CTC News
Winter Working Connections and Successful Online Training
For the third December in a row, the National Convergence Technology Center (CTC) will be hosting its annual Winter Working Connections professional development training event completely on-line. When it was first offered in 2009, Winter Working Connections was an expansion of the CTC’s popular week-long, in-person, Summer Working Connections event that runs each July. The…
Read MoreCommunity Sharing of Curriculum
Four times a year, the National Convergence Technology Center (CTC) hosts a meeting of its Convergence College Network (CCN) community of over 60 community colleges and universities from 24 states across the country. These meetings are one of the prime benefits of membership in the CCN in that they provide the perfect platform for resource…
Read MoreSoft Skills for All Ages
In 2014, the National Convergence Technology Center’s (CTC) “BILT” (Business and Industry Leadership Team – an engaged and dedicated group of IT industry experts that meets once a quarter to discuss IT trends, answer faculty questions, and validate entry-level job skills) recommended that IT programs weave “soft skills” training into IT every course. A year…
Read MoreStrategies and Activities to Increase Diversity and Improve Enrollment
Regular blog readers know that the National Convergence Technology Center (CTC) is currently steering a pilot program called the “Diversity Summit.” The program kicked off in February with a workshop for select schools from the Convergence College Network (CCN) community of practice. Each participating school sent three attendees – an instructor, an advisor, and an…
Read MoreSecurity Skills Gap Continues
The National Convergence Technology Center’s (CTC) National Business and Industry Leadership Team (BILT) has long emphasized the need for IT students to learn security skills. Indeed, the BILT urges that every class include instruction on security. Specifically, since 2015, the BILT has asked instructors to find relevant moments in IT curriculum to ask students “Is…
Read MoreWearable Market Continues to Expand
One of the largest growing markets in the “internet of things” is wearables. A recent Venture Beat article notes a sizable increase in wearables sales. It’s still a relatively small market, but for the second quarter of 2017, 26.3 million wearables were sold worldwide. The leader is the Chinese company Xiaomi, with Apple and Fitbit…
Read MoreTeaching the Internet of Things
Two faculty members associated with the National Convergence Technology Center (CTC) recently delivered a standing-room-only conference presentation on teaching the Internet of Things (“IoT”) to IT networking students. Brian Nelson (Lansing Community College) and Bill Saichek (Orange Coast College) spoke to attendees of the 2017 HI-TEC educator conference in Salt Lake City, Utah. Here are…
Read MoreRenewal Grant Welcomes Two New Partners to the CTC
We recently announced that the National Convergence Technology Center (CTC) has been funded for another five years. This $3.9 million renewal grant, which officially began in July, will welcome two new partners and focus on developing regional “hubs” around grant partner schools. The goal is to give those hubs the tools, relationships, and infrastructure to…
Read MoreA Success Story for Virtual Labs
One of the benefits available to “Level 1” members of the National Convergence Technology Center’s (CTC) Convergence College Network community is access to free Network Development Group (NDG) online virtual labs to support A+, Net+ and Security+ courses. Since 2016, these CTC virtual labs – hosted by grant partner schools Collin College, Georgia Southern University,…
Read MoreHI-TEC 2017 Preview
HI-TEC is about a month away and the National Convergence Technology Center (CTC) and the Convergence College Network (CCN) are well-represented this year with five panels and workshops as well as a convening following the event. First up, Ann Beheler from the National CTC will be giving a Business and Industry Leadership Team (BILT) presentation…
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