The effects of career education program using Edu-tech on middle school students’ career decision self-efficacy and career maturity

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of career education program using Edu-tech on middle school students' career decision self-efficacy and career maturity. For this purpose, 103 second and third grade students from G middle school located in Busan metropolitan city were collected and then divided into an experimental group of 51 students and a control group of 52 students. The experimental group received career education program using Edu-tech, and the control group received career education program using traditional print-based learning materials. Accordingly, in order to examine the difference in effects between the two groups, similar pre- and post-tests were conducted on career decision self-efficacy and career maturity, and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was conducted on the post-test results by controlling the pre-test results as covariates. At this time, for variables where significant differences between groups were found, multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) was performed on the post-test results of the sub-factors. The main research results of this study are summarized as follows. First, in terms of career decision self-efficacy, there was no significant difference in the average between groups according to career education program using educational technology. Second, in terms of career maturity, there was a significant difference in the average between groups according to career education program using educational technology. In addition, among the career maturity sub-factors of 'decisiveness', 'purposefulness', 'preparation', 'independence', and 'certainty', significant differences were found only for 'decisiveness' and 'purposefulness'. This study is meaningful in that it proposes an innovative teaching method that incorporates Edu-tech into middle school career education and suggests a teaching strategy using Edu-tech that is effective in improving the career maturity of middle school students.