Mark Whitney

Closing the Skills Gap Requires a Wider Talent Pool Steve Lehr, Director of Business Development – North America, Festo Didactic Today’s manufacturing education features classroom, lab, and on-the-job training. Here students train on a didactic modular production system (MPS). With the rise of automation comes the need for highly skilled industrial professionals. Survey information indicates […]

Building a Better Future Through Career Development Hi, everyone! My name is Rachel Hoag, and I am the Career Strategist at Polaris Career Center. I firmly believe in the career center philosophy and the training we provide for our students. Through our office, the Office of Innovation, Career & Workforce Services, we have identified three

Toolkit Offers Guidelines for Preparing Technicians for the Future of Work Emerging technologies are transforming industries. To learn specifically how these technologies are changing technician job tasks and roles, representatives of Preparing Technicians for the Future of Work (a project of the National Science Foundation and CORD, the parent organization of NCPN) gathered information from

Paying for Post-Secondary Education: No-cost Resources from the CFPB Leslie Jones, Youth Financial Education Analyst, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has resources students and teachers can use to support efforts to prepare and pay for post-secondary education, as well as to protect against frauds and scams associated with funding higher

Esports Is Community PK Graff, Instructional Designer, STEM Content Specialist, Director of Gaming, Academies of Creative Education / Georgia Scholastic Esports Foundation, Brookhaven, GA So, What Is Esports?Esports is a form of competitive video gaming where players or teams participate in organized tournaments and leagues. It has gained immense popularity in recent years and is now

Blend Intangible Employability Skills into Current Technical Programs Darren Morris, Instructional Designer, CTECS (Career and Technical Education Consortium of States), Decatur, GA The Career and Technical Education Consortium of States (CTECS) offers a full credential package backed by our nationally recognized, and research-based workplace readiness skills curriculum, assessment, and digital badge. Forward-thinking organizations, such as

Adults for Industrial Development: Getting Adults Ready for Manufacturing and Skilled Trades Bettina Akukwe, Department Head, Workforce Programs, and Apprenticeship Implementer at Alamance Community College, Graham, NC Career exploration plays a major role in career and technical education. Students who were not able to experience different career opportunities in high school often come to postsecondary

Understanding the Benefits of Performance-Based Learning Yvonne Blackshear, Professor, Texas State Technical College, Brownwood, TX “Performance-based learning (PBL) is an approach to teaching and learning that emphasizes students being able to do, or perform, specific skills as a result of instruction. In this framework, students demonstrate the ability to apply or use knowledge, rather than

Crossroads: Classroom to Career in Biotechnology Chander Arora, Biotech Faculty, Los Angeles Mission College, Sylmar, CA “We can teach them how to pipette, but we can’t teach them how to work as a team.” That comment by an employer at my hands-on training showcase marked a turning point in my teaching. I had thought that

Employer Strategies for Managing Successful Employer Councils Ann Beheler and Mark Dempsey, National Convergence Technology Center, Collin College Everyone can agree that two major goals for all technical programs are to help students complete certificates and degrees that will make them highly employable and to engage with local employers in a way that inspires ongoing support