NEW IT Alliance – June Tech Upload
NEW Digital News
Meet our New Intern - Grace Vanden Heuvel!
Grace is an incoming sophomore at Hortonville High School. In her internship she will be building on the skills she learned in her computer science class, helping support the back end of our websites, helping to update content, learning about social media, and helping build a high school ambassador program for the region.
Happy graduation to all the college and high school students who are receiving their diplomas this spring – in our household alone we had one of each! As the Oshkosh North High School speaker said, “Do not think of receiving your diploma as the end of a journey, but instead look at it as a ticket to your future…whether you are continuing on for education or entering the workforce.” This ties in beautifully with the focus for this year’s NEW IT Alliance’s focus for the coming school year…Career Pathways. We will be kicking things off at our Digital Learning Opportunities report out event on June 13 at Lambeau Field. The annual Digital Learning Opportunities survey explores what opportunities are available for students in kindergarten through high school, both inside and outside of the classroom, to gain exposure to IT concepts. Exposure can occur via hour of code activities, robotics clubs, as well as more formalized computer science classes. The survey also asks school districts for their input on challenges they face in increasing digital learning opportunities for students.
The NEW IT Alliance is using the data to track regional progress toward preparing our youth for a digital workplace. Survey results, along with input from the NEW CS Advisory Board will be used to inform initiatives moving forward. Last year’s Advisory Board meetings focused on mapping and growing classroom opportunities in IT. This year’s focus will be on Career Pathways that show the various activities that build from middle school into an IT career. Elements of this include educating counselors and parents on IT careers, increasing visibility to college programs, and growing the number of employment and exposure opportunities for youth in the form of job shadows, co-ops, and youth apprenticeships. Panelists at the Digital Learning Opportunities event will share their experiences and importance of implementing and participating in IT related youth work opportunities and clubs. This event is geared towards IT professionals, K-12 teachers and administrators, as well as higher ed to help spark a regional conversation. Join us on June 13 to learn more!
Career Pathways Events
This summer and into the fall, the NEW IT Alliance will be continuing to build on the Career Pathways theme with our many events, including:
- July 23: Northeast Wisconsin Collaborative Intern Event – members only
- Aug 22: Cyber Security Event – open to the public
- Sep 26: TechTalent Summit – members only
- Nov 21: NEW Connect IT event – open to the public
More information is, as always, available on our events page.
Summer activities are also part of Career Pathways! Check out all the wonderful events going on this summer:
- THAT Conference in Wisconsin Dells
- Summer camps for kids
- 2019 NSA/NSF GenCyber summer camp for teachers
Summer Reading List
With two graduations, a wedding, and a 25th anniversary to plan and celebrate this summer my reading list is a little shorter than usual. I like to read a variety of genres and explore new ideas. Here are a few of the books I’m currently working on or hope to get through before school starts in September. What’s on your list?
Summer reading list:
- Life After Google: The Fall of Big Data and the Rise of the Blockchain Economy
- Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men
- The Future Computed: Artificial Intelligence and its role in society
- Brave, Not Perfect
- Queen of Scots: True Life of Mary Stuart
- The Book Thief
Regional News
Tapping into an Alternative Workforce for IT Positions
You’ve heard it before. There’s a great pool of people ready and willing to work in the information technology field with a variety of skillsets and experiences. At some point in their lives, these applicants usually have faced challenges that have prevented them from being employed. With a little extra help and an open door for an internship or hire, they can fit in with some of your most basic requirements or more highly skilled needs. They also can fit well into a culture of high expectations and results.
When many of us think of individuals with barriers to employment, we forget these can be individuals who have had a variety of technical positions in the past but may have had unfortunate turns in life, requiring a restart and refocus. They are just looking for an opportunity to jump back in.
Our Goodwill NCW information technology team has been offering IT internships and employment to people with barriers to employment through the guidance of our Vocational Support Services program and the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation for more than 15 years. Their skills and abilities have ranged from very basic to highly developed. Click on the link below to read two examples of the value of providing internships and/or hiring people with barriers to employment.
Help Modernize Wisconsin's Youth Apprenticeship Program
The Wisconsin Youth Apprenticeship (YA) Program is an effective talent-acquisition strategy used by thousands of Wisconsin employers every year.
For an apprenticeship to be valuable to an employer and an employee, the skills expected to be learned in that apprenticeship (contained in what is called the “skill standards checklist”) must match what employers really need and reflect current processes and equipment used on the job. To that end, the Department of Workforce Development (DWD) has begun the process of modernizing the program by updating these checklists along with other aspects of the program.
Five of the eleven broad YA industry areas and the 27 specific occupational areas under them will be addressed in the first year of the modernization. These five are: (1) Finance, (2) Health Science, (3) Hospitality, Lodging and Tourism, (4) Information Technology, and (5) Manufacturing.
The DWD is assembling industry advisory panels for each of these occupational areas to play a key role in the modernization. The employer representatives who serve on these panels will act as subject matter experts and offer their guidance and input regarding the specific skills that should be learned by a youth apprentice in their field.
Improve IT Skills with Webinar Training from Ledgeview Partners
In June, Ledgeview Partners is hosting three webinars and an event to enhance the skills of IT professionals. The event is a group meeting on Salesforce for non-profits covering the topic: Reports + Dashboards, Problem-Solving Together. The webinars will cover topics such as: Increasing and Managing Leads, Microsoft Dynamics 365, CRM, User Adoption and ROI.
To learn more or register for any of these events, visit our events page.
Apprenticeship Now Does IT
Join us for a light breakfast, new program overview, and find out how Information Technology Apprenticeships can help your business on Tuesday, June 4th from 8:30 a.m.-10:00 a.m. The breakfast will be located at Fox Valley Technical College in Chilton, WI.
Apprenticeship is…an employer-sponsored flexible training program that cultivates highly skilled workers meeting the demands of a global economy. Employers grow their own workforce with the help of industry, education and government partners.
For registration or questions about the event, contact Lisa at lisa.perkofski@dwd.wi.gov.
UW Oshkosh Launching Data Analytics Certificate
The topic of data analytics has become increasingly important in a wide range of fields, including business, economics, public policy, journalism, and others. After receiving requests from local employers looking for graduates with advanced data skills to analyze and make decisions based on the ever-growing amount of data available in all organizations, UW Oshkosh has developed a graduate-level certificate in Data Analytics.
The Data Analytics Certificate is a cohort-based graduate-level certificate that students can earn in about 9 months (September to June). Students will learn how to analyze large data sets using a variety of traditional and emerging analysis models, from traditional statistical methods to new machine learning models. The focus throughout will be on solving real-world problems, and as such, students will be offered to bring a real problem they are facing at work, and work on analyzing and solving the problem throughout the program. This analysis project can be completed in a small group of students and will be guided by a faculty member dedicated to each project group.
The certificate is targeted at those who wish to enhance their ability to use and analyze data in their current job positions, rather than those looking to move into professional data science roles. We envision that this certificate will be valuable for a wide range of positions such as marketing analysts, HR specialists, project managers and others who need to make data-driven decisions or communicate a story based on data.
The first cohort, starting in September 2019, is limited to 25 students and will be offered at the UW Oshkosh MBA Executive Center on Ballard Rd in Appleton. Registration is open now.