One of the National CTC's grant goals is to connect high schools to community colleges and universities and develop 2+2+2 pathways. To that end, the National CTC wishes to leverage its existing work to better support high school IT programs and engage high school faculty and administrators.

These tools and resouces are divided below into three categories: growing instructor skills, providing classroom resources, and expanding student outlooks on IT pathways and careers.

Learn more about the National CTC here: https://connectedtech.org/.

High school faculty and administrators, if you have limited time, focus first on these three resources:

1. Faculty professional development: IT industry trends one-page summary
seven_it_trends_-_summer_2021.pdf
it_trends_fall_2021.pdf
trends_spring_2022.pdf
it_trends_fall_2022.pdf
it_trends_winter_2022.pdf

2. Faculty professional development: special topic “Brown Bag” webinars (30 minutes each)
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhOgrYIdccUleQT-3OLVc1pFXGVl2ZZp4

3. Career outlook for students: four IT professionals inteviews (5 minutes each)
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhOgrYIdccUmtUOOSztbhKBgUpPAf6IhB

Professional development events - The National CTC hosts a number of free professional development events for IT faculty.

The largest of these are the Working Connections events - five days in July (online and in person) and three days online in December. Working Connections makes the newest technologies and industry trends available to attendees, while also encouraging the kind of networking and collaboration among educational leaders that can strengthen any IT program. 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 school either as a stand-alone course or as supplemental information to an existing course.

To join the invite list for Working Connections and other professional development events, sign up for our newsletter.

“Expert” webinars and videos - Shorter videos on IT trends and classroom strategies that might be useful for faculty.

• “5G – Next Generation Mobile” webinar (23 min, Aug 2020)
• “Blue Collar AI” keynote (20 min, Feb 2021)
• “Competencies for a Career-Ready Workforce” presentation (13 min, July 2022)
• “CyberPatriot: The National Cyber Education Program” webinar (30 min, Dec 2021)
• “The Data Age Is Here. Are You Ready?” Splunk keynote (20 min, July 2021)
• “Developing and Hosting Your Own Cybersecurity Competition” keynote (30 min, Dec 2021)
• “Essential Strategies for Successful Social Media” webinar (25 min, Sept 2022)
• “How to Bring Practical AI to the Community College” webinar (30 min, Feb 2021)
• “Integrating the Raspberry Pi into Your IT Program” webinar (30 min, Apr 2021)
• “Interplanetary Internet” keynote (20 min, July 2020)
• “Introduction to Jupyter Notebook and JupyterLab” webinar (27 min, Dec 2022)
• “Lights! Camera! Education” webinar (30 min, Apr 2022)
• “Perspectives on Using Student Portfolios” video (5 min, fall 2021)
• “Quantum 101” webinar (24 min, Oct 2022)
• “Robotic Process Automation (RPA): A Primer” webinar (27 min, Jan 2023)
• “Understanding the Impact of Edge Computing in the United States” webinar (25 min, Oct 2020)
• “A Very Quick Introduction to Cryptocurrencies, Blockchains, and Smart Contracts” webinar (30 min, Sept 2021)

BILT content - The National CTC convenes its BILT (Business and Industry Leadership Team) once a quarter to discuss industry trends, forecast labor market demand, and identify entry-level job skills. Learn more about the BILT model here.

• One-page summaries of workforce trends identified by the National CTC's BILT is available for download.
  December 2022 BILT trends it_trends_winter_2022.pdf
  August 2022 BILT trends - it_trends_fall_2022.pdf
  February 2022 BILT trends - trends_spring_2022.pdf
  November 2021 BILT trends - it_trends_fall_2021.pdf
  May/August 2021 BILT trends - seven_it_trends_-_summer_2021.pdf
• High school members of the Convergence College Network (CCN) community can attend the quarterly BILT meetings. These meetings are typically scheduled at 8:30am Central on the second Tuesday of February, May, August, and November. Learn more about the CCN here and download an application to join the CCN here.

Faculty sharing - The Convergence College Network (CCN) community convenes quarterly to share resources and know-how. High school members of the CCN can attend these meetings - and access recordings, handouts, and meeting minutes if they cannot attend “live” - to connect with like-minded educators and strengthen their program. Learn more about the CCN here and download an application to join the CCN here.

Expert webinars and videos - Shorter videos on IT trends and employer perspectives that might be useful for classroom discussion or homework.

• “5G – Next Generation Mobile” webinar (23 min, Aug 2020)
• “Avoiding LinkedIn Blunders” webinar (30 min, Dec 2020)
• “Interplanetary Internet” keynote (20 min, July 2020)
• “IT Portfolio Redoux” webinar (20 min, Aug 2020)
• IT Professional Inteviews - “What was your first job in IT?” video (5 min, fall 2020)
• IT Professional Inteviews - “What advice would you give a current student?” video (5 min, fall 2020)
• IT Professional Inteviews - “What's the difference between technical skills and soft skils?” video (5 min, fall 2020)
• IT Professional Inteviews - “What skills or practices would get someone hired?” video (5 min, fall 2020)
• “Providing IT in a Crisis” webinar (30 min, Nov 2020)
• “Understanding the Impact of Edge Computing in the United States” webinar (25 min, Oct 2020)
• “A Very Quick Introduction to Cryptocurrencies, Blockchains, and Smart Contracts” webinar (30 min, Sept 2021)

Virtual labs - High school members of the Convergence College Network (CCN) community can receive free access to virtual labs supporting A+, Network+, and Security+. Learn more about the CCN here and download an application to join the CCN here.

This 13-minute video explains the benefits of virtual labs and demos the NetLab system.

Panels with employers - The National CTC is open to helping coordinate and host live Zoom panel session with select BILT member employers. This event would be allow high school students to hear directly from IT industry experts on career pathways and workforce needs. If this is of interest, email us at nationalCTC@collin.edu.