Educational Media Reviews Online

With intriguing variety, a fast pace, and wacky humor, this series of 30 videos introduces students to 120 careers. Each video showcases four occupations, each introduced by a person who holds that job. All the interviewees are young, not over 40, with most appearing to be at least 10 years younger than that. In some scenes they talk to the camera, explaining the basics of their job, the education required, and how they got into the field. In other scenes the person is shown at work, as well as outside the workplace enjoying leisure pursuits.

The series hosts, Kipp and Paula, introduce the careers at the beginning and show up periodically throughout the video engaged in humorous but informative conversations. Two other “regulars,” Tori and Alex, appear once on each video to give employment tips on such topics as resumes, mentors, the pros and cons of working from home, and job searching on the Internet.

Each video is built around a theme, with the four careers connected in some way. For example, one tape features a computer security consultant, an illustrator/designer, an accessibility consultant, and a baker, all of whom work out of their own homes. Each of the tapes I previewed had two male and two females as the career interviewees.

Filmed in Canada, the jobs featured are universal. The variety of careers is wide: sportscaster, astrophysicist, puppeteer, greeting card designer, executive chef, magazine publisher, historical researcher, lobbyist, nun, toy company entrepreneur, zookeeper, banker, veterinarian, computer software engineer, race car driver, stonemason, fish farm technician, music therapist, jewelry designer, mechanical engineer, and many more, including career counselor.

From the opening graphic - colorful and fast-moving, with a collage-type effect - through the featured careers and dividing segments to the end credits, there is a hip, humorous, and everything-is-possible sensibility to these videos. Each provides a variety of sights and sounds to see and hear, to which even the most easily bored student could respond.

This set would enhance any career discovery program. There is just enough information given for each career to whet the appetite of the searching student, who could then go on to explore the career more fully in other sources. An appealing style captures the attention and then delivers the information in a package sure to attract any teen.

Awards

• Award of Excellence in the Information Programming category from the Alliance for Children and Television