VCCS
IT
Newsletter
April, 2007
This is the second issue of the VCCS Information Technology E-Newsletter. Many of the 23 VCCS community colleges provided information on exciting accomplishments. I’m proud to be the developer of this on-line newsletter designed to share great ideas among the 23 VCCS colleges. This newsletter is made possible by a VCCS NSF Grant.
The next issue will be in August 2007.
April - August 2007
April 23, 2007 - Microsoft Office 2007 Workshop at VHCC
May 14-18, 2007 - Mid-Atlantic Working Connections in Radford University, Radford, VA
June 18-22, 2007 - Summer Camp - Girls Get IT Art & Animation at NRCC
June 25-29, 2007 - Object Oriented Programming Using Game Technologies for Teachers at Radford University
June 25-29, 2007 - Radford Summer Bridge Camp in IT and Math for High School Juniors and Seniors at Radford UniversityWeb Developer: Valerie Bird
Wytheville Community CollegeEdited by: Elizabeth Creamer
VCCS
Central Virginia Community College
CVCC signed an articulation agreement with Radford University
- On March 20, CVCC signed an agreement with Radford University that articulates the community college’s AAS in Information Systems Technology degree to Radford University. CVCC students who successfully complete their AAS IST degree at CVCC and who elect to take college transfer courses in English, math, and social science as well as taking Java can graduate from CVCC and then move on to completing their baccalaureate degree from Radford in two years. CVCC is currently working to establish similar articulation agreements with universities in the community college’s service region.
VCC is currently working to establish similar articulation agreements with universities in the community college’s service region.
- Janet Dunford
John Tyler Community College
ITE 115 in Peru!
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To bring the issue of globalization to technical education and to provide IT students with exposure to other cultures, the IST division at John Tyler CC is implementing a Study Abroad program. The first course to be offered through Study Abroad will be ITE 115. The course experience will be two weeks: one spent in class and the second spent in tours of Machu-Picchu and other sites of interest. The requirements to arrange such a trip are significant enough that the first class will not debut until Summer 2008.
The faculty group working on the Study Abroad program at JTCC has other ideas including a hybrid format in which a class taken on campus at the community college will include a one week experience abroad with travel taken during Spring Break. Since the IST department has been working on this concept, other departments have become interested in the concept including Nursing and Spanish.
IST faculty who are interested in developing an experience abroad should contact Patricia Silva-Santisteban at psilva@jtcc.edu.
- Patricia Silva-Santisteban
Lord Fairfax Community College
New Information Technology (IT) Career Pathways
- As a result of a VCCS NSF-sponsored grant (the Dominion TechWays initiative), LFCC had the opportunity to investigate new Information Technology (IT) career pathways. Based on the fact that IT is forecasted to be one of the fastest growing job sectors over the next 10 years and because, according to the Occupational Outlook Handbook 2006-07 Edition and the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics, jobs for Web designers/developers, system and network administrators, information security analysts and database administrators will increase more than 27 percent by the year 2014, the IST programs at LFCC were revised and three new IT career pathways were proposed in the areas of database administration, network engineering, and Web applications development. A new IT Curriculum Advisory Council was formed and, during meetings held in January 2006 and March 2007, members confirmed that realigning the programs to match needs in Web applications development, network engineering, and database administration along with increasing the number of general education credits required, gave LFCC a better match with current business and industry needs. Additionally, the model IT curriculum developed by the Association for Computing Machinery, Inc. (ACM) special interest group for IT education (SIGITE) was used to ensure that the revised programs were mapped to the national standards.
- Joan Osborne
New Marketing Plan
- LFCC is now offering four degrees and seven certificates covering all aspects of the above mentioned IT disciplines. In addition, a concerted effort is underway to market the new programs to prospective students in LFCC’s service area. A marketing plan has been generated and the fruits of that plan are now evident.. Faculty and staff have worked together to produce printed material for distribution and display at local businesses and they have produced a very classy website to inform prospective students of what LFCC offers in the way of IT-related degrees and certificates. The website is at http://www.lfcc.edu/IST . The faculty and administration at LFCC hope you will sign on, look it over, and tell your friends and neighbors.
- Joan Osborne
Authentic Learning at LFCC:
- The students currently enrolled in the Advanced Computer Applications & Integration (ITE 215) and the Advanced Office Integration (ITE 295) courses at Lord Fairfax Community college are taking an active part in authentic learning. All students are working with 3 problems presented to them via audio and video files. Students were placed into 2 teams and are tasked with using their existing skills to find and document workable solutions to the 3 problems. They are required to discuss the project using online discussion boards, blogs, and chats. Their solutions for this experience require not only the workable solution, but user documentation and a recorded presentation of the solution to the business partner, Marathon Bank. ITE 215 students were presented an additional authentic case from the LFCC Nursing Program. The program needed a solution that would track all applicants to the programs and included the application point assessment, demographics of the applicant, and provide statistical reporting. The students in ITE 215 worked on this case individually. A "best solution" will be selected by peers and will be presented to the business partner. One honor student in the ITE 295 course is experiencing authentic learning through an individual study as she is creating an automated inventory system for the Health Sciences Program at the Middletown campus of LFCC. This student is creating a solution that is currently being tested by faculty and will include a formal presentation, user documentation, and user training.
The ITE 215 and ITE 295 course are being taught during the Spring 2007 semester. They are being administered as Web-based courses using the Blackboard 7 e-learning system. This means that the students have not only had to learn about team-work but they have also had to learn how to work in virtual development teams to complete the authentic learning requirements. Authentic learning is not the only thing these students are working on, they must complete weekly chapter readings, practice quizzes, lectures, and hands-on assignments. By the end of the course, each student will complete at least two authentic learning exercises that they can place on their resumes.
Much of this authentic learning is being supported by VCCS NSF grant funds as a part of the VCCS Dominion TechWays initiative.
For information on Authentic Learning faculty workshops, contact Elizabeth Creamer at ecreamer@vccs.edu.
-Melissa Stange
New River Community College
Game Technology Faculty Training
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Carlotta Eaton presented the second statewide VCCS NSF Game Technology Faculty Training course for community college and high school faculty held February 7-9, 2007 in Richmond. Content included using Lego Robotics in CSC 200 to introduce programming to students, many of whom do not have programming experience before they enroll in college.
Software applications used in Game Technology were also introduced. The emphasis of the training was on team and project based learning.
Pictured at left is one robot built from new Lego Kits distributed as part of the faculty training course. This robot was built by Shane Francis, a game development and design student at NRCC. It includes voice, light and motion sensors. It walks and talks!
- Sandra Daniels
Programming competition at Radford University
- A two-student team from New River CC took third place in the statewide high school and community college Java programming competition at Radford University March 31, 2007. NRCC students Andrew Meeks and Brad McDarmont said the competition was tough. Andrew was impressed with the preparation and knowledge of the high school students. High school and community college teams form two separate levels of competition at the event.
Because New River CC was the only college sending a team to the game programming competition, the student team for that event was unable to compete against other teams. However, Joe Pahl, Kevin Allen and Gabriel Cziprusz were proud of the game they developed for the competition which many New Horizons participants saw displayed in the NRCC TIE finalists booth at the TIE reception during the recent VCCS New Horizons Conference.
- Sandra Daniels
International Game Developers Association
- Carlotta Eaton (NRCC) and Valerie Bird (WCC) are attending the IGDA meetings in Raleigh, NC supported by a VCCS NSF Grant. They attended the February 22, 2007 meeting and will be attending the April 24, 2007 meeting with several 'gaming' students from NRCC. NRCC has a Gaming Specialization and WCC will be incorporating 'gaming' concepts into their IST programming Courses. (The picture to the right include Valerie Bird, Carlotta Eaton, and Dana Crowley, IGDA Coordinator.)
- Carlotta Eaton
Girls Get IT Arts and Animation Camp
- Thanks to a VCCS Tech Prep supplemental grant, New River Community College will be holding a free Girls Get IT Arts and Animation Camp Monday through Friday, June 18-22, on the campus of New River CC. Girls who will be enrolled in Grades 9 through 12 in Fall 2007 and who live in the New River CC service region are eligible to enroll in the camp and can register on-line at www.spriteproject.org. Contact Carlotta Eaton at nreatoc@nr.edu for more information.
- Carlotta Eaton
Object Oriented Programming Using Game Technologies
- Working with Radford University, New River Community College's Carlotta Eaton has created a new course-Object Oriented Programming Using Game Technologies for Teachers-that will be offered June 25-29, 2007 at Radford University. The course provides high school teachers and other participants with two graduate credits and introduces new methods for teaching programming that have a proven track record in engaging and retaining students. For more information contact Ms. Eaton at nreatoc@nr.edu or Elizabeth Creamer at ecreamer@vccs.edu.
The course represents a first for the VCCS in that it was developed in response to the need to credential for teaching dual-enrollment a larger number of high school teachers than are currently credentialed. It also responds to a need for more object-oriented programming in the high school curriculum to align with college course work in IT. Additional courses will be forthcoming based on the evaluation of the impact of this course.
- Carlotta Eaton
Northern Virginia Community College
New AAS IT Degree
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The new AAS IT degree at NVCC that was mentioned in the last newsletter has been approved by the Curriculum Committee, Administrative Council and the College Board so we are good to go for fall 2007.
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Paula Worthington and Maria Rynn attended the 2007 Course Technology National Conference in Orlando, Florida in March. The conference presented many opportunities and hand-on sessions to get acquainted with Office 2007 and Vista. It was one of the best CT conferences that we have attended. Paula and I even won the raffle. Maria won a copy of Office 2007 Professional and Paula won a canvas bag. Of course, we wished we had won the portable DVD player or the MP3 player.
- Maria Rynn
Patrick Henry Community College
PHCC has approved a new specialization in Game Design and Development.
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A new grant-funded computer lab will house our new Microsoft IT Academy's gaming curriculum. The IT department is very excited about this new curriculum, which will target the local high school students who are natives to technology since birth. Video Game Design is featured by Yahoo as the 3rd brightest new career for ’07 and beyond. Other IST specializations at PHCC include Accounting Information Systems and Internet Services.
See http://education.yahoo.net/degrees/articles/featured_seven_bright_new_careers.html for more information.Sabena Carter and Marti Robertson attended the VCCS Game Technology Faculty Training held at NRCC in January 2007.
- Marti Robertson
Rappahannock Community College
New Tools for Just in Time Learning
- At the recent VCCS New Horizons Conference, RCC's Ruth Greene provided hands on training courses on the wonderful tool of Atomic Learning as a resource for integrating "just-in-time" learning in technology courses. Ruth also presented new Bb7 tutorials that she is using in classes in which students are acting as instructors for their peers.
Microsoft Tech Day at RCC
- RCC will hold a Microsoft Technology hands on workshop on May 2, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The trainer will be Corinne Hoisington (CVCC) who will introduce the new Vista and Office 2007 products. Contact rgreene@rcc.vccs.edu for more information.
RCC Summer Courses for Teachers
- RCC Adjunct Instructor Michael Greene is developing a Photoshop course designed to serve the needs of high school teachers. The training course will be offered in Summer 2007. Other courses to be offered as professional development to area teachers include Technology Tools for Teachers to be taught by Ruth Greene.
- Ruth Greene
Southwest Community College
MS-Office 2007 Pretest
- Southwest Virginia Community College participated in the Certiport pre-test assessment beta testing for the Microsoft® Office Word and Excel 2007. Seventy volunteer participants from the college received vouchers and were eligible to complete online pre-test assessments and surveys. Each person who successfully completed the requirements earned a free one GB thumb drive and a voucher for a Microsoft Office Specialist certification exam. Currently the college is participated in the Internet and Core Computing Certification World Cup 2007 contest. For more information visit http://www.certiport.com. Diana Stinson is the Certiport Site Manager at Southwest Virginia Community College and is working in the Business Division.
- Diana Stinson
Tidewater Community College
TCC participated in the IT Programming competition sponsored by Radford University.
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The college sent two teams to compete against other community colleges in the state. Altogether there were three community colleges in the competition, all from the VCCS. One of the TCC teams finished in first place, completing three programming problems in a total of three attempts. The members of the winning team were offered scholarships to attend Radford University and to study in the CS/IT program. Both of the team members - Scott Baumann and Joel Dominic - are first year programming students. Both are now planning to attend Radford when they graduate from TCC.
- Don Mendonsa
Virginia Highland Community College
Tech Prep Supplemental Grant received at VHCC
- The VHCC Tech Prep Consortium Leadership Team identified ITP 100: Software Design as a key course to be developed for dual enrollment instruction to attract new interest in IT careers among high school students and better prepare students for the rigors of programming courses at the college level. This new introduction to programming course will include a module on logic, a module on gaming, and a module on robotics, taught in a collaborative teamwork learning style. A recently awarded VCCS Tech Prep Supplemental Grant will fund the development of the ITP 100 class as a high school dual enrollment course and support the training of secondary school teachers beginning in April. ITP 100 will also be taught to upcoming high school juniors and seniors at the Governor’s School offered on VHCC’s campus this June. In addition, it has been included as an introductory course in both the Fast Track Program and as part of a new programming sequence offered within the IT curriculum. According to universities, this type of course—an introduction to programming that is programming language independent—increases student retention within the information technology program.
Radford University articulates Fast Track
- Radford University has proposed an articulated track for students who are enrolled in the Fast Track program at VHCC, MECC and SwVCC. The University outlined paths for each community college’s Fast Track program. Using the concept of transferring body of knowledge, the articulation facilitates completion of a first baccalaureate in a computer major and identifies ways that students who already hold a bachelors degree can achieve a second degree in IT. The Fast Track program was designed in response to new computer industries moving into a neighboring county and their need for a trained workforce.
Office 2007 and Vista Forum at VHCC
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The Center for Teaching Excellence Southwest Region, the Center for Business and Industry and the IT Department in conjunction with Course Technology will sponsor training in the new operating system and application software introduced by Microsoft. Corinne Hoisington, faculty member CVCC and a well known author and spokesperson for Microsoft, will share her expertise in this one-day hands-on event to prepare participants to make the transition to Microsoft Office 2007, Vista, OneNote, Groove, and Designer 2007. This exciting event will be offered on April 23, 2007 at VHCC.
- Mary Sullivan and Alma Rowland
Virginia Western Community College
VWCC receives a Chancellor's E-learning Enhancement and Development (CEED)
- Virginia Western Community College was awarded one of the Chancellor’s CEED grants for the spring semester of 2007 for a proposal
called Don’t Recreate the Wheel! Pilot Project for Leveraging Existing and Future E-Learning Credit Course Materials for Adaptation to the Workforce Development Environment. This is a very exciting idea! VCCS faculty are currently creating many credit e-learning classes, the material of which could also be utilized for noncredit distance learning Workforce training. So why not develop materials for both at the same time? In the current concept, a faculty member would decide to create a new credit distance learning class or to overhaul an existing one. The faculty member would design their credit class and at the same time fit a subset of the material (about one credit or 12 hours of training) into a standard template for a Workforce course. This Workforce course would be placed in a statewide library for use by the Workforce Development branches at all 23 colleges. The faculty member would get a stipend for creating the class. For more information (or to participate in the extension of the project) email Diane Wolff at dwolff@vw.vccs.edu.
- Diane Wolff
VWCC adjusts ITN 101 Introduction to Networking to reflect current networking trends.
- Starting in Fall 2007, VWCC's ITN 101 will drop the Novell Unit. This subject matter consumed approximately 20% of the lecture content. It will be replaced with a more detailed discussion on wireless technology. This change will bring the course content more in line with what's being used by business and industry in the area. The 3 – 4 hour unit is currently being developed by Jerry Schenkel and Josh Kiker. Josh is a student in an ITP capstone course. The learning unit will consist of written text in PDF format, Power Point slides with commentary and podcasts. Completion date will be May 1st, 2007.
- Jerry Schenkel
VWCC creates new Mobile Programming Career Studies Certificate.
- VWCC recently added a new program of studies to its offerings. The new Mobile Programming Career Studies Certificate program will give students the skill sets needed to program mobile devices such as laptops, Blackberries, Smart Phones, and PDAs. The program of 8 courses covers mobile design principles, Java ME, VB.NET Mobile, and remote database connectivity. This program will meet the growing demand for professionals that can develop well designed applications for the wireless industry.
- Gilbert Armour
VWCC Professor Featured in the Blue Ridge Business Journal.
- Dr. Diane Wolff of VWCC was featured in the March 12, 2007 issue of Blue Ridge Business Journal. The article highlighted the college’s new Mobile Programming Career Studies Certificate program that will offer its first class this summer. Dr. Wolff has been instrumental in bringing this new program to life at the college.
- Gilbert Armour
Wytheville Community College
WCC Marketing in High Schools
- A VCCS NSF Grant permitted Valerie Bird to give a presentation to area high schools. This presentation concentrated on explaining WCC's IST degrees, articulation agreements with universities and colleges, and computer careers. The purpose was to recruit students to WCC's IST degrees.. The career that "lights up" student's eyes is 'gaming'. WCC’s IST Degree will have ‘gaming concepts’ along with 'business applications' incorporated within all the programming courses. A 'gaming' course will be offered at WCC this summer. Newspaper and radio announcements are also recruiting students to WCC. The picture to the right includes Valerie Bird, Rene Bombe, Kelsey Goad, Jennifer Horton, and Lucas Marshall (students from Carroll County High School FBLA).
- Valerie Bird attended the VCCS NSF Game Technology Faculty Training at NRCC in January 2007.
- Valerie Bird
WCC Students Striving for Certifications.
- WCC Students are studying for their IST courses at WCC; however, they are also excited about studying for national computer certifications (IC3, MOS, A+, Network+, CIW, MCDST, and Java Associate). WCC posts the names
of those earning certifications on the department bulletin board to encourage others to pass the exams.
- Valerie Bird
WCC Students get jobs!
- The IST program at WCC in designed to provide students with both the technical and business skills necessary to effectively compete in today’s highly competitive workforce. Employers today are looking for well rounded employees who can not only use their technical skills to solve problems but who can effectively communicate and work in a team environment.
Students completing their studies in Information Systems Technology at Wytheville Community College are finding employment in a number of different businesses and industries in Southwest Virginia through the capstone internship program. This program allows students to actually work as an information technology specialist with local companies during their last semester of study and demonstrate their ability to perform a wide variety of problem solving skills to potential employers. Many of these companies have then offered full time employment to these interns upon graduation — in health care, manufacturing, retailing and education — to these interns upon their graduation from WCC. Several students have even used their education and internship experience to launch their own businesses. A wide range of employment opportunities are available to students who master the problem solving skills that are offered at Wytheville Community College in the Information Systems Technology program.
- Rick Wolfe
IT Leads
- The VCCS IT Faculty Leads met on Saturday, March 31 in conjunction with the VCCS New Horizons Conference. Elections were held for officers to lead the group for the period April 2007 to August 2008. Elected at the meeting were Joan Osborne from LFCC (Chairperson), Maria Rynn from NVCC (Course Review), and Connie Leathers from NRCC (Reporter). Congratulations and thanks to the new officers!
- Elizabeth Creamer
VCCS
Technology in Education Leadership Award
- Congratulations to New River Community College and VCCS National Science Foundation Regional Faculty Leader Carlotta Eaton for winning the VCCS Technology in Education Leadership Award at the New Horizons Conference held March 29-31, 2007 at the Hotel Roanoke, Roanoke, VA. The award was presented to Carlotta and her team comprised of Valerie Bird (WCC), Shawn Lupoli (NRCC), Jeff Levy (NRCC), Sandra Daniels (NRCC), and Elizabeth Creamer (VCCS). (The picture to the right includes Jeff Levy, Valerie Bird, Sandra Daniels, Carlotta Eaton, and Chancellor Glenn DuBois.)
The award was for Gaming Technologies, Robotics, and Articulation of IT Programs to Radford University. In 2005-06, the team produced new Computer Gaming specializations for NRCC IT and CADD degree programs; Lego Robotics curriculum and labs; an IT careers and cyber ethics course, the first VCCS IT faculty newsletter, and faculty and teacher training in computer gaming and robotics technologies.
Tuition and Registration Scholarships
- The VCCS is currently sponsoring graduate tuition and/or conference registration fees for full time and adjunct VCCS IT Faculty to attend the 2007 Working Connections to be held May 14-18 at Radford University. This year's event includes 3 and 5 day credit and non-credit courses in Simulation and Game Development, Teaching Object Oriented Programming Using Game Technologies, Computer Forensics, Office 2007 and Vista, Vista Security, New Media Technologies in the Classroom, Java, Linux, SQL, and more...
One three day session-Take on the Latest Technologies-provides a hands on workshop in blogs, videocasts, and podcasts.
For information on Working Connections, contact Michael Peterson at mpeterson20@radford.edu.
Summer Bridge Program
- The VCCS National Science Foundation project is a co-sponsor of a Summer Bridge Program to be held Monday through Friday, June 25-29, on the campus of Radford University. The program is designed for young women who will be high school juniors and seniors in Fall 2007. Students will choose two of eight program tracks related to Information Technology and Mathematics and will work in teams on projects throughout the camp. University and community college faculty will teach the camp's workshops and provide career pathways and college admissions information to students. Students will also work with career coaches during the one week residential camp. Students will be housed in dormitories at Radford University. Female students in public and private high schools with an interest in math, science, and technology are invited to apply. For more information, contact Michael Peterson at mpeterson20@radford.edu or Elizabeth Creamer at ecreamer@vccs.edu.
Deadline for registration is April 20. Family members of VCCS and college employees are welcome to apply.
- Elizabeth Creamer, VCCS
Mid-Atlantic Working Connections
- The 5th annual Mid-Atlantic Working Connections Summer Institute is just around the corner. It isn’t too late if you haven’t registered yet; just visit our website to see what is offered. www.mid-atlanticwc.com The extended sessions on the 19th have openings so if you are planning to attend, revisit your 123Registration and think about staying one more night and get some hands-on experience to take back to the classroom. We are always looking to the future, so as we plan for the 2008 event, please forward any suggestions for topics to me: mpeterson20@radford.edu
- Mike Peterson, Mid-Atlantic Working Connections
Radford University
Articulation, Faculty Professional Development, and More…
- Radford University’s College of Information Science & Technology continues to update and create articulation agreements with its VCCS partners. As a result of interest in Abingdon and Roanoke, an undergraduate cohort group will start Fall 2007 to serve students who want to complete their baccalaureate degree at a distance. ITEC Distance Completion
- As for you the faculty, do you need additional graduate level credits in Information Technology to meet SACS accreditation? Do you anticipate teaching dual-enrollment classes in IT? If so, two opportunities exist for graduate work completion – Information Technology Post-baccalaureate Certificate & MS in Education with Information Technology as the content area. ITEC Concentration Both of these programs will be completed via distance technology. Please contact Joe Chase (jchase@radford.edu) Acting Dean of the CIST, RU if you have any questions about these opportunities.
- Mike Peterson