Article 2019

Assessing IT Educational Pathways that Support Rural Broadband: Strategies for Aligning IT Curricula, Policy, and Employer Needs

MM
Mardis, Marcia A.
 JF
Jones, Faye R.
 MC
McClure, Charles R.
Community College Journal of Research and Practice
Journal · Vol. 43 · Issue 9 · pp. 625-630
Abstract

In this National Science Foundation Advanced Technician Education program (NSF ATE) project, we aimed to explore factors that would strengthen the rural IT employee workforce and improve educational support related to broadband, telecommunications, and networks in rural settings. Using multiple methods to triangulate rural IT program curricula content with employers’ perceptions and new professionals’ on-the-job experiences, we gained an understanding of common general and technical competencies, perceived rural IT technician workforce readiness, and strategies to bring educational experiences in alignment with professional performance. We also offer findings concerning alignment of technician pathways and recommendations for how to transfer identified competencies to other similar rural markets, along with examples of extensions of this work for exploring and assessing IT pathways. © 2018, © 2018 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

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Author Affiliations
Information Institute, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, United States
School of Information, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, United States
Funding & Acknowledgements
National Science Foundation, NSF
Grant: 1700581
This work was supported by National Science Foundation grant number #1304382 (2013-2018).
Division of Undergraduate Education, DUE
Grant: 1304382
This work was supported by National Science Foundation grant number #1304382 (2013-2018).
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