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Programs > Center for IT Excellence >January 2008 |
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| Advancing IT Education and the Workforce in Washington State | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Newsletter | ||||||||||||||||||
| January 2008 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Inside this Issue... | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Events, News, and Professional Development Opportunities for IT Educators and Students | ||||||||||||||||||
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| News for the Classroom | ||||||||||||||||||
| Best Practices, Initiatives, Products, and Projects | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Announcements | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Events, News, and Professional Development Opportunities for IT Educators and Students | ||||||||||||||||||
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Careers in IT: The Real Story
The second annual "Careers in IT: The Real Story" will be hosted by NWCET and the Center for IT Excellence. This free event will be taking place on Thursday, April 24, 2008, at Bellevue Community College from 9:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., with lunch from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. Students and educators (K-20) are invited to hear the real story about careers in IT, math, science, and media. Students will find out that there are numerous career opportunities in technology from technology industry speakers and panelists. Attendees will learn about skills, educational pathways, internships, salaries, and jobs waiting for them! There will be a drawing for a surprise grand prize. The prize will be announced shortly. Register here! back to top |
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Complete the annual survey for the CITE Summit and the Working Connections IT Faculty Development Institute and you might be eligible for free gifts!
Help us select the training and presentation tracks for both the May 2nd CITE Summit at Microsoft and the August Working Connections IT Faculty Development Institute.
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Mark your calendar for the fourth annual CITE Summit at Microsoft happening Friday, May 2nd, at Microsoft
The popular and well-attended CITE Summit will be happening again at the Microsoft Conference Center. This year's theme is the convergence of next generation learners with next generation technologies. Here are some highlights and evaluation scores from last year's Summit. Registration information will be coming soon, so be sure and save the date of Friday, May 2nd for this free event!
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Save the date for the 10th annual Working Connections IT Faculty Development Institute
happening August 19th through the 22nd The Working Connections Institute will celebrate a decade as a state-wide professional development and training experience for IT faculty this August. Over the last nine years, we have hosted almost one-thousand faculty participants at Bellevue Community College, as they learned the latest developments in technology and classroom best practices. Last year's Institute had almost 120 faculty members learn about the newest advances in podcasting, Adobe's Creative Suite 3, Microsoft's Office 2007, digital forensics, and Microsoft's Vista for administrators and advanced Access 2007. This year, tuition will be $650, and participants will need to make their own hotel or housing arrangements. The NWCET will be working with the Red Lion to offer a sizeable discount for those needing to stay at a hotel. When asked, Would you recommend a future Working Connections Institute to your colleagues, 99% of respondents indicated Yes. A few comments from our faculty included:
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Actively Engaging Industry with Community College Faculty
Coming spring 2008, Bellevue Community College and NWCET, along with its partners from the Community College Research Center (CCRC) at Teachers College, Columbia University, will host an interactive event in Bellevue, WA, with local and regional employers sharing perspectives with educators and administrators. Executives, senior managers, hiring managers, and human resources personnel will gather to answer key questions about hiring community college technology program graduates. Emerging technology and marketplace trends will be explored and discussed, as well as potential placement of, and obstacles to placement of, community college graduates in the "new world of work." There will be ample opportunities for faculty to network, ask specific questions, and interact with industry movers and shakers. Watch for more details - time, dates, format, and topics. If you'd like to participate, contact Dr. Sandy Mikolaski, Associate Director, NWCET . back to top |
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| Building a Community to Revitalize
Community College Undergraduate Computing Pathways The scenario is a familiar one: A learner enrolls in a community college IT program intending to transfer for a four year degree. In fairly short order, math and science classes have intimidated the would be techie into a certificate program, and job opportunities narrow. Three Washington community colleges are examining this common pattern and scanning the nation for innovative solutions. With funding from the National Science Foundation, Bellevue Community College is collaborating with Cascadia and Shoreline community colleges and UW Bothell. The goal is to pilot strategies assisting students in navigating math and science requirements, and on course for a four year degree. The IT Center of Excellence will keep all colleges updated on project progress and recommendations. For further information contact Patricia Dombrowski,, Director, Life Science Informatics Center. back to top |
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| News for the Classroom | ||||||||||||||||||
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"Generation Y" biggest user of U.S. libraries, survey finds
Sixty-two percent of Gen Y respondents said they visited a public library in the past year. More than half of Americans visited a library in the past year, with many of them drawn in by the computers rather than the books, according to a survey released on Sunday. Of the 53% of U.S. adults who said they visited libraries in 2007, the biggest users were young adults aged 18 to 30 in the tech-loving group known as Generation Y, the survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project said. "These findings turn our thinking about libraries upside down," said Leigh Estabrook, a professor emerita at the University of Illinois and co-author of a report on the survey results. "Internet use seems to create an information hunger, and it is information-savvy young people who are most likely to visit libraries," she said. Read full article. ComputerWorld, Julie Vorman, December 2007 back to top |
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The 8 Hottest Skills for '08
AJAX, .Net, XML, PHP and other Web 2.0 programming skills top the in-demand list. No one is mistaking the current IT jobs market for the one that sizzled during the dot-com days and inflated salaries to astronomical rates. But as the U.S. economy wrestles with a weak housing market and record oil prices, demand for IT workers is on the rise. "There is a distinct shortage of certain IT [skills], and that shortage seems to be growing," says Neill Hopkins, vice president of skills development at The Computing Technology Industry Association Inc. (CompTIA) in Oakbrook Terrace, Ill. Read the full article. ComputerWorld, Thomas Hoffman, December 2007 back to top |
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| Best Practices, Initiatives, Products, and Projects | ||||||||||||||||||
| Business Intelligence | ||||||||||||||||||
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Amazon set to start testing Web database
Says SimpleDB technology will support fast queries of structured data Amazon.com Inc. will soon begin a limited-release test of an upcoming Web-based database that will work closely with its S3 online storage service and EC2 online application hosting service. The database, called SimpleDB, is aimed at application developers looking for a less expensive, easier-to-use alternative to a full relational database, primarily for running real-time queries against structured data. Read the full article. ComputerWorld, Eric Lai, December 2007 back to top |
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Cognos puts BI on Nokia and Windows Mobile phones
New clients in response to customer requests Cognos Inc. said today that its Cognos 8 Go Mobile business intelligence (BI) software now supports Windows Mobile 6 smart phones, as well as Nokia Corp. E-series and N-series devices running S60 Third Edition on the Symbian operating system. The software works with Cognos' core BI system and can automatically reformat reports for various types of devices. The Ottawa-based company had already developed support for Research In Motion Ltd.'s BlackBerry smart phones. Read the full article. ComputerWorld, Chris Kanaracus, December 2007 back to top |
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| Business Technology | ||||||||||||||||||
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Office 2003 SP3 blocks old file formats Microsoft deliberately broke access to older files, including many generated by the its own products, to step up security with the newest Office 2003 service pack, a company evangelist said yesterday. The months-old Service Pack 3 (SP3) for Office 2003, said Viral Tapara, a U.K.-based IT evangelist for Microsoft, blocks old file formats for security purposes. "Some older file formats, including some from Microsoft, are insecure and do not satisfy new attack vectors that hackers can use to execute malicious code," maintained Tapara. "The decision to block the formats is strictly to protect your machine from being compromised." Read full article. ComputerWorld, Greg Keizer, January 2008 back to top |
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| Database Administration | ||||||||||||||||||
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MySQL 5.1 Article Recap So, someone had a great idea to go back through the Developer Zone, which has become a bit disorganized of late, and put together an article with links and summaries for all the Dev Zone articles that discussed MySQL 5.1 features. I have done so, and also linked in many community member's blog articles and tutorials to give everyone a good dose of the features that make MySQL 5.1 worth investigating. Read the full story. back to top |
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Making database administration easier with Freeware Depending on your environment, working with and between Windows and UNIX can be somewhat problematic. It seems that no two workplaces are the same when it comes to the network file system. Two of the more commonly seen problems include not being able to get a GUI tool (e.g., Oracle Universal Installer) to display and not being able to have it display at the correct location. There is a freeware tool to help you work around these problems and make your job of administering Oracle (and Oracle products) easier. Read the full story. back to top |
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| Green Technology | ||||||||||||||||||
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U.S. green-tech hot spots go coast to coast The IT revolution sparked on the East and West Coasts of the United States and spread from there. But in green tech, the heartland got an early invitation. Over the last three years, an avalanche of venture capital has flowed into start-ups developing technology to use natural resources more efficiently. Incumbent fuel producers and energy utilities are also investing in alternative fuels and power sources. Most of the new company creation is rooted in the traditional financial investment centers in Silicon Valley and the Northeast U.S. But the middle of the country is playing a very significant role in bringing more technical innovation to energy. Read the full article. CNETnews.com, Martin LaMonica, December 2007 back to top |
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Forrester: Eco-minded activity up among IT pros
Between April and October, the percentage of companies employing environmental criteria in choosing tech gear jumped 15 percent, according to a study from research company Forrester. "As of October, 38 percent of IT professionals said that their companies were using environmental criteria in their evaluation and selection of IT equipment, compared with 25 percent in our April survey," says the report titled "Green Progress in Enterprise IT." Read the full article. Infoworld, Christopher Mines, December 2007 back to top |
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| Multi-Media and Web | ||||||||||||||||||
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Social Media Talent Wars This is a quote from a soon-to-be-released white paper I helped author about social media for internal corporate communications: "The modern workforce is very used to using blogs, podcasts and other social media tools in their personal lives. It becomes a near impossible stretch for them to lead interactive, digitized lives at home and shift to low-tech, paper-based, one-sided communication in the office. It just doesn't translate." It just doesn't. Think about it, you're at home... you're Twittering, posting to your family's blog and using Google Apps to set up your family's annual vacation. You go into the office and you're liberated by...email? Ah, no. Companies that think by not being involved with social media, they're only missing out on the opportunity to be more competitive with other companies in product and service categories need to think again. Read the full article. InfoWorld, Lena West, December 2007 back to top |
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Microsoft Provides Fix for Crashes Related To IE Patch Many of those affected are puzzled that Microsoft would recommend editing the Windows registry rather than fixing and re-issuing the patch. Microsoft on Tuesday issued support documentation to address Internet Explorer problems caused by last week's security patch. "We have been working with a small number of customers that reported issues related to the installation of MS07-069," said Kieron Shorrock, the Microsoft Security Response Program Manager responsible for Internet Explorer, in a blog post. "Specifically, on a Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2)-based computer, Internet Explorer 6 may stop responding when you try to a visit a Web site." Read the full article Information Week, Tomas Claburne, December 2007 back to top |
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Web 2.0 software converts cell phone into GPS Device The software, called Fugawi Touratel, uses Assisted GPS, so the phones don't need to have the functionality built in or be connected through Bluetooth. GPS marker Northport Systems on Wednesday launched software that turns non-GPS cell phones into outdoor navigation systems. The software with an unusual name -- Fugawi Touratel -- is Web 2.0-based and can turn different cell phone models into navigation systems with high-resolution U.S. Geological Survey topographic maps, air photos, and urban photos, according to Northport. Fugawi Touratel also serves up third-party location-based applications, such as U.S. streets maps, for a $3 monthly fee. Read the full article Information Week, Elena Malykhina, December 2007 back to top |
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| Network Services and Computing Systems | ||||||||||||||||||
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Google Toolbar Flaw Opens Door for Phishers Google is already at work trying to patch the flaw, which could allow criminals to steal data or install malicious software on a system Google is working to fix a bug in the Google Toolbar that could allow criminals to steal data or install malicious software on a system, a security researcher warned Tuesday. The flaw lies in the mechanism Google Toolbar uses to add new buttons on the browser. Because the toolbar does not perform adequate checks when new buttons are being installed, a hacker could make his button appear as though it was being downloaded from a legitimate site when in fact it came from somewhere else. By spoofing the origin of the toolbar button, an attacker could download malicious files or launch a phishing attack against the victim, wrote security researcher Aviv Raff in a blog post on the issue. Read the full article InfoWorld, by Robert McMillan, IDG News Service, December 2007 back to top |
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| General Information and Computing Technology | ||||||||||||||||||
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New year, new Storm Worm variant I really do wish you a happy New Year, but you'll just have to take my word for that. You probably should assume that any e-mail from me or anyone else with holiday wishes is a not-so-sly attempt to get you to download malware. The folks at MicroWorld Technologies have identified a new variant of the venerable Storm Worm that is being spread through e-mails with the subject line "Happy New Year" or "Message for a new year". The body of the e-mail contains a link to any of a number of .com sites that read as if they should deliver some sort of e-greeting. But the downloaded file contains the Zhelatin.pt worm. When executed, the worm installs files and recruits your computer to a botnet as a spam relay. Read the full article Government Computer News, William Jackson, January 2008 back to top |
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| Announcements | ||||||||||||||||||
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Position opening: The National Workforce Center for Emerging Technologies is recruiting for a new executive director The Executive Director of NWCET reports directly to the Vice-President of Workforce Development and provides vision, leadership, planning and coordination for all national and statewide NWCET programs, products and services. The Executive Director has the authority and is responsible for management of all NWCET operations and staff. The salary range is $77,701 - $93,241 with placement based on education and related experience. Read further about the position and download application materials. back to top |
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Applications of Information Technology: Trends Assessment for 2007 - 2008
(Updated Version!) – Published by and available from the Center of Excellence Information Technology Trends Assessment, 2007-2008: Industry, The New Learner and Implications for Education, is an 80+ page research report summarizing economic, employment, industry, technology and demographic trends influencing IT-related programs published by the Center. Decision makers in education, business and government find this trends research focusing on applications in Information Technology current, relevant, and informative. Note: This report may be especially helpful for educational administrators and faculty evaluating IT and technology - related programs and curricular directions and strategies. Copies can be ordered for faculty and educators in Washington state for only $25. Order your copy back to top |
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Subscribe to the Center of Excellence Newsletter
To continue receiving the CITE newsletter, please complete the request form. If you wish to discontinue receiving this newsletter, please email CITE. How can the IT Center of Excellence assist your institution? At the IT Center of Excellence, 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 Maureen Majury at 425.564.4229. 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 |
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 | | NWCET is a division of Bellevue Community College, and is partially funded by National Science Foundation grants. | 
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