Empowering Students in College and Career Readiness: Technology as a Partner, Not a Crutch

• In Event: Highlighted Session: Empowering Futures: Possibility Development and the Role of Technology in College and Career Readiness

Proposal

This presentation draws from extensive experience as an educator, who has supported over 1,000 students from diverse backgrounds in their post-secondary planning. While technology has been essential in expanding access to resources and increasing efficiency in college and career readiness efforts, its growing prevalence has illuminated a concerning issue in the field: technology, when misused, can stifle self-reflection and impede students from taking ownership of their futures. Grounded in a possibility development framework, this presentation aims to showcase how educators and school counselors can partner with technology to empower student agency. At this conference, we also consider these issues in comparative international context.

Post-secondary planning, whether in the US or abroad, can provoke inevitable existential anxiety in students. Amid future uncertainties, students often seek immediate answers from external experts—both human and technological. Yet, students’ over-reliance on technology to find answers enables them to overlook their own expertise rooted in self-exploration and critical reflection. For example, students have turned to AI to write their essays rather than leverage these tools to organize their thoughts and make sense of their experiences. Furthermore, school administrations lean on assessments from college and career readiness platforms to measure post-secondary outcomes. Yet, without facilitation, these standardized results often fail to ensure true college and career readiness. Discovering one’s personality type or Holland code, in itself, will not compel students to translate these insights into meaningful action. This process of self-discovery rarely occurs alone, often requiring the facilitation of a trusted educator or adult.

This presentation critiques how technology is used in post-secondary planning and advocates for reframing technology’s role as a facilitator rather than a decision-maker. Furthermore, through sharing practical strategies and examples, students and educators alike can employ technology as a partner, not a crutch, and feel empowered to take ownership of their futures.

Author

• Jacqueline E Joyce, Penn GSE