| NSF Org: |
DUE Division Of Undergraduate Education |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | April 21, 2017 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | July 16, 2023 |
| Award Number: | 1700530 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
R. Corby Hovis
chovis@nsf.gov (703)292-4625 DUE Division Of Undergraduate Education EDU Directorate for STEM Education |
| Start Date: | July 1, 2017 |
| End Date: | September 30, 2023 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $3,994,693.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $3,994,693.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
3452 SPUR 399 MCKINNEY TX US 75069-8742 (972)758-3804 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
TX US 75035-2117 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | Advanced Tech Education Prog |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.076 |
ABSTRACT
The National Convergence Technology Center (CTC) Business and Industry Leadership Team (BILT) and a report from McKinsey & Company on disruptive technologies note that the Information Technology and Communications (IT) industry will undergo sweeping technology changes over the next 1-6 years due to accelerated automation (often linked to "the cloud") and the Internet of Things (IoT). These changes will require IT professionals to work with Software Defined Networks (SDN) and edge computing (to allow data to be analyzed closer to the source), thus requiring them to have some programming skills. There will be on-going demand for entry-level IT workers graduating from community colleges nationally, but industry will require graduates with higher-level infrastructure skills and some programming and cybersecurity knowledge and skills in addition to standard foundational IT skills.
The CTC focuses on leading national efforts to ensure that students are prepared with up-to-date IT skills to be highly employable upon completion of a two-year degree. CTC will address curricular needs required by extensive changes expected in the industry, create new business-led regional hubs (r-hubs) of influence to broaden dissemination and sustainability, create and disseminate IT skill standards authored by the BILT, and provide products and services required to implement and support programmatic changes in community and technical college IT programs to promote graduates' success. CTC has built a Community of Practice (CCN) that currently has 57 community college and university members that meet quarterly and participate actively in the work of the Center. The CCN will be expanded to add high schools and more universities to bolster support for 2+2+2 agreements. CTC will collaborate with other Centers/Projects to share curriculum, diversity-building materials and other products. All curriculum, labs, training, and other models (e.g. BILT model, student portfolios) will be disseminated via social media and through events at the CTC and r-hub institutions to community colleges, high schools, and universities nationally.
PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
The National Convergence Technology Center, based at Collin College, led efforts in the area of Information Technology (IT) infrastructure management and engineering (aka networking plus cloud) for approximately eleven years, sunsetting on 9/30/23. Sub-awardee partners included Lone Star College (TX), Lansing Community College (MI), Sinclair College (OH), Florida State College, Jacksonville (FL), The University of North Texas (TX), and Georgia Southern University (GA). Major outcomes included development and dissemination of the high employer engagement model called the Business & Industry Leadership Team (BILT); expansion and refinement of faculty professional development events through the Working Connections IT Faculty Development Institute (WC); and development of a committed and engaged Convergence College Network (CCN) of nationwide faculty dedicated to helping one another in a true Community of Practice. Dissemination of best practices was also a major emphasis throughout.
The BILT model is a structured, repeatable co-leadership process that consists of an annual voting event whereby employers determine granular knowledge and skills for college infrastructure programs looking 12-36 months into the future, coupled with another three BILT Trends meetings in which employers discussed changes that might affect the IT field 3-5 years into the future. The purpose is to ensure that employers are highly engaged and provide faculty with concrete, actionable input in time to affect appropriate changes in programs. The model has been implemented at well over 100 colleges (often in multiple technical programs) because it makes maximum use of 5-6 hours of employer time on an annual basis and greatly improves employer commitment to programs.
For CTC, the National CTC BILT met quarterly each year, once to update the knowledge and skills needed in the future and three other times to discuss trends. This information was distributed nationally for use by other college and university IT programs.
WC was offered every summer for twenty-one years, educating over 3000 IT faculty nationally in week-long professional development with the goal of enabling those faculty to teach whole new courses or significantly enhance existing courses. This event was built on work originated in the Regional CTC prior to the National CTC. To determine the impact of this faculty development on students, the CTC conducted longitudinal studies each January asking faculty to voluntarily disclose how many students they had taught using the learning they had obtained through WC. The latest results (January 2023) indicated that over 171,500 students across 14,800+ sections were impacted by track content delivered to faculty at Summer Working Connections. Further, the number is likely much larger because voluntary response rates for these studies represented about 50% of the attendees.
Building on the WC model, CTC also offered tracks at an online 3-day Working Connections during winters each year as well as tracks similar to those at the summer WC that were offered over 5 consecutive Fridays during the academic year in recent years.
The CCN was a Community of Practice of officially committed colleges that were willing to work together to help one another keep up with the rapidly changing landscape in Information Technology. CCN members committed to attending quarterly meetings, implementing the BILT model, and actively helping one another to improve each other’s programs, among other commitments. Additionally, CTC developed an extensive mailing list of interested parties to disseminate a quarterly newsletter, blogs, and other announcements.
Dissemination of best practices and other accomplishments was also an important component of the work of the grant. Over the 11 years, presentations were made at numerous conferences ranging from extensive multiple-hour workshops to standard conference sessions to poster presentations. A legacy “impact” booklet, several “How-to” documents, and other supporting information were archived on ATE CENTRAL and on a Google drive so that resources would still be available after this grant sunset.
Finally, the BILT model, WC, and CCN are processes that are being continued and enhanced through the new national IT center, National Information Technology Innovation Center awarded September 1, 2023. The impact book may be seen here. http://tiny.cc/CTCimpacts
Last Modified: 01/17/2024
Modified by: Ann Beheler
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