FY06 New Look Final Report Illinois Central College
Contact: Illinois Central College Special Academic Services Lisa White One College Drive, Room 215E East Peoria, IL 61635-0001 Phone: (309) 694-4409
[email protected] Contact: Illinois Central College Business & Information Systems Trudee Bremer One College Drive, Room TC110 East Peoria, IL 61635-0001 Phone: (309) 694-8807
[email protected]
Project Title: Get Connected to IT at ICC Special Population Targeted: Students pursuing nontraditional careers Implementation Date: March 14, 2006 ♦ Self-Study Conclusions The self-assessment exercise revealed that ICC had not been utilizing its existing resources to provide outreach and recruitment activities to prospective nontraditional students. The college has focused on providing assistance and support to nontraditional students after they have enrolled in programs. Outreach is critical to increasing the numbers of students participating in nontraditional programs and has been done in a limited way through mini-grants in the previous 4 years. Research strongly suggests that nontraditional role models play a pivotal role in a young person’s career choice, as well as exposure to high-skill, highwage occupations. Women and young girls have a tendency to underestimate their abilities in nontraditional fields, especially math and science-related areas, and often need to experience interactive demonstrations of the skills and abilities needed for these careers. When they ‘do’ the work, they are able to visualize themselves in those occupations that they previously thought unavailable to them. Careers in information technology dominate the lists of fastest-growing occupations at both the state and national levels. The fields of computer programming, networking, web development and multimedia offer tremendous opportunities for women. Although women are attending college at approximately the same or higher rates than men, they are still choosing education and health care professions in large percentages. The average age of students at ICC in the programming, networking, and web development programs is 33. Students who have been out of high school at least a decade or more are enrolling in these programs at a much greater rate than recent graduates. ICC would like to target high school females at this event to inform them of these opportunities. 33% of the faculty are women in these areas and will serve as excellent role models, along with the female students who are presently enrolled.
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Project Plans The long-term goal of this project is to increase female participation in college programs leading to technical and well-paying nontraditional occupations. The short-term goals, based on our research, are to inform a younger population of female learners of the multitude of opportunities available in information technology. We will also broaden the idea that only students interested in math and science are a good fit for IT careers. Action goals include; inviting girls enrolled in our high schools to the community college for a conference focusing on careers in information technology; exposing them to interactive demonstrations of the coursework in internetworking, computer programming, web design, and multimedia facilitated by female instructors and students. We accomplished the short-term and action goals by hosting a conference for 47 high school girls at the college on March 14, 2006. Attached is the summary of the evaluations that were completed by the participating students. Support The Get Connected to IT at ICC conference was a collaboration with ICC’s Perkins-funded program, Special Academic Services, and the Business & Information Systems Department at the college. It was also a recruitment activity designed to introduce and interest high school females in the programs at ICC that lead to careers in Information Technology. Outcomes It is expected that this event will increase our percentage of students participating in a nontraditional program within the next 2-3 years. Both sophomore and junior students attended this event. Activities The “Get Connected to IT at ICC” conference was held on March 14, 2006. 47 high school females participated and the conference was held in the Technology Center, the Lecture Recital Hall, and the Multimedia labs at Illinois Central College. Students attended three interactive workshops in the morning lasting approximately 35 minutes each. They were given flash drives to begin their day and were able to save all work to take with them from each session. They were introduced to computer programming and the new gaming program that ICC will be offering. They visited gaming sites to see the design work involved in this growing profession. They went on to the computer networking, or CISCO program, which was a summary of the type of coursework required for networking. Students visited the lab to make their own cables and learn the different applications for each type of cable. From there they went to a session on website design and did some basic design work. Pizza was served at lunch and students received several door prizes including posters, mugs, and a free gift of class at ICC. Students then participated in a panel discussion with women employed in Information Technology careers. They included a computer programmer, advertising firm project manager, graphic designer, computer technician, and a business owner of a technology service company. Students concluded their day in a multimedia lab working in Adobe Photoshop. All their work was saved on their own flash drives and taken with them. Attached is the agenda for the conference.
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Sustainability Sustainability involves a continued focus on connecting the target population with the community college. This means highlighting nontraditional programs at the college each year to area high school students. Whether this can be done on a large or small scale depends on the availability of resources, money and people, that can be utilized for activities and events each year. Dissemination This project was displayed at the Connections conference held in Springfield this year. Information will also remain available through ICSPS and ICC. Congratulations ICC President Dr. John S. Erwin Illinois Central College One College Drive, L419 East Peoria, IL 61635-0001
[email protected] Associate Dean of Community Outreach Kay Sutton Illinois Central College-North Campus 5407 N. University, Cedar 51 Peoria, IL 61635
[email protected]
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Associate Dean of Business & Information Systems Matt Hertzog Illinois Central College One College Drive, TC 204 East Peoria, IL 61635-0001
[email protected] ♦ Quantitative Information 47 students participated in this event from 9 different high schools. Faculty and students from 5 different college programs presented the sessions. There were 6 presenters on the Women in Technology panel discussion and numerous volunteers who helped from throughout the college. A summary of the evaluations from participants is attached with this report. All participating students and faculty received a t-shirt and flash drive as well as a folder full of information on careers in technology. Expenditures (Attachment A)
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Please return the completed final report by June 30, 2006 By e-mail at
[email protected], or By mail at ICSPS, 705 E. Lincoln St., Suite 313, Normal, IL 61761. Attention: Connie Borowski
Attachment A Funding for this project was supplemented by the Perkins grant at Illinois Central College.
NEW LOOK FY 06 FINAL BUDGET Illinois Central College
Please indicate dollar amounts $0 $0 $0 $0 $ 1,320.00 396.05 77.90 106.05 100.00 $ 2,000.00
Budget
Salaries Employee Benefits Contractual Services Travel Expenses Other Expenditures Flash Drives T-shirts Door prizes (posters) Speaker gifts Printing Total