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Michigan's IT Newsletter

 

Issue #2 -- January 2004

 

Developed by

 

Eileen M. Dittmar

 

IT Consultant and Trainer

 edittmar@charter.net

 

 

This newsletter is a compilation of IT resources available. We are providing this as a resource, not as an endorsement, to assist you with your program planning in the vast area of IT Career Cluster[1] curriculum options.

 

For your Business, Management, and Administration (BMA)[2] or Finance (FN)[3] Cluster program, there are resources for teaching IT User skills.

 

For your IT Program[4], there are resources for teaching IT Producer skills.

 

 

 

 


 

Contents

 

Partnerships. 3

Michigan-Macromedia Partnership. 3

Information Technology Career Cluster Initiative (ITCCI) Partnership with Michigan. 3

Test Out Challenge. 3

Publisher Contact Information. 3

Glencoe. 3

Prentice Hall 3

Thomson Learning (Course Technology and South-Western) 3

Professional Organizations. 4

American Career Technical Education (ACTE) 4

Michigan Association of Computer Users in Learning (MACUL) 4

Michigan Business Education Association (MBEA) 4

National Business Education Association (NBEA) 4

International Society for Technology Education (ISTE) 4

Society for Information Technology Education (SIGTE) 4

Online Resources. 5

Atomic Learning. 5

CertCities. 5

Cybercareers. 5

Educators Website for ITİ.. 5

E-School News. 5

E-Skills. 5

Freeskills. 5

IT Papers. 6

Michigan Teacher Network. 6

Woody's Watch. 6

Industry Resources. 6

Adobe. 6

Cisco. 6

CIW... 6

CompTIA. 6

Elsevier Journal of Systems and Software. 6

ICDL. 6

IC3. 7

Macromedia. 7

Microsoft 7

Microsoft Office Specialist 7

Novell 7

Oracle. 7

TestOut 7

Pre IT Courses. 8

Industry Resource Table. 8

Endnotes. 9

 

Partnerships

 

Michigan-Macromedia Partnership

Macromedia sponsored a Train the Trainer program for Michigan teachers during 2002-2003. Teachers trained to teach the Macromedia Digital Design curriculum trained 87 teachers during the summer of 2003. To obtain the Macromedia Digital Design curriculum and software at a discount contact your Thomson Publishing representative or go to www.course.com.

For additional Macromedia information go to www.macromedia.com/education.

Additional teacher training is planned for summer 2004.

 

Information Technology Career Cluster Initiative (ITCCI)[5] Partnership with Michigan

Michigan joined the partnership with the ITCCI with two pilot sites being aligned to the national standards. The procedures for additional schools to align are available by contacting Karen Pohja, BMMT Pathway Consultant, at pohjak@michigan.gov. The ITCCI information is available at the Educators Website for IT at www.edc.org/ewit/itcci. Also at this website are resources, curriculum, and pilot site information.

 

Test Out Challenge

Michigan has been invited to participate in an IT skill competition sponsored by Test Out, the leading developer of IT skill training and pre-certification testing, There is absolutely no cost or risk associated with participating!  Contact Information: David Blakely, 800-877-4889 ext. 215, dblakely@testout.com.

 

Publisher Contact Information

The following list of publishers have provide resources for IT education and sponsor professional development events for teachers at various workshops and conventions in Michigan.

Glencoe

www.glencoe.com

Prentice Hall

www.prenticehall.com

Thomson Learning (Course Technology and South-Western)

www.thomsonlearning.com; www.course.com; www.swep.com


 

Professional Organizations

 

American Career Technical Education (ACTE)

www.acteonline.org

Association for Career and Technical Education is the largest national education association dedicated to the advancement of education that prepares youth and adults for careers.

 

Michigan Association of Computer Users in Learning (MACUL)

www.macul.org

MACUL provides professional development including online courses from www.atomiclearning.com for its Michigan membership of 8,000 educators

 

Michigan Business Education Association (MBEA)

www.mbeaonline.org

MBEA is the Michigan organization for business education and has annual convention and regional professional development events.

 

National Business Education Association (NBEA)

www.nbea.org

NBEA is the national organization for business educators and has published standards, belief and policy statements, publications; NBEA sponsors professional development events nationwide.

 

International Society for Technology Education (ISTE)

www.iste.org

ISTE is the educational technology professional organization with a worldwide membership of leaders in educational technology. ISTE holds the National Educational Computing Conference (NECC), annually which attracted 16,000 participants in 2003. ISTE's standards for teachers, students, and administrators (NETS) have been adopted by 43 states including Michigan.

 

Society for Information Technology Education (SIGTE)

http://site.it.rit.edu/

The Society for Information Technology Education (SITE) became the ACM (Association for Computing Machining) Special Interest Group for Information Technology Education (SIGTE) mid 2003. Join SIGITE without joining ACM.

 


 

Online Resources

 

Atomic Learning

www.atomiclearning.com

Online tutorials for developing IT User skills; MACUL membership provides a free subscription for its members; school districts can purchase a membership for every building, every teacher, and every home within the district for a nominal fee.

CertCities

www.certcities.com

Online resource for industry certification news, professional development ideas, and keeping abreast of the ever changing industry certification requirements.

 

Cybercareers

www.cybercareers.org/

Provides innovative solutions for middle and high school IT career education.

 

Educators Website for ITİ

www.edc.org/EWIT/ITCCI

To find IT standards, click on Curriculum and Assessment link, select View All; has a good selection of resources pertinent for IT career preparation in secondary schools. Permission granted for educational purposes in Michigan.

E-School News

www.eschoolnews.com

This newsletter has grant information and other pertinent information for educators of technology.

E-Skills

www.e-skills.com

The IT Userİ section of this website has a wealth of information about it user skills developed by e-skills UK Limited; permission granted for educational purposes in Michigan.

Freeskills

www.freeskills.com

Has 11 online courses for free including IT User skill development; a membership option gives access to 450 online courses for $99 per year.

 

IT Papers

www.itpapers.com/

This website is where white papers and media clips on just about everything within the IT field are located.

Michigan Teacher Network

http://mtn.merit.edu/

Supports Michigan educators with 8,000 best practices, curriculum, standards, and professional development resources.

 

Woody's Watch

www.woodyswatch.com

Online newsletter for keeping up to date with IT user skills including operating systems, software applications, and Internet skills.

 

Industry Resources

Each of the following industry websites provide a wealth of information for educators including tutorials and user discussion groups. Some are fee-based at an educator rate, but most offer free resources that are pertinent to your teaching of IT User skills.

Adobe

www.adobe.com

 

Cisco

www.cisco.com

 

CIW

www.ciwcertified.com

 

CompTIA

www.comptia.org

 

Elsevier Journal of Systems and Software

http://www.elsevier.com/locate/issn/01641212

Publishes papers covering all aspects of programming methodology, software engineering and related hardware and software systems issues.

ICDL

www.icdlus.com

 

IC3

www.certiport

 

Macromedia

www.macromedia.com

 

Microsoft

www.microsoft.com

 

Microsoft Office Specialist

www.certiport.com

 

Novell

www.novell.com

 

Oracle

www.oracle.com

 

TestOut

www.testout.com

 


 

Pre IT Courses

(Note: some of the competencies of these Pre-IT courses would fall under the Business, Management, and Administration Cluster (formerly Management Support).

 

Information Technology Fundamentals

Computer Technology and Literacy (as evidenced with IC3 or ICDL)

Microsoft Office Specialist certification (formerly MOUS)

Intro to Web Design and Multimedia

 

Industry Resource Table

 

Information Support & Services

Interactive Media

 

Network Systems

Programming and Software Development

Oracle Database Development

 

CompTIA

iNet+

Novell

CNA

CNE

Microsoft

Certified Professional

MCP

CompTIA

A+

CIW

Foundation and Multiple Professional options

Cisco Certified Network Associate

CCNA

Oracle

Java Developer

CompTIA

Server+

Course Technology

Macromedia

Digital Design

(no certification available)

Microsoft

Certified Professional MCP

Certified System Eng.

MCSE

Sun MicroSystems

Java

CompTIA]

Linux+

Pearson Publishing

Adobe Web Tech

(no certification available)

 

CompTIA

Network+

Security+

 

 

 


 

Endnotes

 



[1] Information Technology Career Cluster Initiative (ITCCI), resources, curriculum, knowledge and skills statements prepared by Education Development Center, Boston, MA, 2002 in collaboration with NWCET, itWorks.OHIO and others; submitted to Federal Career Clusters. Retrieved from www.edc.org/ewit/itcci October 6, 2003; permission granted for educational purposes in Michigan.

[2] Federal Career Clustersİ knowledge and skills statements for 16 federal clusters developed by the National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium, 2002; retrieved from www.careerclusters.org October 6, 2003; permission granted for educational purposes in Michigan.

[3] National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium, 2002.

[4] National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium, 2002.

[5] Education Development Center, Boston, MA, 2002.