progress in non-linear ways.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

They Are Playful
\n<\/span><\/h3>\n
\nFocusing on<\/span> playfulness as something that creates a joyful user experience <\/span>the prototype was greatly inspired by game maps and role playing games, encouraging l<\/span>earners to <\/span>adapt an explorer mindset and <\/span>think creatively about their future.<\/span> <\/span>This playful approach was greatly I<\/span>nspired by <\/span>Patrick<\/span> Bateson & <\/span>Paul<\/span> Martin, who write in their book<\/span>,<\/span> Play, Playfulness, Creativity and Innovation<\/a><\/i><\/span>, “<\/i><\/span>Play enables the\u00a0 individual to discover new approaches to dealing with the world.<\/span>“<\/span>\n<\/div>\n

And They Help You Tell a Story!<\/h3>\n

<\/i>While interviewing many professionals in the field and listening to their stories, the team realised that it’s a<\/span> story that people love to\u00a0 both tell and hear. That’s why <\/span>in the prototype you will find little journal looking icons called <\/span>“story bits,” <\/span>that<\/span> highlights the narrative side of learning and career pathways<\/span>. <\/span>Savitz-Romer & Bouffards\u2019 book, Ready Willing and Able: A Developmental Approach To College Access and Success<\/a>,<\/i><\/span> illustrates that trying on an identity and <\/span>pursuing<\/span> a narrative<\/span> approach when engaging youth in career options<\/span> is especially important to <\/span>that demographic.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Get Involved<\/h3>\n