WOIS News - Announcements

What's NEW This Week from WOIS?

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:50:00 -0800

WOIS is continually enhancing our system to meet the needs of schools, colleges, agencies and businesses in Washington. You ask, and we work hard to deliver.

So What's New for this week? Pathways and Reality Check!

Pathway descriptions and occupations are now found in each of the WOIS Cluster descriptions. Now when you go to Occupations by Cluster, then choose a Cluster to explore, you will see each of the Pathways found in the cluster with a brief description of the Pathway, and a list of occupations that relate to that Pathway.

Thank you to Vancouver School District for this request.

The other exciting feature added this week, Reality Check, is a tool that allows a person to decide how much money they will need to live independently, and how well the salaries for their selected careers will meet their expense requirements. Reality Check offers several different ways to relate a monthly budget to career choices. Reality Check is found both in the Assessment section of the WOIS website, and the Occupation section.

Enjoy these new features, and watch for more announcements in the weeks to come. If you want a hint of the new features that will be added soon, send an email to tami@wois.org.

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.

NEW WOIS Portfolio Feature

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 09:40:00 -0800

Now your students/clients can enter their career research directly into the WOIS Portfolio!

If you have used the "Research a Career" worksheet, found in the activities section of the WOIS website, and had students/clients upload the worksheet to their portfolio in the past, now they can enter their responses to the career research questions directly in the Career Research section of the WOIS Portfolio!

Your students/clients simply log into their Portfolio, click on Career Research, then click on Add New Career Research.

By entering this directly in the portfolio, it's easy for you or the student/client to view and/or print reports on the research.

Thank you to Kari Farnsworth at Shadle Park High School for this fantastic idea!

We are working on more great ideas from WOIS users. Stay tuned!

If you have questions about this, or any other WOIS function, call us at 1-800-700-WOIS or email tami@wois.org.

WOIS is a non-profit organization that provides the most comprehensive career and educational planning tools available in Washington. WOIS is used in nearly 1,000 sites in Washington State, including more than 260 public high schools, more than 100 middle schools and junior highs, and many agencies, libraries and private businesses.

Updated WOIS Website is Up and Running

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 08:53:00 -0800

We hope you had a wonderful summer and are refreshed and ready for the new school year! The WOIS website is ready for you, with the updated release up and running as of yesterday.

Many enhancements have been added to WOIS this year. The most notable is the ability to get National College information for every WOIS educational program and our link with StudentEdge for PSAT, SAT, ACT, AP, and ASVAB practice tests -- and more. These two enhancements are included in the license for all full WOIS system subscribers. Other enhancements have been made to the WOIS portfolio system, and online administrative tutorials are now available.

New site keys for the year have been assigned. If you haven't seen yours (most were sent via snail mail), send email to tami@wois.org or call WOIS at 1-800-700-WOIS.

FREE Basic WOIS training has been set up so far in Pasco, Spokane and Olympia. Register for training here. Registration for Creating Schools with Heart and Soul and Dependable Strengths for Educators workshops can also be found at this link. Watch the WOIS website for more training opportunities throughout the fall.

WOIS and The Center for Learning Connections have teamed up to provide the Transitions, Learning and Work conference on February 1, 2010. This was formerly the Worforce conference. Find more information and register at the Transitions, Learning and Work website.

WOIS customers can also take advantage of training at the comfort of their own computer. WOIS is offering a Basic Training Webinar on September 24. More webinars for basic and advanced training will be scheduled throughout the year. Register here.

If you haven't renewed, you no longer have access to WOIS. Please contact the WOIS office as soon as possible to make sure WOIS is up and running when you are ready to help your students and clients make solid, well-informed career and educational plans. Remember, WOIS is the ONLY system that provides complete and accurate information for EVERYONE, whether they want to go directly into the workforce, enter into a short- or long-term training program, or plan to pursue a Ph.D. As we enter our 36th year of service to Washington State citizens, we thank all of our customers for your continued support.

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.

WOIS Awards Three Scholarships

Mon, 11 May 2009 14:46:00 -0800

The WOIS Executive Committee recently reviewed nearly 40 WOIS scholarship applications and chose three students to each receive $750 toward their postsecondary education.

The three scholarship recipients were:

David Yu, Colfax High School

Jessica Hutton, Eisenhower High School

Rebecca Campbell, Olympic High School

David Yu described his career search process and use of WOIS in the process as follows:

"High school has been called a crossroads of life. If so, WOIS has been the sign posts helping to point me down the right road. At the beginning of senior year, I still didn't know what I wanted to do with my life. WOIS uncovered patches of hidden talent and interest I never would have imagined, through its unique Career Interest Areas, Interest Profiler, and Skills tests. I found my interest in medicine and technology, which helped me select my classes for senior year and contemplate a major in college. WOIS has enabled me to follow up on my interests, providing droves of detailed information about careers, from education requirements, to current market outlook, to specific responsibilities. It helped me substantiate my senior presentation about interning at the hospital and the requirements for the professions there.

"Furthermore, WOIS has fit in flawlessly with my other senior final projects and materials. Utilizing my online portfolio to store my tests, activities, and college research, I built on online file system I could access from anywhere, a privilege I found invaluable in writing personal evaluations and preparing college applications. I also incorporated WOIS with my senior portfolio for organizing my materials and presenting it in an efficient, systematic way. From my career research project to deciding my destination next year and beyond, WOIS has added control and peace of mind to a frenetic senior year.

"At this key junction of my education, I highly appreciate my school's subscription to WOIS to guide me, to provide a roadmap in my crossroads of life."

Congratulations to all three WOIS scholarship recipients!

Welcome to WOIS 2008-09

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 10:04:00 -0800

The WOIS website is ready to be updated on September 1, 2008 – just in time for the start of the school year. All Occupations, Educational Programs and Schools have been updated. New features have been added to the Electronic Portfolio, including the ability to assign students to multiple groups, send notes to students, store and monitor culminating projects, and much more.

Remember, your site key changes on September 1. If we have received your order, your site coordinator has been mailed the new site key.

Fall Training has been scheduled and registration is available at www.wois.org. Basic Training is free to all WOIS user sites. Topics covered include Electronic Portfolio setup and usage; Assessments; WOIS Occupation, Educational Program, and School Information; other resources; and basic site administration.

Advanced Portfolio training is also offered, for people who want in-depth experience in setting up and using the WOIS Electronic Portfolio. A small fee is required for the advanced portfolio training.

Register early for training, some sites are already almost full. Clock hours are available for all WOIS training sessions.

WOIS would like to welcome the following sites that are new to the WOIS system in the past year, or are returning after trying something else for a few years. If I’ve missed anyone, I apologize. WOIS continues to be the most used career and educational planning system in the state of Washington, with nearly 80% of the public schools, all but one of the community colleges, most of the 4-year colleges and universities, more than 150 libraries and 300 agencies and private businesses using the WOIS system.

Welcome to:

Cheney High School
Mead School District
Ferndale High School
Clearview High School
Bellingham School District
Clover Park High School
White River High School
Offender Employment Services – statewide
Davenport High School
East Valley High School in Yakima
Kingston High School
Granger High School
North Beach Jr-Sr High School
Mary M. Knight School
Skykomish High School
Sunnyside High School
Walla Walla High School
Wellpinit High School
Wilbur High School
Cowlitz Indian Tribe
Catholic Family & Child Services
People for People
Bock Consulting
The Great Northern Consulting Company
Lincoln Alternative High School
Meridian Parent Partnership Program
HomeConnections
Cascade Christian Schools
Highland Christian School