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Learn more about the BILT in Texas

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If you’re familiar at all with the National Convergence Technology Center (CTC), then you know how important the BILT (Business and Industry Leadership Team) Model is. Recommendations and feedback from the National CTC’s BILT form the cornerstone of all of the grant’s work. Put simply, the BILT Model offers a structured approach to engage employers…

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Are you teaching your students RPA?

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The National Convergence Technology Center’s (CTC) most recent “Brown Bag” webinar featured a look at robotic process automation (RPA). The presenter was Dr. Rajiv Malkan, a Professor in the Computer and Information Technology Department of Lone Star College, Montgomery in Houston with over 30 years of leadership contributions in higher education within multiple settings and…

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Portfolios can help students get hired

Two students in a UNT capstone classroom look at a computer screen.

From Spring 2019 to Fall 2021, the National CTC led a pilot program to determine whether applicants that go into a job interview with an e-portfolio of their work stand a better chance of getting hired than those without an e-portfolio. Eight colleges participated, teaching the same content across multiple classes. Faculty and students were…

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Nine Things We Heard at WASTC

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The National Convergence Technology Center (CTC) recently delivered a presentation at the virtual WASTC Winter ICT Educators conference that discussed best practices for hosting professional development events – you can download our slide deck here. (The CTC’s sister grant “IT Skill Standards 2020 and Beyond” also did a presentation on engaging employers to align curriculum…

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Friday Workshops Return for Spring 2023

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This spring, the National Convergence Technology Center (CTC) will host another round of its popular Friday Workshops series, which deliver cutting-edge professional development for IT faculty nationwide. The Friday Workshop series was developed as a companion to the long-running Working Connections professional development series. But whereas Working Connections runs across consecutive days, the Friday Workshops…

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Demonstrating Jupyter Notebook and JupyterLab

Stock image of business person using a laptop - on the laptop screen is the CTC's Brown Bag webinar logo.

The National Convergence Technology Center’s (CTC) recently hosted a “Brown Bag” webinar on the topic of Jupyter Notebook and JupyterLab. The presenter was Adam Richardson, an assistant professor of cybersecurity at Lansing Community College, a founding member of the Capital Area IT Council Cyber Security Group, an advisor for the LCC AI Club, and a…

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“BILT Model” Featured in NCPN Newsletter

Employers sit at tables and chairs in a Collin College classroom to discuss IT entry-level job skills.

Last fall, the National Convergence Technology Center (CTC) attended the National Career Pathways Network (NCPN) conference in Atlanta and delivered a presentation entitled “Employer Strategies for Managing Successful Employer Councils.” This session introduced attendees to the concept the Business and Industry Leadership Team – “BILT” for short. As you know, recommendations and insights provided by…

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Plug into a national network of IT faculty

Group photo of CCN educators posed on a Collin Colleg stairwell during the July 2019 in-person meeting.

The National Convergence Technology Center (CTC) is looking for new member institutions to join the Convergence College Network (CCN), an IT educator community of practice. As of now, the CCN consists of 94 institutions across 34 states – 88 community colleges, ten universities, and one high school. We want to get that number to 100!…

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Eleven Industry Perspectives from IT Employers

The National Convergence Technology Center (CTC) recently convened its Business and Industry Leadership Team (BILT) for the last quarterly meeting of 2022. BILT meetings offer a forum for employers to share with educators their perspectives on industry trends – both what’s happening now and what they expect to happen soon. The goal is for these…

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Are you providing virtual labs to your IT students?

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The National Convergence Technology Center’s (CTC) recently hosted a “Brown Bag” webinar on the topic of virtual labs. The presenter was Bill Saichek, an experienced IT curriculum developer, and instructor who’s worked closely with NDG for over ten years installing virtual lab infrastructure and authoring curriculum. Bill presented an overview of NDG’s NetLab virtual lab…

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