Welcome to the National Convergence Technology Center
The National Convergence Technology Center (CTC) helps colleges meet the fast-growing demand from business and industry seeking IT specialists (mobile networks, edge computing, private/public cloud computing, "Internet of Things," mobile device integration, storage and network virtualization, video and voice integration, all over a secure network). Specifically, the National CTC actively:
- Engages a Business and Industry Leadership Team (BILT) to identify needed skills that inform curriculum updates nationally.
- Invigorates faculty to teach emerging technologies through professional development.
- Provides virtual lab capability for students to reduce costs and increase availability.
- We implement best practices for recruiting, retaining and graduating underserved students.
- Uses stackable certificates and articulation agreements to increase the number of students completing certificates and degrees.
- Supports high schools, colleges, and universities nationally through the "Convergence College Network" (CCN) Community of Practice (CoP) whereby members share expertise with one another to improve their IT programs.
- Disseminate materials and processes via websites, webinars, conference presentations, social media, and white papers.
Department of labor FLEXTech apprenticeship & COLLIN COLLEGE CONTINUING EDUCATION
The IT Support Certificate program is a set of five continuing education courses which teach novices how to become IT support professionals in an accelerated time period of only a few months. The self-paced program includes online technical support as well as an online facilitator. Students must complete the program by Sept. 30, 2020.
The cost for the five-course certificate program is $179 and includes a Coursera license for the Google courses which normally costs $245, according to Dr. Ann Beheler, co-director of the FLEXTech grant and executive director of emerging technology grants at Collin College. “This program utilizes simulations and hands-on assessments to teach students how to troubleshoot as if they were on the job,” said Beheler. “IT support is one of the fastest growing jobs in the country, and businesses are looking for individuals with these skills.”
Interested? Please contact Tara Lewis, Program Career Coach at 469-365-1809 or click on the flier below for more information.
Businesses Help make graduates “workforce ready”
The Business & Industry Leadership Team (BILT) consists of executives and technicians, from both large corporations and small companies, that meet quarterly to ensure curriculum aligns with workforce demands.
Educators JOIN THE CONVERGENCE COLLEGE NETWORK
The Convergence College Network (CCN) is a select cohort of community colleges and universities from across the country that connects IT educators with a wealth of resources to enhance their programs.
Students Prepare for a career in IT
Driven by a growing emphasis on cloud computing, big data, and information security, the U.S. Department of Labor expects that computer and IT occupation employment will grow 13% from 2016 to 2026 and add over 540,000 new jobs.
STUDENT FEATURE: OLIVIA Carlisle
Olivia Hughes did not have a background in computers when she started going to the University of North Texas to be a material science major. “The high school I went to didn’t really have that big of a computer program,” Olivia said. “The computer class I took was basically just an amped up version of how to use Microsoft Word, so I barely had touched most computer things when I first started.”
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Eleven Things We Heard at WASTC
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