Drive of Your Life™

OVERVIEW

To reverse the much lamented Indiana “brain drain,” a group of concerned Indiana organizations joined forces in an effort to create an online experience which could inspire students to work hard in their early school years, attend college and pursue careers that might see them living and working in Indiana.

CHALLENGE

Indiana Youth Institute in partnership with the Lilly Endowment approached GlobalMagic with the challenge of creating a revolutionary web-based career exploration system for Indiana adolescents and the teaching and career training professionals who mentor them. The goal was to develop an engaging, interactive experience that could inform and interest students in career options that typically require either a two- or four-year degree.

INSIGHT

Traditionally students complete a written in-school career assessment assignment. It is then up to school administrators to score the exam and return a list of matching careers to the student. Due to the manual nature of the process, there is a lengthy gap in time between the taking of the exam and the presentation of results.

e-STRATEGY

The GlobalMagic planning team along with members of the Indiana Youth Institute conducted a series of focus groups in schools and agencies throughout Indiana. Then, based on findings designed concepts that would engage the target audience. Another series of focus groups followed, the data from which continually refined and strengthened the vision. The development team set out to create a dynamic application that would accomplish the strategic goals of the program while remaining flexibility for anticipated future programming alterations and additions.

An online Flash-rich system that kids think of as a video-game experience is the result. The site is now utilized by over 80,000 middle and junior high schools to evaluate students’ likes/dislikes and then instantaneously return several career choices from a database of over 500 careers that for the most part require a college education.

SOLUTION

With the official launch of DriveofYourLife.org, students can access personalized and useful career exploration data, anywhere at anytime. Feedback is instantaneous so students immediately know how they score, which careers best match their interests. A record of their progress is available to authorized school teachers and guidance counselors, whose help is instrumental as students plan for high school and college. Educators from both Indiana and many other states who have seen the program online constantly contact the Indiana Youth Institute to express interest in integrating www.driveofyourlife.org into their middle school/junior high curriculums.

VISIT the Drive of Your Life WEBSITE