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

Group Submission Type: Highlighted Paper Session

Proposal

This panel will explore possibility development as a comprehensive framework that focuses on adolescents’ internal understanding of their possibilities and empowers students in shaping their futures. Originally applied to middle school students, several practical applications have expanded this framework to guide adolescents in navigating the complex decisions they face in college and career readiness. Although technology has expanded the scope of possibilities for youth, it has also complicated students’ decision-making surrounding their future possibilities. This presentation flags students’ tendency to overly rely on external experts or technologies to inform their decisions surrounding post-secondary planning. Through theoretical insights, on-the-ground experience, and practical applications, the panelists will offer practical strategies rooted in possibility development that maintain student agency while bolstering college and career readiness. We believe that technology, when used as a facilitator, can enable students to find their own answers rather than providing them.

Sub Unit

• Youth Development and Education SIG

Chair

• Michael Nakkula, University of Pennsylvania

Individual Presentations

• Empowering Students in College and Career Readiness: Technology as a Partner, Not a Crutch - Jacqueline E Joyce, Penn GSE

• Practical Application of Technology to Bolster College and Career Readiness - Ryall Carroll, possblme

• Quality of Mentoring Sources for Vietnamese and Turkish Students in Planning Future Possibility: A Cross-cultural Qualitative Study in Urban High Schools - Deniz Inanici, Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania

Discussant

• Andrew Babson, Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania