A STUDY OF ONLINE CAREER DESIGN VISUALIZATION THROUGH MATRIXFORMAT
Toshiko Kimura††
Yokohama College of Commerce
ABSTRACTIn this research, the researcher proposes a visualized
online career matrix that describes university students’life from birth to their most recent year every three
years and describes the interrelationships of eachdivision in a matrix format. In this research, based on
the theory of career anchors, which states that it isnecessary for career education to deepen selfunderstanding in the long and short term, in addition to
the conventional method of analyzing life stories, amethod called career matrix is proposed and a model
program is introduced. Then, the effect through thetransitions of students’ self-understanding is considered.
Keywords: Career Anchor, Career Learning, Online
Learning, Zoom, Self-Understanding, Life Story, Career
Matrix, Narrative research

1. BACKGROUND OF THE RESEARCH
The pandemic that hit the world in 2020 has
significantly changed the learning environment ofJapanese university students. It has become obvious thatonline learning increases stress and reduces selfaffirmation. According to Career Anchors Theory [12],it is necessary to deepen self-understanding to choose acareer. This research focuses on a program that
promotes self-understanding in order to conduct
practical verification of the online career program foruniversity students. The purpose of this paper is topractice and consider career learning by incorporatingthe "Career Matrix" proposed by Prof. Kunio Ohno as aprogram. Then, the effect is examined by studying thetransformation of self-understanding and selfaffirmation of some college students.
2. PREVIOUS RESEARCH
Organizational psychologist E. Schein’s "careeranchors" theory states that it is necessary for career
education to evaluate long-term and short-term selfawareness to know oneself [12]. A conventional life
story is a subjective and objective story about anindividual’s life. It is one of the qualitative researchmethods that try to visualize the aspects and changes ofa person’s environment, society, and culture over their
lifetime. As pointed out by Peacock et al. [9], thismethod has been applied in folklore and anthropology,

but it is also a widely used method in the fields of social
sciences, including psychology, social psychology, andclinical practice. Yonemaru et al. [13] utilized asubjective life story as a means of self-understanding incareer learning for high school students.
Ohno and Nishiguchi [7] developed the theory ofcareer anchors and published a Matrix Resume; it is a
new method of career analysis that analyzes a person’slife story based on objective historical artifacts of thelife of the past person and deduces the individual
qualities and potentials from it. Nishiguchi [7] practiced
the life story method called Career Matrix for technicalcollege students, but there is still little research on themethod being applied to university students.
Savickas et al. [10][11] point out that theframework for thinking about career counseling should
be structured to be lifelong, holistic, and preventative
counseling (the anticipation and avoidance of conflicts
or problems for those facing stress in the future). He
argues that the importance of thinking about life stories
subjectively and objectively has become clear, and that
there is still a need for "preventive,” that is, somethingthat complements the life story. According to APA
handbook of career intervention [5], "preventative
functions of counseling are important because they arebased in a different set of values." However, the "Career
Education Program Collection" [6] for university
students commissioned by the Japanese Ministry of
Health, Labor and Welfare does not assume an online
program. In this study, the researcher introduced thecareer matrix as a model program in career learning andconsidered what kind of changes were seen in thesubjects’ self-understanding.
Also, according to psychologist J. Piaget anddevelopmental psychologist E. Ericsson, humans haveseveral "developmental stages." That is why thequestionnaire is divided into three-year time periods.
According to a study (Kimura, [3]) using the resultsof an online questionnaire that was completed by 101
college students, as of 2020, college students had low
self-affirmation, and many students wanted to deepen
their self-understanding. The need for these self-analysis
programs has become clear.
This research will allow students to think about
their careers subjectively, objectively and matrixially,
based on their own photographs, albums, essays, things,
such as crafts and writings that they produced
themselves, etc., using an online method. The researcher
proposed and put into practice a model program
framework. To gauge the effect, the researcher
measured the transformation of the students’ perception

of self-understanding after participating in a model
program.
3. OUTLINE OF THE RESEARCH
In this study, life from birth to the present was divided
into seven categories of three years each based on theparticipants’ school year. Then, in addition to theconventional description of the life story, the program
describes the interrelationship of each division in amatrix format. The goal of the research is to practice amodel program in an online format and to consider thetransformation of self-understanding of college students.
The subjects of the research were students in the firstyear to the fourth year of their university studies. The
researchers explained to the participating students that
their privacy would be protected when presenting the
research results, and the researcher received a research
participation agreement from them. The participants
were asked to fill out a questionnaire after the session.
During the session, the author explained “subjective
life history” and “objective life history,” and Prof. Ohno
was asked to explain the method of S-3 and take a role
as a guest practitioner. The researcher observed thesession online and gave feedback when necessary.
The analysis data consisted of (1) video recordingsof the research progress, (2) questionnaires obtained
from three online surveys. In addition, (3) memo notes
and online photographs of the session were taken by theauthor. In the camera photography, students’ photos(with their names deleted) were taken as records ofindividual process.
4. METHODOLOGY
In the Japanese school system, kindergartens are for 4to-6 year olds, elementary schools are for 7-to-12 year
olds, junior high schools are for 13-to-15 year olds, andhigh schools are for 16-to-18 year olds. As mentioned
above, the research looks at university students’ life
from birth to their most recent year every three years. (Itis easier for students to remember their past episodes byschool periods.) And we also divide elementary school
years into lower and upper grades as there aredevelopmental difference between these two.
As shown in Figure 1, the program was composedof three sessions with the theme of creating a life story.
The three sessions were about one’s self-understanding
subjectively, objectively, and matrixially.
Session content
S-1

Self-understanding in the subjective version

S-2

Self-understanding in the objective version

S-3

Self-understanding in the career matrix
versionFig.1 Session structure

Kimura and Prof. Ohno prepared each online
questionnaire for S-1, 2 and 3 with Google Spreadsheet
Then, they were distributed through the chat function on
Zoom. The author also explained that the sheet could befreely deleted by those who did not want to share it. The
time allotted to fill out the program was set at 90
minutes (Fig. 2).

Fig.2 Progress chart
The purpose of the model program was for students to
independently gain self-awareness in the process oflooking back on their own life stories from threeperspectives.
5. RESEARCH RESULTS
Since the research subjects had to participate online in
all three sessions, in the end, only five students
participated.
In the responses to the questionnaire of the S-1
session, it was found that the self-affirmation of all thesubjects was low. In Session S-1, students commented
that their self-images are "interesting" and "something
cute,” and there were also comments such as "I can’t
remember when I was little,” "I cannot remember (Ican’t remember), bcz it was an unpleasant era.” There
was a statement that it was easy to remember. But oneof the students kept the output private after the session
and this means he doesn’t want his responses to bemade public.
In their responses on the S-2 worksheet, thestudents made comments such as, “yourself who has
been doing activities” and he, “who is turned out doing
my best,” the students made remarks such as, "I’ve done
this, wow" and "I’m doing my best.” There were also
positive comments that “we can do this work.” There
was also an opinion from a student that the second
session led students to a sense of self-affirmation.
Students’ comments in the S-3 worksheet (seeFigure 3) included, “It was not wasteful than I had been
imagined myself, how the past 20 years of life were,""dotted life,,,,, dots of my life became lines" and "thatthe experiences had come along with me until now."
There were also comments that “I was able to rediscover
my strengths by noticing that everything wasconnected” and that the factors of the past were being
utilized, such as "ah, that time was being utilized.” Byvisualizing their past, the students were able torecognize their past and proceeding efforts. They
nodded a lot during the session and sighed a lot. They
seemed to have positive reactions to this session.

Fig.3 S-3 Student sample C
6. ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
OF THE RESULTS
After subjectively recalling their life history, students
commented that while it was an "interesting" practice, "Inever looked back on it this way," and "it reminded meof the negative side.” As in previous studies, when the
researcher approached such subjects from theperspective of accepting counseling, she found theexpression "(this program) looks interesting." In
addition, when one’s life history was drafted from theevidence that one can see oneself objectively, thetendency of affirming oneself was seen, such as theexpression, "I have worked hard.” There were subjects
who expressed their motivation to take part in thisresearch by writing "the session can be done although
this could be hard work.”
In the third part of the study, based on the objective
facts of subjects’ life, such as photographs, theresearcher used a matrix method, examining how eachelement is connected to the present person, so far. There
was also a student’s opinion that his self-affirmation had
increased by noticing the connection between theactivities that he had done in the past and the present.
There were many subjects who said, "I’m glad I did it[the program].” Another student commented that "I
want to know more" and want to continue learning the
program to understand myself. A week after the session,some students who were interested in self-understanding
had a Zoom session to read and study literature in
English to deepen their self-understanding. The students
also seemed eager to learn in English in order to better
understand how their past can give them ideas about
what career to pursue in the future.

In the first interview, all five subjects said that theirself-affirmation was low, but after the online program,they commented, "I felt the effect" and "I am interested
in such efforts.”
The model program of this study seemed to
improve self-understanding and self-affirmation in theprocess of accepting oneself subjectively, accepting
oneself objectively, and recognizing skills and talents
which they may not have thought about that could be
useful in deciding what to do in the future. It was also
found that the students themselves were interested in thefield. There is an ARCS model (see Figure 4 below)
advocated by educational psychologist J. Keller [2],This model corresponds to the researcher’s proposedmodel, and the researcher thinks that it can be used toincrease the motivation and self-understanding oflearners and to create an environment for spontaneous
learning.
According to Keller, “The ARCS Model defines
four major conditions (Attention, Relevance,
Confidence, and Satisfaction) that have to be met forpeople to become and remain motivated.” (see Figure 4)
The ARCS model can be applied over and over in the
program described in this paper as a way to motivate
learners.

Fig. 4 ARCS model by J. M.Keller
The number of people who participated in thisresearch study was small, and the researcher would liketo continue to investigate the effectiveness of the online
model program through further research in the future.
Since the skill of self-understanding can be learned fromvarious fields, it is possible that in the future study,
along with career learning, lectures using selfunderstanding can be given in English as a way to also
advance their language education.
This study explained the possibility of improving
students’ self-affirmation through the use of an online
program. In addition, the author thinks that students cancollaboratively participate in this model.
In this era of an uncertain future, the author would
like to do further research focused on career learningthat will lead students to evaluate themselves and theirlives and think about their future through thedevelopment and utilization of online programs.

7. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND GRATITUDE
8. REFERENCES
The researcher would like to thank the Yokohama
College of Commerce for its special research grant.

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