Uncategorized Archives - Page 2 of 15 - National Convergence Technology Center

Nine IT Employer Perspectives

By Mark Dempsey | June 12, 2023

A BILT member references the KSA list as he gives remarks on the results of the May 2023 KSA vote - this meet was held in the Collin College conference center at the Frisco campus.

The National Convergence Technology Center (CTC) recently convened its Business and Industry Leadership Team (BILT) for its spring quarterly meeting. A portion of this meeting was spent discussing both current challenges and emerging trends in the IT workplace. Ideally, you’re already doing this with your employer council – setting aside time on the meeting agenda…

Next two free Brown Bag webinars for IT faculty scheduled

By Mark Dempsey | May 22, 2023

To close out the spring term, the National Convergence Technology Center (CTC) has two more “Brown Bag” webinars scheduled. First launched in 2020, the Brown Bag series offers special topic presentations via bite-sized, 30-minute segments on both technical and “soft” topics. To date, these webinars have been attended “live” by close to 500 people with…

BILT Summit was a smash success

By Mark Dempsey | May 15, 2023

Employer members of the National CTC's BILT (Business and Industry Leadership Team) attend a job skills vote meeting. Behind them in the conferene room are faculty and administrator attendees at the BILT Summit workshop.

Earlier this month the National Convergence Technology Center (CTC) convened a free two-day workshop on the essentials of the BILT (Business and Industry Leadership Team) Model. This “BILT Summit” welcomed 43 faculty and administrators from 18 schools across 9 states to the Frisco, Texas campus of Collin College. Interest in the event was overwhelming –…

Join the CTC at HITEC in Atlanta

By Mark Dempsey | May 1, 2023

NSF grant PIs gather around a big birthday cake, celebrating the 10th birthday of the HITEC conference.

As usual, the National Convergence Technology Center (CTC) will have a huge presence at the upcoming High Impact Technology Exchange Conference (HITEC). This year’s conference will be held in Atlanta July 24-27. HI-TEC – supported by the National Science Foundation – is a national conference on advanced technological education where secondary and postsecondary educators, counselors,…

Summer Working Connections registration opens Wednesday

By Mark Dempsey | April 17, 2023

Faculty attendees at Summer Working Connections in July 2019 talk with their track instructor in a Collin College PC lab classroom.

This week, the National Convergence Technology Center (CTC) will launch registration for Summer Working Connections on Wednesday morning, April 19. For the first time, we’ll be hosting two weeks of Working Connections – an in-person week here at Collin College north of Dallas July 10-14 and then an all online week July 17-21. Regular blog…

What do you know about ChatGPT?

By Mark Dempsey | April 10, 2023

Close-up of a white neon "chat bubble" graphic.

A recent meeting of the National CTC’s BILT (Business and Industry Leadership Team) featured a presentation from Miami Dade College faculty member George Gabb on ChatGPT, the advanced natural language processing AI model developed by OpenAI that uses deep learning techniques to generate human-like text. To train this model took as much power as needed…

Offering programs to incarcerated students

By Mark Dempsey | April 3, 2023

Stock photo of empty studnet desks in a classroom.

The National Convergence Technology Center’s (CTC) most recent “Brown Bag” webinar featured a look at how Sinclair Community College offers a wide range of classes in prisons throughout the state of Ohio. The presenters were Kyle Jones, Chair and Associate Professor of Sinclair’s Computer Information Services department who’s worked in the IT field for over…

Twelve Things We Heard at the Innovations Conference

By Mark Dempsey | March 21, 2023

Photo of the outdoor hotel courtyard - with palm trees - that hosted the March 2023 Innovations conference.

The National Convergence Technology Center (CTC) recently attended the first League of Innovations conference held in-person since March 2020 in Tempe, Arizona. CTC staff delivered two breakout sessions – one on implementing the BILT (Business and Industry Leadership Team) model to energize a program’s relationship with employers and one on sharing best practices for hosting…

Tracking the lasting impacts of Summer Working Connections

By Mark Dempsey | March 20, 2023

A faculty students sits at a computer work station configuring a Raspberry Pi at Summer Working Connections in July 2022.

The National Convergence Technology Center (CTC) recently conducted its annual longitudinal survey of attendees from the past three years of Summer Working Connections events. For those who may not know, each July, Working Connections offers cutting-edge, cost-effective professional development opportunities to current IT faculty. This helps teachers get the newest technologies and latest industry trends…

Social media successes

By Mark Dempsey | February 27, 2023

Stock photo of a hand holding a smartphone that's displaying a number of social media app icons on the home screen.

The National Convergence Technology Center (CTC) uses a number of digital tools in pursuing its grant goal of disseminating and sharing resources and best practices. Because spring is always “reporting season,” the CTC staff has been looking back at 2022 activities and events. That work includes an in-depth exploration of online and social media traffic.…