A Virtual Conference Exhibit Booth

National Convergence Technology Center (CTC) grant staff recently attended the High Impact Technology Exchange Conference (HI-TEC) in Miami. It’s a great conference packed full of engaging presentations and lively networking opportunities. In addition to participating in several breakout session presentations, hosting a pre-conference workshop, and supporting the attendance of IT faculty from select Convergence College Network (CCN) organizations, the National CTC also staffed an exhibit hall booth at HI-TEC to further its disseminate resources and best practices.

For those who couldn’t join us in Miami, below is a virtual representation of what you would have seen and picked up at our booth.

1. These Centers Collaborative for Technical Assistance (CCTA) folders contain twelve different best practice handouts covering variety of topics, including internships, outreach, and evaluation. You can find all of these as PDFs here. You can also access recordings of past technical webinars here. The CCTA was created in response to a request from the Department of Labor (DOL) to the National Science Foundation to have Advanced Technological Education (ATE) centers like the National CTC provide technical assistance services to DOL TAACCCT grantees.

2. This Save the Date postcard announces future dates for Working Connections, which are special IT faculty professional development events. Working Connections offer several tracks that cover the most in-demand topics in IT (click here to learn more about the July 2018 event). The goal of Working Connections is to provide attendees with the expertise needed to teach their respective track in a subsequent semester, bringing the most current information to their classrooms either as a stand-alone course or as supplemental information to an existing course. Winter Working Connections will be held on-line December 17-19, 2018. The next in-person summer event will be held in Frisco, Texas at Collin College, July 8-12, 2019. To be added to the invitation list, please email NationalCTC@collin.edu.

3. This green and white University of North Texas Information Technology brochure provides an overview of the school’s Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in IT (B.A. IT), which has been developed with the support of the National CTC. This degree is unique in that technical students who complete the requirements for anIT degree at a two-year community college may be able to transfer to UNT and complete a BA-IT degree. This degree demands fewer math and science requirements than a traditional Computer Science degree. That allows more room for the transfer of workforce-type IT courses from community colleges. You can learn more by viewing a recent webinar that discusses the BAIT in more detail here

4. This Get Connected handout offers a short primer on three components of the National CTC’s grant mission: professional development for faculty, program co-leadership of IT business and industry experts, and a community of practice that shares resources and know-how. This overview is always a popular handout at conference booths for attendees who are already overburdened with brochures and flyers and books.

5. The Working Connections is worth your budget dollars handout was developed to explain the value of the Working Connections training. The National CTC pays for Working Connections tuition costs and helps with some limited travel reimbursements, but attendees typically have to pay for most – if not all – of their travel costs. Because college professional development budgets can be stretched so thin, this handout is an attempt to persuade administrators that Working Connections delivers real impact to student success.

6. This Integrated Technologies Programs handout grid explains the courses included in Collin College’s AAS degree and four certificates. This is always useful at conference booths when someone asks what sort of IT and computer classes is included in the term “convergence.” Every college IT programs is different, but this handout offers a representative overview.

7. The Inside Look at the Business and Industry Leadership Team  brochure has quickly become one of the National CTC’s most popular handouts, delivering a short description for the essential elements and guiding principles of the “BILT model” that asks business and industry experts to co-lead a program. The brochure also features a comparison grid that illustrates how a BILT can differ from a more traditional business advisory council. You can learn more about the BILT model by viewing a recent webinar.

8. The National CTC brochure provides a deeper dive into the grant mission, successes, and strategies than the “Get Connected” flyer can provide. The brochure features, among other things, faculty testimonials regarding Working Connections and short biographies of successful students. If you would like a hard copy mailed to you, please send your request to NationalCTC@collin.edu.

9. This small laminator has proven to be a great tool to persuade conference-goers to stop at the National CTC booth. While they wait, a business card can be turned into a laminated luggage tag, complete with bright green (or yellow) National CTC branding. Now every time their bag is checked or dragged off of the claim carousel, they will think of us. 

You can also take a look at many of the HI-TEC conference presentation slide decks and conference photos here. The 2019 conference will be held at the Hyatt Regency St Louis from July 22-25.   Mark your calendars now!