User satisfaction with computer-based career information delivery systems

Conclusions In this study, support for the CIDS in use in New York State emerged from each of the user groups—principals, counselors, students, and parents. There are, however, two areas of future work that emerged from the results of this study which may be applicable on a broader basis. The first deals with the information content of the CIDS. The second relates to its increased utilization.Counselors did not give overwhelmingly high marks to the content of systems. Although counselors can do their part by letting the developers know what is good and what is not good, the responsibility lies primarily with developers and state providers to incorporate current, locally relevant information at the level of detail most appropriate for the user.Spreading the use of CIDS in a school beyond its provision for individual college and career counseling will not only help in making school more relevant to the students' life-careers, but will also provide increased access to the information and the computer for those students who might not otherwise seek it. School personnel can reexamine practices to see that full use of the CIDS resource is being made. System developers can work on the identification of model programs and the dissemination of information about them to their sites. It is hoped that with the increasing availability of microcomputers in schools, not only in guidance offices, but in laboratories and classrooms, such uses will continue and spread.Deborah Perlmutter Bloch, Ph. D., is an Assistant Professor of Educational Administration, Department of Education, Baruch College, City University of New York.Joyce Ford Kinnison is a consultant in Cary, North Carolina.This study was conducted as part of the project, Evaluating Computerized Career Information Systems for Use with Occupational Education Curricula, sponsored by the New York State Education Department and the New York State Occupational Information Coordinating Committee. Funding was provided by the Carl D. Perkins Vocational Education Act.