BILT (Business and Industry Leadership Team)
Best 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 MoreBILT (Part 2): A Business Imperative
When businesses get engaged in a local BILT (Business and Industry Leadership), we call this a “win-win” approach. In a previous post we talked about the value to education institutions partnering with local businesses as well as the rewards this presents to the students, but businesses can also find immense worth being on such a…
Read MoreBILT (Part 1): Critical to Student Success
Having a business council working with colleges is not a new concept. However, the Convergence Technology Center’s approach puts business in a co-leadership role rather than just a business approval role. The approach is key to ensuring that the students educated/trained by our partner educational institutions are “workforce ready” to be hired by the businesses.…
Read MoreIs Block Chain Something New Worth Watching?
An important part of every meeting with our National “BILT” (Business and Industry Leadership Team) is the “trends discussion.” That’s the time when BILT members discuss the current state of the IT industry, in terms both of today’s challenges and tomorrow’s tools. At a recent BILT meeting, block chain technology was mentioned. Glenn Wintrich, an…
Read MoreThe Revolution of the Stereotype “IT Guy”
Throughout BILT (Business and Industry Leadership Team) and KSA (Knowledge, Skills and Abilities) meetings, it’s become abundantly clear that IT employers are putting more emphasis on the need for what we in the industry call “soft skills” but after the CCN’s most recent webinar with NetApp’s Matt Brown, Infrastructure Business Relationship Manager for IT Business…
Read MoreThe Latest and Greatest in IT Industry Trends
As has become custom, a recent conference call meeting with the National Convergence Technology Center’s (CTC) Business and Industry Leadership Team (BILT) kicked off with a lengthy discussion of current and future trends in IT. The goal is to let faculty members also on the call know about the real-world state of the industry. Where…
Read MoreTomorrow’s IT Worker
Another benefit of the National Convergence Technology Center’s (CTC) active Business and Industry Leadership Team (BILT) is when BILT members send us interesting articles and reports. It’s like having our very own R&D group. Dell executive Glenn Wintrich recently forwarded us a Deloitte University Press report called “Tech Trends 2015” that outlines several trends that…
Read MoreTeaching Soft Skills Doesn’t Have to Be Hard
It’s no surprise that a popular topic at any Convergence College Network (CCN) discussion – especially those involving our Business and Industry Leadership Team (BILT) – is the value of “soft skills.” It’s one thing for students to get the IT training, but employers are looking for more than technical know-how. As one faculty member…
Read MoreTrends Talk
A regular feature of our Business and Industry Leadership Team (“BILT,” for short) meetings is a quick discussion of current and future trends. What are IT departments looking for in new hires today and what will they be looking for in 18 months? This is always a great way for our Convergence College Network (CCN)…
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