Posts by Mark Dempsey
Tips and Lessons From Innovations
It was a very busy first day of the Innovations conference for the National Convergence Technology Center (CTC). In addition to giving a morning presentation on communities of practice to disseminate the unique successes and challenges of the CTC’s Convergence College Network (CCN) community of practice and staffing an exhibit hall booth for National Science…
Read MoreMessaging Strategies for Increasing Student Diversity
Laura Nicholas – a communications consultant for IBM – provided remarks at the National Convergence Technology Center’s (CTC) recent two-day “Diversity Summit” workshop. Specifically, Laura talked to the attendees (ten teams comprised of a faculty member, an administrator, and a counselor) about messaging as it relates to improving their programs’ student diversity. Here are select…
Read MoreSeven Recruiting and Retaining Tips from the Diversity Summit
The National Convergence Technology Center (CTC) recently hosted a special two-day “Diversity Summit” workshop for ten select schools from its Convergence College Network (CCN). Each school sent three attendees – an instructor, an advisor, and an administrator. The “Diversity Summit” provided a forum to hear best practices on recruiting and retaining under-served populations from a…
Read MoreThe Power of Community
The National Convergence Technology Center (CTC) manages a group of IT educators from 60 schools in 23 states collectively called the Convergence College Network (CCN). These like-minded faculty members collectively share resources, discuss best practices, and solve problems. It’s a collection of practitioners working together, different from project teams with rigid deadlines and assigned tasks,…
Read MoreA New Approach to Helping Foster Diversity
Most community college educators know what it takes to recruit and retain under-served populations (hands-on activities, early outreach, success stories, role models, community events, data tracking, intrusive advising, and the list goes on). The trick is that those strategies must be employed again and again in order to deliver sustained results. But with community college…
Read MoreEngaging Your Business Experts
At the recent WASTC Winter ICT Educators’ Conference, the National Convergence Technology Center (CTC) hosted a panel discussion on its successful “BILT” (Business and Industry Leadership Team) model that helps energize relationships between community college educators and industry experts. Most community college programs have traditional advisory boards in which business leaders guide programs via annual…
Read MoreHow Gamification Increased Engagement
The National Convergence Technology Center (CTC) leads the Convergence College Network (CCN), a group of 50+ community colleges and universities from across the country that shares resources and best practices at both regularly scheduled meetings and special one-off webinars. One challenge with a group that large (and it’s still growing) is finding ways to keep…
Read MoreBest Practices for Getting Feedback from Your Business Group
The National Convergence Technology Center (CTC) recently hosted a “job skills validation” meeting with the National BILT (Business and Industry Leadership Team). This annual meeting – which was attended by six business experts in person and another six on the phone – fulfills the BILT’s primary task: delivering specific feedback on the knowledge, skills, and…
Read MoreHow Business Can Help Your Program
The National Convergence Technology Center (CTC) takes every opportunity to extol the value of building relationships with business and industry to make sure program graduates are “right-skilled” to be readily employable. This message is repeatedly drummed to our 50-school CCN (Convergence College Network) community of practice and it’s underscored at just about every educational conference…
Read MoreStrategies to Track Graduate Success
The National Convergence Technology Center (CTC) recently posed this question at a meeting of its community of practice, the Convergence College Network (CCN): “how do you keep track of your graduates’ success?” It’s important to measure a program’s effectiveness to understand what works and what doesn’t. Are your students leaving with the skills they need…
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