‘DreamCatcher’ helps students catch their dream

Jane Doherty with the DreamCatcher home page.

An internet-based career planning programme developed by a Mount Maunganui school careers advisor promises to open up a world of possibilities for students.

Mount Maunganui College career pathways manager Jane Doherty launched her DreamCatcher computer programme to local schools and tertiary institutions on 3rd December at Bay of Plenty Polytechnic. But some of her own students are already setting off on a career path they have chosen using the programme.

The DreamCatcher programme allows students to personalise their own career management aspirations, helping them make decisions about the right school subjects to take, where to go for more information about careers they are interested in and selecting the right university, polytechnic or future training scheme to take them where they want to go.

The web-based program­me is designed to empower young people by giving them a wealth of ideas, contacts and a structure for their dreams – hence the name – while helping them make informed decisions and own their own futures.

Students can make a start as they begin high school, and dip back into the system regularly as career ideas start to take shape to clarify their interests, what they want to do and how to get there.

Ms Doherty says DreamCatcher helps students make assessments and decisions about their own values, attitudes, academic performance and skills, with input from their school.

It offers options about where these skills may take them, as well as providing practical help to clarify work, study and training options, both at school and after­wards.

A former Dean at Otumoetai College, Ms Doherty began at Mount Maunganui College as a computing and economics teacher before moving into career pathway management two years ago. She developed the DreamCatcher programme from a database system she started at the college to improve on the paper-based career planning students had been using.

She says paper-based career planning was a logistical nightmare, time consuming and not useful when managing large groups of students.

After a couple of years it was clear that the database system had reached its design limitations, and she asked Tauranga web designers Totali Ltd to re-develop the existing application they wrote to a web-based system which could be used by all students, anywhere in the world.

“Planning a career can be a long process, and the student’s dreams are just as important as their choices. Using DreamCatcher they can monitor changes in their own thinking over their school years, as each student has their own record of ideas they have explored, their academic record and where they found useful information so they can return to it.”

Developing the web-based programme has been a while in the making.

“We spent six months just researching what platform the programme should operate on, and worked during school holidays to develop this new version. We wanted something fun, funky and youthful, taking ideas from sites like Facebook and Bebo so that kids can just grab and run with it.”

Once final testing has been completed, the programme will be rolled out to Bay of Plenty schools early next year and there is already considerable interest from around the country.

Schools can buy a licence for $2600 a year plus an annual fee for technical support and hosting that enables global access.

Each school’s students can then access the site using a password either at home or at school, and include parents and teachers in their planning.

There are already plans to take the programme overseas, with adaptations to include local tertiary providers and career pathways.

For 17-year-old Emma Rose Luxton, DreamCatcher has been part of her future for the past two years. Now finishing year 13 exams and hopefully heading off to university in Wellington, Emma Rose wants to be a Crown Prosecutor. How she’ll get there has been well planned since the fifth form.

“I knew what I wanted to be, but I didn’t know how to get there or anything about it. This system helped tell me what I needed to know, and sent me to other websites to get more information. It would also tell me when university open days and other events were coming up and kept a record of all my research.”

She says she accessed the site once a term earlier on, but recently has been accessing it almost every study period, checking for university open days and events.

When she realised what a degree would cost her, she also used it to search for scholarships to apply for.

She now has her room booked at a Wellington university hostel and is just awaiting acceptance for her courses.

“The best part is it organises you. It greased the road for me and reminded me where I found useful things, contacts and information.”

An academically able student who has already won a prestigious Shakespeare prize taking her to the Globe Theatre in Britain next year, Emma Rose has already set her own goals.

But DreamCatcher can also identify at-risk students early – those without any ideas, poor subject choices or picking unusual career pathways.

These students can be spotted and assisted to plan their futures with the help of parents, teachers and other career planning practitioners, Ms Doherty says.

“DreamCatcher is student-driven, students can access it anywhere. It captures their thinking and their dreams so they can focus on setting their goals, whatever they may be.

“They can research their career aspirations and find out about entry criteria so they can make the right choices in line with their own skills and abilities.”