Education
Tale of the Thumbtack: Updating a Program Bulletin Board
Developing strategies to successfully recruit students is a key goal of the National Convergence Technology Center (CTC). The CTC staff recently rolled up their sleeves to tackle this problem head-on when we decided to update a bulletin board in a classroom hallway here at Collin College. The bulletin board is in a high-traffic area students…
Read MoreSharing Best Practices
The National Convergence Technology Center (CTC) manages a community of practice called the Convergence College Network (CCN). The CCN is a cohort of 45+ community colleges and universities from around the country that share best practices and receive CTC benefits and resources. The goal is to enhance the CCN’s IT programs. Quarterly meetings are one…
Read MoreLearning to Backchannel
The term “backchannel” refers to an informal, secondary communication channel that runs parallel to a formal presentation or lecture. That is, why you’re giving a lecture, your students are making comments and asking questions on a social media-style feed that’s being projected on the wall behind you. To us, it’s a fairly revolutionary concept. The…
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 More9 Things We Learned at Our Fall Conferences
The National Convergence Technology Center (CTC) attended several conferences this fall to make presentations and sit on panels and roundtables; to disseminate information about our grant work at exhibit hall booths, to recruit new member schools to our Convergence College Network (CCN) community of practice, and – when time permits – to attend breakout sessions…
Read MoreSTEM Female Bias Concerns in K-5
We all know women in STEM can be the victim of bias in college classrooms and employer conference rooms and labs. But a recent article in The New York Times points to research that suggests that this sort of gender bias might extend to the elementary school classroom. A study in Israel showed that teachers…
Read MoreNSF Shares Best Practices
The Department of Labor recently asked the National Science Foundation to provide technical assistance services to DOL “TAACCCT” grantees. (If you haven’t heard the term “TAACCCT,” the Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training grant program was established with the signature of President Barack Obama in early 2010. It set aside $2 billion, which…
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 MorePHOTOS: Working Connections Think Tank Track Cisco Tour
As part of the special “Think Tank” track of Summer Working Connections, a handful of lucky IT educators boarded a charter bus one hot Thursday afternoon and took a trip across town to visit the Cisco Systems campus in Richardson, Texas. Cisco executives graciously allowed this “Think Tank” group to visit two facilities, including the…
Read MoreWorking Connections Think Tank Track Review
What happens when you bring 17 educators together, mix in proven processes and tools and stir in a large dash of imagination and ideas? We call that “The Think Tank”! At the National CTC, we are often asked to share the processes and tools we have developed on business engagement, student recruitment and retention, faculty…
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