Planning for oneB次元官网网址檚 future doesnB次元官网网址檛 come naturally to most high schoolers.
Lee Taal, founder of ChatterHigh, a Vancouver Island Tech Park-based online resource that teaches teens, parents and educators how to best navigate the web to find job market, post-secondary, financial, health and other information, knows this well.
Unless a student is predisposed to know the direction in which they want their life to head, it can be difficult to know where to start looking, even after taking planning in high school and spending a lot of time on the web.
B次元官网网址淓very student in the country has to go through courses to learn about that,B次元官网网址� he says. B次元官网网址淟ooking at that information is a little challenging at the best of times for any of us, so we try to make it fun. WeB次元官网网址檝e created a digital exploration tool to get teens more engaged in that space and get them actively involved.B次元官网网址�
Founded in 2009, ChatterHigh is today expanding across Canada and starting to make inroads into the U.S. market. Taal himself has been working with school districts and provincial ministries of education on how to create more interactive career planning curriculum. Its ongoing commitment to connecting students with meaningful career information was recognized recently at the Canadian EdTech Leadership Summit in Toronto, where ChatterHigh was named EdTech Partner of the Year.
As part of Canada Career Month in November, it has been running its third annual CanadaB次元官网网址檚 Most-Informed School competition. The B次元官网网址済amifiedB次元官网网址� national contest motivates students to seek out career and scholarship information online and awards them points that can earn their school cash prizes or money for charity projects. A variety of local schools are heavily involved, including Esquimalt High, 脡cole Victor Brodeur, Mount Doug, Claremont, Parklands, St. AndrewB次元官网网址檚 Regional High and Pacific Christian School.
Camosun College, an early supporter of the company, recently held its seventh annual ChatterHigh competition for local schools. The winners were Esquimalt in the AAA category and 脡cole Brodeur in the AA division.
Taal says career education is meant to address such barriers to good planning as a lack of hope or belief in oneB次元官网网址檚 future. He points to a Canadian statistic that between 10 and 20 per cent of post-secondary students drop out before completing a degree because they donB次元官网网址檛 like what theyB次元官网网址檝e chosen to study. It illustrates how a lack of information about what those choices would look like can leave students feeling flat.
For high schoolers, there can often be a lack of trust in online resources, Taal says, so they donB次元官网网址檛 hone their search skills to be able to mine the myriad scholarship and education opportunities available. B次元官网网址淚 want to broaden their occupational horizons dramatically so that they have many more choices.B次元官网网址�
ChatterHigh is also working with schools, districts and ministries to increase graduation rates, by helping boost studentsB次元官网网址� interest in school and their confidence, and motivating them to actively pursue the next step in their education or career. With the impending retirements in all areas of the work force, Taal says, B次元官网网址渋tB次元官网网址檚 important right now to have everyone prepared to fill the jobs that will be coming up.B次元官网网址�
Canada Career Month runs to Nov. 30. Its theme, B次元官网网址淲hatB次元官网网址檚 Next?B次元官网网址� asks students, teachers and career development experts to consider the next generation of solutions to engage Canadians in career planning.
For more information on ChatterHigh, visit or email then at info@chatterhigh.com.
