CTC Student Feature
National BILT Ends 2018 Discussing IT Progression
The National Convergence Technology Center (CTC) recently convened its Business and Industry Leadership Team (BILT) for one last time in 2018. Regular blog readers know that these BILT meetings are a forum to discuss future trends in the IT workplace. The hope is that these quarterly BILT meetings can keep educators regularly updated on the…
Read MoreThe ATE Principal Investigators Conference
Grant partners and staff from the National Convergence Technology Center (CTC) recently attended the National Science Foundation’s ATE (AdvanceTechnological Education) Principal Investigators (PI) conference in Washington, DC. That’s the annual gathering of ATE center and project grantees from all over the country. The conference offers a great opportunity for collaboration and networking, as 800 or…
Read MoreAre your students curating project portfolios?
The National Convergence Technology Center’s (CTC) Business and Industry Leadership Team (“BILT”) has long insisted when job candidates sit down for an interview, those who have a portfolio of their work stand a better chance of getting hired. For that reason, the BILT asks that every IT program require students to create and maintain portfolios…
Read MoreStrategies for Writing a Report that Gets Read
Staff members from the National Convergence Technology Center (CTC) attended a special “One-Page Report” webinar earlier this year led by Emma Perk and Lyssa Becho of EvaluATE. The webinar discussed specific strategies for creating reports that quickly and clearly convey “meaningful data.” It’s a smart alternative to multi-page reports packed full of data that may…
Read MoreStudent Feature: Jacquelyn Johnson – Lone Star College
Jacquelyn Johnson would be “pounding pavement in a parking lot” as a hospital security guard if it wasn’t for a high school teacher encouraging her to consider networking. The high school she attended offered Cisco courses as an elective, and Jacquelyn started taking these classes her sophomore year and continued throughout her senior year. It was…
Read MoreStudent Feature: Ean Towne
What does a retired military veteran, who no longer has to work, do for fun? Well, Ean Towne is continuing his career in IT by attending Collin College classes to enhance his skills. Ean is pursuing an Associate Applied Science degree in Computer Networking and this summer, he will begin an internship at McAfee in…
Read MoreThree Webinars for IT Educators
The National Convergence Technology Center (CTC) often hosts “special topic,” one-hour webinars for members of its Convergence College Network (CCN) Community of Practice. Typically, the CTC presents a spring webinar and a fall webinar. These presentations feature experts from the CCN community discussing best practices and strategies on specific areas of interest. Now, thanks to…
Read MoreStudent Feature: Larry Schimke
After retiring from the police department, Larry Schimke felt he was too young to stay retired so he transitioned into the IT world for another career. “I heard about the program at MATC (Milwaukee Area Technical College) because of my wife who actually works there,” Larry explained. “After I took that bit of information that…
Read MoreStudent Feature: Wafa Elmannai
At a very early age, Wafa Elmannai recalls being intrigued by science and technical problems. As a result of that, she pursued a career in IT education and continues to expand her knowledge and experience. Last year, she taught IT at a local high school and prior to that she served as a Computer Science…
Read MoreCollin College has a Very Special Trailer
The National Convergence Technology Center (CTC) recently hosted a meeting for its annual National Visiting Committee (NVC), the panel of educators and industry experts that evaluate the progress of NSF-funded Advanced Technological Education centers like the CTC. Part of the NVC’s discussion focused on the need for high school guidance counselors to better understand the…
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