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MPICT has collaborated for several years with the
Boston-area
Advanced Technological Education Connections (BATEC) Center,
an NSF ATE Regional Center, like MPICT, in Massachusetts.
BATEC is now a national NSF ATE Center, and MPICT is a
sub-awarded partner with the new Center. We are expanding
our collaboration to replicate and scale certain BATEC
successes for impact in our region over the next few years.
“Over the past eight years, the Boston Area for Advanced
Technological Education Connections, or BATEC, has developed
a regionally coordinated system for attracting talented
students from diverse demographics and backgrounds to IT
careers, promoting lifelong learning of technical skills,
and meeting (its) region’s IT workforce needs.
“This success is the result of a dynamic working partnership
among industry leaders, IT educators, and community organizers
who have a deep understanding of how to achieve the core
structural reforms necessary to ensure that education programs
keep pace with the rapidly evolving IT field. Now, thanks to
its success and a new $5 million grant from the National
Science Foundation, BATEC, started as one of 36 regional
Advanced Technological Education (ATE) centers across the
nation, has now become a National Center for Broadening
Advanced Technological Education Connections.
“As a national center, BATEC will extend its role as a
connector, nexus, and catalyst by focusing on computing
technologies and their intersections with other technology
domains,” says Deborah Boisvert, BATEC’s founding director. To
achieve these results, BATEC has set the following goals:
extend and strengthen computing discipline pathways and
industry connections to produce 21st century IT professionals;
adapt and advance BATEC strategies to transform IT education
in urban areas; and conduct research to inform IT education
and workforce development models.
“Throughout these three over-arching goals, the National
Center will extend BATEC’s innovations by creating urban IT
laboratories for connecting educators, industry advisors,
government officials, and thought leaders. By using this
integrated approach, they will in concert advocate,
facilitate, and coordinate IT educational reform to address
the spectrum of significant challenges to our nation’s
future.”
“Technology is an essential enabler of global communication
and commerce, or a key driver for innovation across all
sectors. IT jobs in the new economy demand technical skills
combined with the ability to think and act in an
entrepreneurial fashion by using problem-solving techniques,
performing computational thinking, and other higher-order
skills.
“BATEC has focused on core IT knowledge, skills, and
attributes; intensive curriculum adaptation and development;
pedagogical transformation; outreach to under-represented and
at-risk populations; and substantive dialogue among the key
stakeholders of education, industry, and government. The
National Center will contribute to the knowledge base of the
NSF’s ATE program and contribute significantly to successfully
addressing and responding to the challenges of an economy
based upon intellectual capital
“BATEC’s all encompassing view of the IT field has guided the
well-planned design of its innovations which have had broad
impact throughout IT education programs, intersections of IT
with other fields, and education pathways. BATEC has grappled
with issues that are relevant to most urban environments and
thus national in scope—and not just Boston-centric. As a
National Center, BATEC will scale its experience, tools, and
methodologies to assist IT education programs in urban regions
across the country to achieve similar transformative and
systematic change.”
“BATEC plans to expand the model of advocating, facilitating,
and coordinating IT education reform to serve three more urban
populations: Chicago, San Francisco, and Las Vegas.” MPICT is
BATEC’s partner for serving San Francisco.
Among its collaborations, MPICT has been working with BATEC on
informing a series of national ICT/IT workforce studies,
working with
Tech
America, an association serving “tech” industries. On
November 4th, MPICT joined BATEC and Tech America at IBM
facilities in Littleton, MA for an “IT Skills Summit”. That
well-attended event developed structure and momentum for the
effort.
On December 2nd, MPICT held an Advisory Panel meeting in San
Francisco, connected remotely with an Advisory group meeting
at Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno, NV, focused on
developing plain language categorizations of ICT/IT employment
and structure for future workforce study.
It is inadequate to just ask local business people what they
want in an IT/ICT workforce. The field is too broad and
diverse. We need better methods to determine in statistically
significant ways exactly what U.S. ICT Workforce demand is.
In late January, MPICT will be working with BATEC on specific
implementation plans for this collaboration in San Francisco.
Back to Q4 2011
Newsletter |
