Posts by Mark Dempsey
Four Things We Learned at the 2015 “HoNeST” Conference
We recently spent a day on the Ericsson campus in Plano, Texas attending the “Hot Topics in Networking and Security” conference, cleverly shortened to the acronym “HoNeST.” This event was coordinated by the University of North Texas’ Department of Computer Science and Engineering and featured both academic perspectives on networking and security as well as…
Read MoreWearing Tech on Your Sleeve
At a recent meeting of the National Convergence Technology Center’s (CTC) national Business and Industry Leadership Team (BILT), the subject of wearable technology came up. The consensus among this esteemed group is that the sky is the limit for that side of the IT industry, which means plenty of opportunities for IT students. More and…
Read MoreAbout Virtual Internships
A unique “virtual internship” model has been a hot topic of late at the National Convergence Technology Center (CTC) and principal investigator Ann Beheler touts the value of Virtual internships every chance she gets. While the model was developed for an IT curriculum, it could be used in most any discipline. Internships, as we all…
Read MoreOutside-the-Box Marketing
One discussion at a recent conference call meeting of the Convergence College Network (CCN) involved creative marketing strategies. Every IT program needs to attract students and keep them enrolled, but there’s not always a surplus of budget money or marketing personnel available to help with those efforts. In hearing some of the clever ways our…
Read MoreFVTC’s Focus Magazine profiles IT student
Statistics and numbers can be impressive when showing how the National Convergence Technology Center (CTC) impacts classrooms and students. But it’s always the personal stories that resonate best. Even the no-nonsense members of our Business and Industry Leadership Team (BILT) sit up and take notice when we deliver a compelling story of how IT education…
Read MoreTen Things We Learned at MPICT 2015
I spent two days at the Winter 2015 ICT Educator Conference in San Francisco recently. In between my usual administrative duties, I was able to attend several conference breakout sessions that covered a variety of topics, from program development and best practices to the basics of cloud computing and cyberforensics. Below are ten things I…
Read MoreStudent Portfolios Matter
A long-repeated request of our national Business and Industry Leadership Team (BILT) has been to get community college students to develop a strong portfolio for job interviews. We’re told that job interviews in the IT industry are not just about resumes and Q&A. Hiring managers want to see vivid examples of the interviewee’s work, understand…
Read MoreThe SDN Revolution
The National Convergence Technology Center (CTC) meets quarterly with a Business and Industry Leadership Team (BILT) to help steer program curriculum. The meetings often involve a passionate discussion of current trends. The group isn’t always in agreement on what’s relevant to our community college students. But time and again, the BILT has proven its collective…
Read MoreWill “V2V” be the next IT buzzterm?
Image Credit: Wikipedia Self-driving cars may still seem like the stuff of science fiction (or maybe exotic Google R&D tests on the faraway streets of San Francisco), but a conference entitled the World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems was recently held in Detroit. It’s the 21st year of the conference. That means while we…
Read MoreThe Importance of Soft Skills
The National Convergence Technology Center (CTC) often hears esteemed members of its Business and Industry Leadership Team (BILT) express concern about a lack of “soft skills” among new hires. Employees with fresh community college degrees and certificates almost always have considerable technical competency and know-how. But they sometimes lack abilities that don’t easily fit into…
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