|Home | About Us | Products | Services | Programs | NSF Grants | Partners |   Programs > Center for IT Excellence > April 2005   CITE Home   About CITE   Events   Job Shadow   Newsletter   Student Resources Advancing IT Education and the Workforce in Washington State Newsletter December 2006   Events and Professional Development Opportunities for IT Educators Future Potential in IT: February 13, 2007, at Bellevue Community College The Date for the Annual Center of Excellence Summit: Friday, May 18th Washington State Working Connections: August 21- 24, 2007 (track survey coming soon) Microsoft Workforce Development Summit - January 29, 2007 Job Shadow Faculty Reports for 2006: "Linking IT Educators with Washington State Businesses"   News for the Classroom Young Gamers Building Real Skills Boomers, Gen-Xers, & Millennials: Understanding the New Students In Depth: How businesses can attract the next-generation of IT workers Next-Gen IT Workforce: University readies students for global workplace Next-Gen IT Workforce: A school dedicated to hands-on IT   Best Practices, Initiatives, Products, and Projects Business Intelligence Colleges face challenge of 'Recruiting 2.0': As recruiting becomes more competitive, schools are turning to technology for help Finally, Intelligent Businesses: Can search, semantics, and master data management take analytics to the next level? Business Technology Microsoft Office makes encouraging strides Computer Science Database Administration Very Large Databases and High Availability Evaluating Replication Options Data partitioning in SQL Server 2005 - Part IV Multi-Media and Web What Comes After Web 2.0? It all Depends on Your Point of View: 2D to 3D Network Services and Computing Systems MySQL, Open-Xchange announce partnership Windows Vista and Longhorn Server: How they work better together General Information and Computing Technology IT Projects NWCET IT Skill Standards Project Update: A New Framework for the 21st Century Workforce   Announcements Imagine Cup Competition New Executive Director named for the National Workforce Center for Emerging Technologies Subscribe to the Center of Excellence Newsletter (Archives) Center of Excellence Blog: Your thoughts? Events, News, and Professional Development Opportunities for IT Educators   Future Potential in IT: Tuesday, February 13, 2007 at Bellevue Community College Are your students interested in information technology (IT) but don't want to be programmers? Do they think offshore outsourcing has eliminated all high paying technology jobs in the United States? Do your students think they don't have the computer skills or aptitude to do well in the information technology sector? Think again. Technology Management isn't programming! It involves leadership skills, communication abilities, and a love for constant challenges Invite your students to be a part of a nationwide series of seminars being held at premier universities across the country! Next seminar is being held at: Bellevue Community College on February 13, 2007. Save the date! Encourage your students to learn about skills, internships, salaries, and jobs waiting for them! See a message taped by Bill Gates just for the event! Hear from recent graduates on how they've benefited from their technology degrees and interact with senior IT managers from leading Puget Sound companies. Registration coming soon. back to top   The Date for the Annual Center of Excellence Summit: Friday, May 18th, 2007 The 2007 Washington State IT Futures Education Summit is scheduled for Friday, May 18th, 2007 at the Microsoft Corporate Conference Center. Be sure and save the date so you can join your fellow technical and workforce development instructors across our state in discovering new and innovative ways to improve IT education. This one-day event features several industry speakers in various disciplines of IT to share the impacts, challenges, growth and demands of technology in their businesses. The Center of Excellence Summit survey which asks for your input as to which sessions and industry speakers will be appear at this year's Center's Summit will be sent out sometime in early 2007. Please take the time to respond as your choices determine the program! Read more about how and when to register. back to top   The 9th Annual Washington State Working Connections Institute: 8/21-8/24/07 Mark your calendars for the 9th annual Washington State Working Connections IT Faculty Development Institute which will be taking place at Bellevue Community College from August 21st through August 24th. The NWCET will be sending out the track survey sometime in early 2007 for your input on which professional development emerging technology tracks should be offered at the Institute. We will also be asking you to indicate what sessions and industry speakers you would like to appear at this year's CITE Summit occurring on Friday, May 18th. As usual we look forward to another stellar year with exciting tracks, industry speakers, and faculty networking sessions. Read the full 2006 Working Connections report. back to top   Microsoft Workforce Development Summit - January 29, 2007 Through the Unlimited Potential program, Microsoft is committed to providing IT skills training to underserved individuals, broaden digital inclusion and to bring the benefits of technology and technology skills to one quarter of a billion people around the world by 2010. As part of its continued work through Unlimited Potential and the company's commitment to the importance of IT skills training, Microsoft is hosting a Washington State Workforce Development summit on January 29, 2007. This summit will bring together workforce development professionals and practitioners from across Washington to examine the challenges facing our state as we prepare workers with the skills necessary for success in the global economy. Additional details and registration this for summit will be available soon. Please visit www.microsoft.com/unlimitedpotential for more information on the Unlimited Potential program, or send an email. back to top   Job Shadow Faculty Reports for 2006: "Linking IT Educators with Washington State Businesses" CITE Instructor Job Shadow Program will provide an opportunity for instructors in to observe first hand the advances of technology in the workplace. The goal is to equip instructors with the knowledge and skills to infuse relevant IT practices in the classroom to benefit their students and programs. Participating businesses, or Workplace Hosts, can contribute by matching the instructor with an employee who can provide advice, examples, and real work experience as it applies to the area of study. Read the 2006 Job Shadow faculty reports. back to top   News for the Classroom   Young Gamers Building Real Skills Post-Intelligencer, P-I Reporter, Paul Nyhan, P-I Reporter October 6, 2006 – Playing in class could give today's 'digital natives' a boost, scientists say. Kids may learn more from video games than how to blow away bad guys, drive too fast and defeat virtual dragons. They may develop skills to compete in the global economy, a new report says. Tuesday, a group of scientists and software types recommended putting video games – the educational kind – in classrooms to help students develop strategic thinking, problem solving and analytical skills. There have been recent warnings that U.S. workers are losing their edge in the increasingly worldwide labor market, but video games could help them regain an advantage. According to Henry Kelly, head of the Federation of American Scientists, who conducted the study. "Video games are engaging and can teach higher-order skills, and they are especially attractive to today's young digital natives who have grown up with digital technology", Kelly said in a statement. ©1996-2006 Seattle Times Read the full story. back to top   Boomers, Gen-Xers, & Millennials: Understanding the New Students Educause, Diana Oblinger July/August 2006 – An essential component of facilitating Learning is understanding Learners. The Learning styles, attitudes and approaches of high school students differ from those of eighteen-to twenty-two-year-old college students. The style, attitudes, and approaches of adult Learners differ yet again. How well do College and university faculty, administrators, and staff understand these differences into account when designing programs or courses? Read the full story. back to top   In Depth: How businesses can attract the next-generation of IT workers Information Week, Marianne Kolbasuk July 17, 2006 -- Internships aren't enough. IT-dependent businesses need to take the talent pipeline as seriously as they do other critical industry risks. Contrary to nasty rumors, the IT profession isn't dead in the United States. Far from it. What could kill it, though, is if bright young minds steer clear of the profession. It's time for business and technology leadership to treat this as a serious, long-term problem and work with employers, educators, and policy-makers to encourage young people to step up. Read the full story. back to top   Next-Gen IT Workforce: University readies students for global workplace Educause, Diana Oblinger July 17, 2006 – Indiana students work with a German school on IT-related projects. Smart U.S. universities aren't running from IT's global future. They're meeting the issue head on, creating programs that not only prepare students to work in a global job market, but also show them how it can be a fascinating way to make a living. At Indiana University, 25 students thought they were signing up for a standard class on business processes, redesigning workflows for a mock U.S. auto parts supplier using SAP software. Fifteen students at the University of Brandenburg in Germany were taking the same course, doing the mock work for a German automaker. Around the 11th week of the course, the professors threw them a curve. Read the full story. back to top   Next-Gen IT Workforce: UA school dedicated to hands-on IT Information Week, Marianne Kolbasuk July 17, 2006 – Neumont trains programmers and project managers with a lot of help from local businesses. Talk about a contrarian approach.In 2004, with U.S. IT employment still hurting from the dot-com bust and offshore outsourcing boom, Graham Doxey helped found a school to train the IT pros that businesses need most. Neumont University in Salt Lake City graduated its first class of bachelor's degrees in computer science in March. The university takes a narrow approach, offering far less liberal arts and general education than a conventional four-year institution. Neumont is taking its cue from the business world, enlisting current professionals to help teach and train the next-generation IT workforce. Neumont pitches its grads as steeped in programming and project management knowledge. With 70% of its curriculum project based, students take a hands-on approach to learning the life cycle of software development. And they're not just imagine-if-someone-actually-had-to-use-this-code types of assignments. The first projects students work on are for the school, but later ones are for area employers, including Fidelity Investments, IBM, Novell, the state of Utah, and smaller businesses. Read the full story. back to top   Best Practices, Initiatives, Products, and Projects   Business Intelligence Colleges face challenge of 'Recruiting 2.0' As recruiting becomes more competitive, schools are turning to technology for help From eSchool News staff and wire service reports November 1, 2006 – With the average high school senior applying to between three and five colleges – and with the growth in online programs expanding students' options–college recruiting has become more competitive than ever. What's more, the communications habits and expectations of today's students, who have grown up with cell phones and instant messaging, are changing the way schools interact with prospects. To keep up, schools are turning to online tools such as multi-channel communications software, instant-response information centers, and even sophisticated constituent relations management (CRM) software, which allows school admissions departments to target their efforts more effectively – and better track results. Read the full story. back to top   Finally, Intelligent Businesses Can search, semantics, and master data management take analytics to the next level? From Intelligent Enterprise, Neil Raden October 1, 2006 – Business intelligence as we know it will change dramatically over the next five years. Organizations are moving beyond purely operational systems and toward embedding analytics into operational processes. The need to take action, not just be informed, is more urgent than ever due to the relentless externalization of business, the rapid emergence of loosely coupled computing environments based on standards, and the Web-as-the-platform paradigm. All are pushing BI in a new and exciting direction. Read the full story. back to top   Business Technology Microsoft Office makes encouraging strides From USA Today, Edward C. Baig November 30, 2006 – Today, Microsoft unleashes an ambitious new version of Office on the business community, with availability for everyone else at the end of January. Microsoft says 2007 Office's new look is its most significant update in more than a decade. Common menus and toolbars have been replaced by the "ribbon," a strip of commands at the top of the screen that make sense only in the context of what you are doing. In Excel, for example, you'll see commands for editing a chart only if a chart appears in your spreadsheet. Read the full story. back to top   Database Administration Very Large Databases and High Availability Evaluating Replication Options Database Journal, By Sreeram Surapaneni November 8, 2006 – Introduction: Today's Database managers are more challenged than ever to find the appropriate tools and technologies for their mission-critical databases. When these databases are very large it requires a tremendous amount of effort to create a High Availability architecture that provides a continuously available solution that is robust and that works even during upgrades and maintenance with zero downtime. Read the full story. back to top   Data partitioning in SQL Server 2005 - Part IV Database Journal, Muthusamy Anantha Kumar December 6, 2006 – In Part III of this article series, we have seen how to partition an existing table into four parts based on a range of unique numbers. Part IV of this series illustrates partitioning based on date. In this article we are going to partition the existing data into four different parts based on certain dates. Read the full story. back to top   Multi-Media and Web What Comes After Web 2.0? Technology Review, Wade Roush December 1, 2006 – While the innovations that have recently been popping up on the Web are referred to by some as Web 3.0, this benchmark still remains rather far in the future. The effort to integrate human intelligence into the Web in the form of metadata, and links between data nodes has taken on two forms: The Semantic Web vision of adding metadata to all information on the Web, and the application of human intelligence to jobs that computers cannot figure out. Read the full story. back to top   It all Depends on Your Point of View Economist Technology Quarterly Vol. 381, No. 8506, P.6 December 6, 2006 – Carnegie Mellon researchers have developed software that is able to create a 3D image from 2D images. The system analyzes images of outdoor settings, differentiates between sky and ground, and then uses visual cues to differentiate vertical surfaces from horizontal ones. Then, by cutting and folding the images, applying real-world knowledge such as the sky is blue and objects tend to rest on the ground, the system reconstructs the scene in three dimensions. Read the full story. back to top   Network Services and Computing Systems MySQL, Open-Xchange announce partnership Info World, Nancy Gohring, IDG News Service December 07, 2006 – Companies team up to optimize interaction between MySQL DBs and Open-Xchange groupware Open-source players MySQL and Open-Xchange are teaming up so Open-Xchange can embed MySQL's database into its Linux-based collaboration server. The two companies announced a partnership and support agreement Thursday to optimize the interaction between MySQL databases and Open-Xchange groupware functions. Open-Xchange customers won't have to pay extra for product support for MySQL, they said. Read the full story. back to top   Windows Vista and Longhorn Server: How they work better together Computer World, Jonathan Hassell December 06, 2006 – Longhorn Server and Vista are of the same ilk. Over 70% of the code in the two products is shared; in fact, Vista and Server were being developed together for much of the Vista development cycle. Teams that work on one product work on the other. Vista security updates, if needed, are so simple that the development team can simply drop them into code so that Longhorn Server will immediately benefit and launch securely when it's released. Read the full story. back to top   IT Projects NWCET IT Skill Standards Project Update: A New Framework for the 21st Century Workforce NWCET was awarded a National Science Foundation grant, Skill Standards: A Framework for the 21st Century, in September 2005. The project goals were to: 1) create a new IT skill standards framework that allows specific IT and non-IT industry segments to contribute content to NWCET and access the data from a database on the web; and, 2) the new framework would meet the needs of the US IT and IT-enabled workforce and be used by educational institutions to create curriculum to match those needs. Read the full story. back to top   Announcements   Imagine Cup Competition © Copyright 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Let's face it – the world needs help. The kind of help that happens when you take the top young minds from around the globe and turn them loose on solving the world's toughest problems. That's what Imagine Cup is all about. This is your chance to innovate and create, show the world what you've got, and win some serious prizes. Simply put, it's your chance to use the power of technology to change the world – and have some fun while you're at it. More information. back to top   New Executive Director named for the National Workforce Center for Emerging Technologies Jeffrey Johnson has been named the new executive director for the National Workforce Center for Emerging Technologies. Jeff has previously served as the Director of the Washington Center of Excellence headquartered at Bellevue Community College (BCC). The Center of Excellence is one of 11 Centers of Excellence in Washington state and the only designated center for information technology (IT). Read Jeff's biography. back to top   Subscribe to the Center of Excellence Newsletter To continue receiving the CITE newsletter, please complete a request form. If you wish to discontinue receiving this newsletter, please email CITE. How can CITE assist your institution? At CITE our mission is to be a resource arm to the Community and Technical Colleges and high schools of Washington State. Let us hear from you to discuss your needs and how we can be of service to you. For further information, email CITE or call Jeff Johnson at 425-564-4004. Archived Issues of CITE Newsletters Now Available Online Recent editions of the CITE e-newsletter are now archived for reading on the CITE web site. Topics include Mobile/Wireless Computing, Outsourcing/Offshoring, IT Network Security, Business Intelligence/Data Mining, VoIP, and Convergence Technologies. back to top   Center of Excellence Blog: Your thoughts? The Center of Excellence would like you to email your thoughts and ideas regarding starting a blog on the Center’s web site. for IT faculty on relevant hot topics, best practices, IT curriculum, and issues that are interesting, informative and relevant to today’s educator. We would like to know if you would participate? Email Maureen Majury.

NWCET is a division of Bellevue Community College, and is partially funded by National Science Foundation grants.