Two of California’s greatest strengths: our diversity and our capacity for innovation will continue to grow a strong economy. California has excellent schools, universities and global technology leaders such as Cisco, Adobe, Apple, Facebook, Google and Oracle. The California
K-16 education system is responding to the need to produce career and college ready students through the adoption of new model Career Technical Education (CTE) standards. This is an interesting and rewarding time to be involved with technology!
The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector stands out as one of the top opportunities for students with jobs projected to increase by 27% making the ICT sector the fastest growing career cluster through 2018. Essential skills for careers in the ICT sector include understanding systems that support the management and flow of data, the ability to work well and communicate clearly with people, and the ability to manage projects efficiently.
California is also fortunate to have education "champions" that support our schools and teachers through innovative programs including Cisco and Adobe staff who participated in the development of the new CTE standards for the ICT sector. The National Science Foundation supports the Mid-Pacific ICT project hosted by San Francisco City College, the Exploring Computer Science project hosted by the University of California Los Angeles, and the University of California at Davis C-STEM Center. Non-profit organizations that have greatly assisted ICT teachers include the Industry Initiatives for Science and Math Education program founded in 1985 through the vision of David Packard, co-founder of Hewlett-Packard (HP); and, ICT sector advocacy provided by the World Organization of Webmasters (WOW) through its WhyITNow.Org website and advocacy initiatives.
It is important for California to continue and increase support for teachers and schools who teach ICT subjects because the instructional content in this subject is constantly evolving. A regular challenge for teachers in the ICT career sector is to "refresh" instruction to make sure the knowledge and skills students learn will help them be successful in their careers and college. This coming year, Bill Cullifer, Executive Director of the WOW organization is launching an advocacy program to increase ICT support. Support for the ICT sector is important because there is high demand and high wages for employees that have ICT skills and because ICT is the driving force of innovation behind the efficiency initiatives of all career clusters.
This was article originally published in Techwire Magazine.
