Posts by Connected Tech
Student Feature: Daquon Brice
Meet Daquon Brice. Heʼs pursuing an Associates Degree in IT with a concentration in User Support at Sinclair Community College in Dayton, Ohio. It should come as no surprise that he would pursue technology. Even as a kid, Daquon was interested in computers. “I feel like Iʼve grown up in a very interesting period of…
Read MoreAll about the ATE Program
The National Convergence Technology Center (CTC) is an ATE Center. That is, the National CTC is an Advanced Technological Education (ATE) center funded by the National Science Foundation. The National CTC, hosted by Collin College in Frisco, Texas, is one of many such ATE centers and projects at community colleges around the country devoted to…
Read MoreSeven Fascinating Things We Heard at WASTC
The National Convergence Technology Center (CTC) recently attended the WASTC Winter ICT Educators conference and gave a breakout presentation on its Business and Industry Leadership Team (BILT) model. Regular blog readers know that the BILT model energizes the relationship between educators and business leaders by encouraging a partnership that allows a better alignment of curriculum…
Read MoreDid You Miss These Posts From 2017?
As 2017 comes to a close, the National Convergence Technology Center (CTC) wanted to take a moment to look back at the many topics and events and resources covered in its blog. In 2017, the National CTC posted over 40 blog entries. Using Google Analytics, the 15 posts below were identified as the most popular…
Read MoreIT Community, Are You Sharing?
One of the most popular features of regular web meetings the National Convergence Technology Center (CTC) hosts for its Convergence College Network (CCN) community is “member sharing.” Many CCN meetings feature group discussions or a detailed delivery of grant information and resources. But at a recent CCN web meeting, the agenda was driven almost completely…
Read MoreStudent Feature: Chidera Obinali
As a young girl, Chidera Obinali got her first taste of technology through playing an online virtual pet environment game, known as NeoPets. “They have little pages where you code HTML and CSS within NeoPets,” Chidera explained. She made friends all over the world through the game. “I would join guilds that were all based…
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 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 MoreStudent Feature: Michael Cyrus
After being fed up with a slew of dead-end, low-paying jobs in everything from the retail and food industries to moving companies and foundation repair, Collin College student Michael Cyrus picked up a book on ethical hacking. He couldn’t put it down and immediately after went online to look for colleges that offered a cybersecurity…
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