WOIS News

WOIS 2011 Fall Training Schedule

Mon, 25 Jul 2011 13:31:00 -0800

The WOIS 2011 Fall Training Schedule is set and registration is available online at http://www.wois.org/about/events/index.cfm#event6. Space is limited at each location, so register early!

If a training date or location does not work for you, but you are in need of training, please contact tami@wois.org.

New High School & Beyond Plan Query Feature

Thu, 09 Dec 2010 15:05:00 -0800

If you use the WOIS Portfolio High School and Beyond Plan, we have added a new feature to the Portfolio Query that allows you to see groups of students based on their Post-High School Plans.

You have always been able to query for students interested in a specific career or college, but now you can also query for all of the students in your school who entered a general post-high school plan. For example, you can request to see all of the students who said Community College is part of their plan, or who entered Apprenticeship, or Military, etc.

Once you have your query results, use the list of students to either send them notes ("Come to our after school workshop on financial aid on December 15th, 3:30 in the Commons") or generate reports, to see, for example, the complete post-high school plans for the selected students.

Thank you to Kris Howell at Olympic High School for this fantastic suggestion.

A few more enhancements to the WOIS High School and Beyond Plan are on the horizon, so stay tuned!

WOIS/The Career Information System is Washington State's most comprehensive career and educational planning resource and is used in over 700 sites in the state of Washington. WOIS has provided career assessment tools, detailed information about occupations, educational programs, and postsecondary institutions, along with supporting activities and resources, for more than 35 years. WOIS provides complete, accurate and up-to-date information for Washington State and NOW also provides national wage, outlook, and college information. As a non-profit organization, our goal is to provide these resources, and related training and technical support, at the lowest cost possible, to the institutions and organizations in Washington State.

New HS & Beyond Portfolio Enhancement!

Wed, 10 Nov 2010 07:59:00 -0800

If you make your school's course listing available for the High School and Beyond Plan in the WOIS Portfolio, check out this new enhancement!

Now you can specify the grade levels for each class! Then when your students build their High School and Beyond Plans, only the classes they are able to take in the grade they are building will show up!

This is an important enhancement and we want to thank Tim Mahaney at Central Kitsap School District for helping us design this feature.

If you have questions about this feature, or want to know the easiest way to build your course list, please email or call -- tami@wois.org or 1-800-700-WOIS.

WOIS/The Career Information System is Washington State's most comprehensive career and educational planning resource and is used in over 900 sites in the state of Washington. WOIS has provided career assessment tools, detailed information about occupations, educational programs, and postsecondary institutions, along with supporting activities and resources, for more than 35 years. WOIS provides complete, accurate and up-to-date information for Washington State and NOW also provides national wage, outlook, and college information. As a non-profit organization, our goal is to provide these resources, and related training and technical support, at the lowest cost possible, to the institutions and organizations in Washington State.

Need a Great Curriculum? Check out Great Futures!

Thu, 28 Oct 2010 15:51:00 -0800

Great Futures, the powerful curriculum developed by Great Choices, teamed with the fantastic WOIS career and educational planning tools, is the answer to your challenges with advisories, culminating projects, career units, and high school and beyond planning.

Lessons include:

Goal Setting
Winning Activities
High School and Beyond Planning
Career Perspectives
College Planning
Study Skills
Test Preparation
Life Transitions

Four to Seven lessons are included in each section.

Engaging lessons and colorful, interesting slide shows can be delivered with students at computers, away from computers, or in any combination. You can choose to use all of the lessons or just a part of them -- we will hide the lessons you don't want to use. The flexibility of this program allows it to fit your needs and desired delivery method.

We’ve kept the cost low, and every subscription fee includes free training and technical support, as often as you need it, to get your staff on board with the system.

For more information or to schedule a demo of GREAT FUTURES please contact Tami at 1-800-700-9647 or tami@wois.org.

Now Available from WOIS: LIVE CHAT

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 09:56:00 -0800

Get Real-Time Customer Service from WOIS

Get WOIS support and technical answers quickly and easily with Live Support! Simply click on the Live Support link on the lower right corner of the WOIS screen to chat with customer support. If customer support is offline, you can leave a message and your answer will be emailed to you as soon as someone is available.

Live Support is our latest effort to provide quality customer service to counselors, teachers, clients and students.

WOIS Renewal Reminder

Don't be caught without WOIS access on September 1, 2010. Remember to return your WOIS order for 2010-2011 by August 31.

Only a few Spots are left for Great Futures University

Great Futures University is a workshop that provides hands-on training for teachers, counselors, and advisors in the new life, career and educational planning curriculum from WOIS. This workshop is designed for people from sites that have already ordered Great Futures as an add-on to WOIS, or people who are interested in learning more about the Great Futures resources. The workshop is two mornings. It's free, with six free clock hours.

Dates and Locations for Great Futures University:

July 12 and 13, Columbia Basin College

July 14 and 15, Edmonds Community College -- FULL, but you can get on the waiting list.

July 21 and 22, Bower Learning Center, Olympia -- Only six spots available

July 26 and 27, Eastern Washington University -- FULL, but you can get on a waiting list.

July 28 and 29, Lower Columbia College

WOIS School Search is Back!

Fri, 28 May 2010 09:03:00 -0800

You've patiently waited for WOIS to revise our School Search to work with our new national school database. Your wait is over! School Search is back in WOIS and better than ever! Check it out -- you can link to it from Assessments (under Other Exploration Tools), Educational Programs or Schools.

Great Futures sites -- watch for new lesson plans in the next week or two that address college planning and incorporate the new WOIS School Search.

It's not too late to register for July's Great Futures University -- coming to a location near you -- Edmonds, Longview, Spokane, Olympia, and Tri-Cities. Register today! Free registration and Free Clock Hours. Whether you have already ordered Great Futures, or want to experience the program to make a decision about ordering, you are welcome to attend this two-day (mornings only so you can still enjoy the afternoon sun!) workshop.

REMINDER! WOIS Subscribers -- remember to place your WOIS order before August 31 to ensure uninterrupted service.

Congratulations WOIS 2010 Scholarship Recipient!

Wed, 12 May 2010 08:40:00 -0800

Congratulations to Michael Severance from Richland High School for being chosen to receive the 2010 WOIS Scholarship.

Michael has used WOIS extensively to research his post-high school options. This is part of Michael's description of his career and educational planning process:

"During my four years of high school I have changed my career path at least four times. I have considered everything from commercial pilot, to a chef, to marine biologist. Each time WOIS has played a major role by providing me with priceless information about each career field. The section of WOIS that I found most helpful in my career search was the job description section. I have a wide array of traits that could be applied in different careers, but WOIS helped me weed out ones that would not fit my needs."

After describing how he weeded out certain careers based on the information he received from WOIS, Michael tells us how he discovered that aerospace engineering would be a good fit for him:

"Finally I discovered aerospace engineering, which combines my fascination of flight with my love for designing and my skills in math and science. I think this is the right career path for me, and without WOIS I might have never discovered it."

Michael plans to study aerospace engineering at the University of Washington and has already learned a lot about the research opportunities available through UW. After he receives his degree, he plans to work for NASA or Boeing.

We wish Michael the best of luck as he works to create his successful future!

Thank you to all the students who submitted WOIS scholarship applications. We would love to give scholarships to all of you, but unfortunately have to choose just one person.

Bright Outlooks and Green Economy Sectors

Mon, 12 Apr 2010 12:30:00 -0800

WOIS has added a link to a list of jobs with Bright Outlooks, and another list of jobs in Green Economy Sectors. These lists were developed by the US Department of Labor for the O*Net OnLine. The link from WOIS provides easy access for your students, clients and patrons.

Bright Outlook occupations are expected to grow rapidly in the next several years, will have large numbers of new job openings, or are new and emerging occupations.

The green economy will cause a change in occupations' employment demand or work and worker requirements such as tasks, skills, knowledge, and credentials. Green occupations are linked to Green Economy Sectors.

These links can be found in the Resources box on the right side of the Occupation Index, which is accessed by clicking on Occupations from your main menu.

Easy! If you have questions, please email tami@wois.org.

WOIS Presents GREAT FUTURES!

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 10:20:00 -0800

WOIS and Great Choices have teamed together to develop a powerful tool that is the answer to your challenges with advisories, culminating projects, career units, and high school and beyond planning.

This dynamic resource, appropriately named GREAT FUTURES, combines a great curriculum (with all the tools teachers need to deliver meaningful lessons), with the great data and portfolio storage and tracking tools found in WOIS.

With so many options for using the system (at the computer, away from the computer, combination of computer and print), the flexibility of this program means it will easily fit your needs and desired delivery method.

We’ve kept the cost low, and every subscription fee includes free training and technical support, as often as you need it, to get your staff on board with the system.

WOIS subscribers will receive information with their renewal package (coming soon!) about the cost to integrate GREAT FUTURES with the WOIS tools. If you can’t wait to see this wonderful new resource and want a FREE demo right away, please contact Tami at 1-800-700-9647 or tami@wois.org.

New Interest Area Sort

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 07:40:00 -0800

Check out the new Interest Area sort in the WOIS Occupation section. Choose the Interest Area you feel is your best match, then choose the level of education you wish to attain (or choose them all), and see the careers that match your choices!

To see all of this year's new WOIS features, attend one of the upcoming FREE WOIS Training sessions. Free Clock hours are provided.

Wednesday, March 17, 3:00 to 6:00 -- Ballard High School

Friday, March 19, 8:30 to 2:00 -- Columbia Basin College

Friday, March 26, 8:30 to 2:00 -- Lower Columbia College

Space is limited, so register today. For more information and to register, click here.

Improved High School & Beyond Plan in WOIS Portfolio

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 11:45:00 -0800

The Education Planner in the WOIS Portfolio is now the High School and Beyond Plan. This section now has more options!

In the High School and Beyond Details, students can record their Career Path, Program of Study, up to three Post-High School Plans with specifics for those plans, and up to three Career Goals. This section can be used by iteself, or combined with the planned coursework for a student's educational career.

In the Terms and Classes section, students can create their course plan for their educational career. Just as before, this section can be revisited often for updates to coursework, grades, credits, etc.

Four reports provide flexibility to meet everyone's needs. They are:

Current Details Report: shows High School & Beyond Plan details for the highest grade for which they have been entered.

Classes Report: shows terms and classes for all years.

Summary Report: combines the information from the Current Details and Classes Reports (most recent details and terms and classes for all years)

Full Report: shows all information - High School & Beyond Plan details, terms, and classes - for all years entered.

Portfolio Administrators: Remember you can customize the list of classes to match the classes offered at your school, customize your pathways and programs of study, and generate High School and Beyond reports for a group of students through the Portfolio Administration. To generate reports, simply choose the students you wish to generate reports for, then click Generate Reports at the bottom of your student list. Choose the report you wish to generate -- then click and let the system do the work for you!

Remember, there are now eight FREE Portfolio training workshops in February and March, all around the state, that can help you learn how to use the Portfolio High School and Beyond Plan and other great features available in the WOIS Portfolio system. Register today!

Thank you to a number of WOIS sites that helped to shape this improved High School and Beyond Plan section, including Central Kitsap High School, Anacortes High School, Sehome High School, and Shadle Park High School.

School Compare is Back in WOIS!

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 13:54:00 -0800

Because WOIS moved to a new database structure to integrate National Colleges with our Educational Program and School sections, our old School Compare tool was taken out of our program for a few months.

But now it's back -- and even better than before!

You can still access School Compare from the Assessment menu on the left-side menu, and the Schools menu.

Now your students and clients can also compare schools they have saved in the School Research section of their WOIS Portfolio!

And, your students and clients can save schools to the School Research section of their WOIS Portfolio, after they have done a School Compare.

Try it out! You will love it!

If you have questions or ever need a training or demonstration, contact tami@wois.org or call 1-800-700-WOIS.

Go to TheWashBoard.org from WOIS

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 12:51:00 -0800

TheWashBoard.org is live. Check it out!

TheWashBoard.org is a free, web-based non-profit scholarship clearinghouse for Washington students seeking college scholarships.

TheWashBoard.org makes scholarship searching easy!

There are over 75 scholarship providers from across the state registered on theWashBoard.org. These providers have over $11 million in scholarship funds available and anticipate making up to 4,000 awards for the 2010-2011 academic year. New scholarships are added each day to theWashBoard.org.

In addition, you will find other financial aid resources and information on theWashBoard.org.

Unlike other web-based scholarship search tools, theWashBoard.org is advertising and spam-free. Your personal information is safe and will never be sold.

Ready to Get Started?

TheWashBoard.org makes scholarship searching simple. In one stop, you can search and apply for verified scholarships specific to your academic interests, college or university, or other criteria.

Here's how it works: You can either click on Schools on the WOIS menu, then click on Wash. Scholarships to link directly to theWashBoard.org or go directly to theWashBoard.org. Once there:

Complete your student profile.
Explore scholarships that match your profile.
Apply and submit your application by the due date.

Become a Fan of WOIS on Facebook

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 13:48:00 -0800

Visit WOIS on Facebook for current trends and information about careers and education. Enter into our Discussions, or start one of your own. Become a member of the WOIS Facebook network to stay connected!

You can link to WOIS on Facebook from the WOIS homepage at www.wois.org. The Facebook link is on the lower right-side of the page.

Portfolios "Grade Promoted" and Students Transferred

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 08:00:00 -0800

As we do every year at about this time, we've advanced your students' Portfolios to the next grade - 9th graders were advanced to 10th grade, etc. Also, if you've configured your middle school's Portfolio settings to automatically transfer a particular grade (8th, 9th, etc.) to the appropriate high school, those students should now be transferred. You can also use the Transfer to another site button in Portfolio Administration lists to manually transfer students from one WOIS site to another.