ACTE's Industry Connect Blog

National Kitchen & Bath Association

Want to teach the next best thing?

Virtualization has become the hottest topic in technology. Why do we need to know about virtualization? Because virtualization is becoming as universal as smartphones
Virtualization is the process of creating a software-based (or virtual) representation of something rather than a physical one. Talk about saving companies a lot of money.
Just about every household now utilizes Netflix for streaming video? What’s their secret? Software! Our whole world is moving to software virtualization.
Why is this important? It is difficult to fill many of these jobs globally and is definitely the next big thing to teach our students.

Educational Pathways

It’s an exciting time to be in IT. It’s a field where you continuously learn new skills. Much of IT is knowing the technology but also knowing how to solve problems and recognize patterns.
How do you start a career in technology? Many high schools offer IT programs for students to learn the basics and continue this career path in a two-year technical college or university.
Certifications Matters and Salaries are Up
Top IT jobs, top IT pay and top IT certification surveys for the last six years, show at least one virtualization entry in every single one of them. Wow!
That makes a strong case that virtualization is a good set of skills and knowledge for any IT professional.
While there are different levels of VMware certification, the average salary range for this type of certification is between $45,604 and $148,406. The more certifications achieved. the higher a salary. Look at www.indeed.com for your city for the demand for VMware engineers.

Why VMware?

VMware, Inc. is a global leader in cloud infrastructure and digital workspace. VMware recognizes the need to provide knowledge to train our future workforce. With that in mind, we have just rolled out our NEW Introduction to Virtualization course.
Introduction to Virtualization is a free online course to anyone and powered by our partner NDG. Upon completion, the student will receive a VMware Digital Badge.

Try it first-hand by clicking on “Launch Course”.  It really is a super entry-level offering for anyone looking to learn more about virtualization.

 

Some of the features include:  

• Easy-to-read course material, divided into sections with graphics.
• Videos that illustrate and reinforce the course material.
• Four (4) new VMware Workstation labs from NETLAB+ that provide hands-on experience

If you want to recommend a course to students so that they can be a Help Desk, Systems Admin, IT support Specialist, or other IT related job, this is the course for them.   

If any school is interested in becoming a VMware IT Academy to teach additional courses, please email it-academy@vmware.com.   For more information: www.vmware.com/go/academy

National Wood Flooring Association

Woodwork Career Alliance Blazes a Trail for Rewarding Careers

Technological advances continue to transform how furniture, cabinets and other wood products are designed, manufactured, assembled and finished. In addition to developments like the advent of five-axis machining centers and robotic finishing lines, mainstay industry workhorses - table saws, moulders, sanders, etc. - have been improved to be more productive and safer to operate.

The woodworking technology revolution has spawned great career opportunities for CAD/CAM programmers, CNC operators and other essential skilled positions that are in high demand but short supply.

Enter the Woodwork Career Alliance of North America.

The WCA was established 10 years ago to help develop and grow a skilled woodworking workforce. The WCA has created more than 240 measurable woodworking skill standards running the gamut from accurately reading a tape measurer through operating a CNC router. The skill standards are being used to develop woodworking education curricula and industry training programs.

Complementing the Skill Standards is the WCA’s Passport credentialing program. The WCA Passport is a portable, personal and permanent record of woodworking skill achievements. The more than 1,600 students and professionals who currently hold Passports boost their career potential by earning points which are awarded each time they demonstrate their proficiency of specific woodworking operations covered by the Skill Standards.

More than 100 high school woodworking programs distributed throughout North America are EDUcation members of the WCA. Students enrolled at these institutions are eligible to earn a Sawblade certificate by demonstrating basic skills with a jointer, table saw, portable hand sander and drill press, plus passing an online test.

The Sawblade certificate provides high schools with a way to recognize and celebrate the achievements of their woodworking students. These students are well poised to advance through the credentialing process by accumulating additional Passport points and gaining industry experience.

Together, the WCA Skill Standards and Passport program provide a pathway for a woodworker’s professional development and earnings potential.

Learn more about the WCA and its programs at www.WoodworkCareer.org.

By Rich Christianson

U.S. Army Encourages Wellness and Resiliency Through “Performance Triad”

When you think about the training U.S. Army Soldiers receive, you might first think of stern Drill Sergeants issuing orders, physical training, and belly-crawls through the mud. While these scenarios may be a part of Soldiers’ training to be able to perform at their peak, the U.S. Army also promotes a more holistic type of training through what is referred to as the Performance Triad.

The Performance Triad not only contributes to physical supremacy, but to emotional resilience and cognitive dominance as well, all important to sustaining the Army’s workforce. Getting plenty of rest, eating a nutritious diet, and participating in physical training on a regular basis are all part of the triad, which helps Soldiers achieve and maintain a healthy lifestyle. And this approach extends beyond the individual Soldier as well: when applied more broadly, the elements of the triad are also what keep Soldiers’ families and communities physically, mentally and emotionally fit.

The Army is also working to promote the Performance Triad even more broadly to the nation’s communities at large. The Army knows that healthy lifestyles don’t develop overnight, and simple changes to your daily routine can greatly improve long-term wellness. For instance, going caffeine-free for six hours before bedtime can improve the quality of sleep, and aiming to reach 10,000 steps per day can positively contribute to higher levels of physical fitness.

The elements of the Performance Triad can and should connect with most CTE and other educational programs since healthy workers tend to be happier and more productive.  

The below infographic identifies healthy target behaviors that can be applied by anyone in their daily life – Drill Sergeants optional!

 

 

 

For more information on the Army’s Performance Triad, watch this video http://bit.ly/2fD8QBN or visit the Performance Triad website.

Full video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIl-bnn3C1o

Performance Triad website full link: http://armymedicine.mil/Pages/performance-triad.aspx

We Asked, They Answered: Students Respond to Questions about How We Provide Career Education

Have you ever wondered what career prep programs would look like if students were in charge? At a recent Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) conference, Bright Futures Press invited 57 students representing 16 states, and ranging in age from eighth grade to recent high school graduate, to answer a few questions about the supports they need to prepare for bright futures. Admittedly, these were very informal focus groups, and the questions were not specifically designed with employers in mind, but the responses provide some insight about how we engage students and get them to think about their courses as pathways to employment.

Following is a summary of how the students responded:

We Asked: What’s been your best career prep experience so far?

They Answered:

• School class that sparked interest
• Career fairs, college fairs, and career days
• FCCLA experiences (this could be interpreted as “CTSO experiences”)
• Job shadowing and worksite visits
• Part time-job

We Asked: What’s been your worst career experience so far?

They Answered:

• School class that didn’t live up to expectation
• Career fairs, college fairs, and career days
• Personality tests
• Class speaker (specifically when not given a choice on topic)
• Online career program

We Asked: How good a job is your school doing to prepare you for college and career?

They Answered:

• 40% said Excellent
• 33% said Average
• 27% said Poor

We Asked: What three tools would be most helpful in preparing you for college and career?

They Answered:

• Internships
• Job shadowing
• College & career fairs

Students also suggested a variety of classes they would like to see--career workshops about jobs, activity fairs, career readiness classes, special classes for specific careers, one-on-one courses, college courses in high school, and online courses. And, they shared a wish list that included clubs, camps, early graduation, and free college.

We Asked: Do you know what CTE is?

They Answered:

• 19 students said yes
• 29 students said no

However, after discussing what CTE is, 38 realized that their school does indeed offer CTE courses and 32 indicated that they either were or would be taking a CTE course in the future.

We Asked: Do you know what career pathways are?

They Answered:

Only eight of the students did not know what career pathways are. The career pathways they said they knew the most about are Agriculture, Health Science, Arts & Communication, and Education. The career pathways they are most curious to learn more about are Health Science, Arts & Communication, Human Services, and Business.

We Asked: Has FCCLA helped prepare you for your future career more than any other source?

They Answered:

Twenty-five students said yes, 11 said maybe, 12 said no. Thirty-six students also indicated that they would like to see more of a career focus in FCCLA. Fourteen students said maybe.

These responses, while encouraging on several levels, have engendered even more questions. Bright Futures Press walked away from the sessions with two conclusions:

• We as educators are on the right track. When well-executed, students indicated career fairs and school classes among their best experiences. However, other students indicated these events among their worst experiences which means more needs to be done before we can claim success in adequately preparing students for college and career.
• Students, as the ultimate stakeholder, can help guide the way in getting career education “right.” It’s important that we listen to their input as we seek to improve programming and strengthen connections to employers and careers.

Diane Lindsey Reeves is an author and publisher who has spent many years and lots of ink helping students of all ages figure out what they want to be when they grow up. Her company, Bright Futures Press (www.brightfuturespress.com), is currently focused on providing creative career exploration experiences for middle grade students.

U.S. Army is Increasing its Size by Adding Soldiers in STEM Career Fields

As one of the strongest and most elite teams in the world, the U.S. Army is undertaking a new and determined mission to increase its total size to 1.018 million – an addition of approximately 28,000 Soldiers by Sept. 30, 2017.  

With the deadline quickly approaching, the Army is working tirelessly to find top recruits who are resilient, healthy and have character – a difficult mission as the pool of qualified candidates continues to decline. Today, only 3 out of 10 youth between the ages of 17-24 qualify to serve in the Army, and of that small percentage of qualified candidates, many remain misinformed about the opportunities that the Army offers – both in and out of uniform.

The Army provides more scholarships for college education than any other institution in the country and offers the best training and skills development in more than 200 fields, including engineering, cyber security, medicine, communications, automotive, culinary arts and more. ACTE and the U.S. Army have partnered to create trading cards highlighting CTE careers in the Army. For more information about Army CTE careers that are currently in demand, check out our new Army Trading Cards here: http://bit.ly/

The Army continues to invest in its leaders because education is key to the success of the whole organization, especially in its various missions. The Army provides its Soldiers the tools and resources to pursue life-long education and a successful career, so that Soldiers never have to sacrifice one for the other, but instead can enjoy the benefits of both.  

By increasing its size, the Army will be able to better meet the challenges of an increasingly uncertain security environment. The increase in Soldiers will also strengthen the capabilities of the total force, including the active component which will increase by 16,000, the Army National Guard which will increase by 8,000, and the Army Reserve which will increase by 4,000.

As the Army works to enlist top talent, it will use a variety of personnel management tools to meet the new troop strength requirement, including recruiting and retention bonuses and a focus on officer retention.  The Army is also offering enlistment contracts as short as two years for almost 100 military occupational specialties, which also include benefits for education.

Though the number of men and women eligible to serve in the Army remains small, the Army’s mission remains ambitious – to continue to recruit top-quality Soldiers that demonstrate the attributes of strong leaders.

For more information about the opportunities the Army provides, please visit www.goarmy.com or talk to an Education Services Specialist at your local recruiting battalion.

These are just a few of the military occupational specialties to which the U.S. Army is adding additional personnel this year. To see others, visit http://bit.ly/2uhB1wl

 

Full link: https://www.acteonline.org/general.aspx?id=12284#.WVpY3JLytEY

Creating a Sustainable Solution

By Kirstyn Quandt, NCCER

According to the Construction Labor Market Analyzer, by 2019 we are expected to have a deficit of 1.5 million craft professionals. Just let that sink in for a moment. We aren’t talking about a few positions here and there that can easily be filled with a catchy job posting; we are talking about the future and longevity of the construction industry’s entire workforce.

While labor shortage predictions and skills gap statistics continue to flood our industry’s newsfeeds, what’s unclear is the sustainable solution. How do we effectively recruit, train and retain the next generation of craft professionals?

We have attempted to adapt recruitment and training strategies with technological trends and compete with the four-year degree frenzy that is sweeping the nation, but unfortunately, we continue to come up short. So let’s try looking at things a little differently.

Think about the bridges you drive across every day, the schools your children attend or the office buildings you work in. These structures that we rely on define the course and functionality of our day. Without the knowledge, hard work and skill of each and every craft professional, our lives would inevitably look and run quite differently. But most times, we don’t stop to think about all of that. Instead, we see just another grocery store, road, power plant or apartment complex.

But if we stop to imagine each and every pipefitter, electrician, plumber and welder responsible for its sturdy and safe foundation, we may not be so quick to dismiss it as just another building built by just another group of men and women. And furthermore, we may carry that same thread of unwavering respect for the crafts and their contributions to society into conversations we have with youth about career success.

We know that students everywhere crave a career aligning their passion with a purpose. Whether that is buried deep inside a research lab, behind a camera or underneath a hard hat, it is up to educators, parents and role models to encourage individuals to discover the career path suited to their individual personality and lifestyle. Traditional, nontraditional, in a classroom or out in the field, there are many opportunities beyond the sampler platter of four-year majors commonly presented to high school students. It’s time we, as a society, redefine career success and encourage students to consider all of their options.

5 things employers can do right now to help close the STEM skills gap

By Thomas Lichtenberger, CEO, Festo Didactic, Inc.

This is the final entry in a three-part series about closing the STEM skills gap. Previous installments covered what high school teachers and colleges and universities can do right now to better prepare students for jobs of the future.

STEM-related industries are on the rise. Driven by rapid technological advancements, jobs in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) are growing faster than overall employment. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce's Economics and Statistics Administration, STEM occupations are expected to increase by 8.9 percent from 2014 to 2024. At first glance this would seem to be good news for employers, but these statistics come with a significant drawback: Despite these growing job numbers, employers are having difficulty filling available positions due to lack of applicants and lack of requisite skills among many who do apply. The result, as reported by the Brookings Institution, is that STEM jobs remain vacant twice as long as their non-STEM counterparts. Beyond the frustration of not filling these positions quickly, prolonged vacancies also create financial losses for companies. CareerBuilder found job vacancies of three months or longer can cost companies upwards of $14,000.

So, who or what is to blame? Some in the industry point the finger at educators, claiming secondary and postsecondary education systems are not doing enough to attract students to STEM fields and not providing appropriate skills training. However, educators may be unfairly targeted, because ever-tightening school budgets can make it nearly impossible for schools to keep up with the rapid pace of change in STEM industries.

Employers need to get involved, and there are plenty of avenues for them to do so. To help close the skills gap, employers can:

1. Support local schools – There are myriad ways employers can support schools, including donating time, tools, and talent. Donating equipment to schools can help educators embrace hands-on STEM learning, which helps students to better comprehend challenging concepts. The University of Chicago found that students who engage in experiential learning understand scientific concepts more deeply and score better on science tests. By providing state-of-the-art training equipment for hands-on learning, employers can give students valuable, real-world experiences, providing them with an advantage for working in today’s factories, labs and offices. Companies can also support STEM-related student competitions by donating space, serving as judges or helping to organize such events. Other strategies for supporting schools include backing school initiatives and advocating for better funding, since STEM programs in secondary schools are often sacrificed when budgets are reduced.

2. Share skills requirements – As technologies change, so too do the requirements for STEM-related careers. To help educators remain current on required skills, employers should be sure to share these new qualifications. If communication skills are important for today’s machinists or data visualization skills are essential to being a financial analyst, educators must be kept in the loop. The good news is that educators want to work with the business community. Over half of academics (54 percent) at colleges and universities say they are adjusting their curriculum based on the demands of local employers. Sharing job requirements is a mutually beneficial measure that helps ensure a qualified applicant pool.

3. Serve as a source of expertise – Employers in any of the STEM-related fields have a depth of expertise and knowledge that educators and students alike would love to explore; yet many educators may not know how to go about accessing such a rich resource. By proactively offering their specific expertise, companies can form valuable relationships with local educators and advise on curricula or individual assignments in project- or competency-based education. Even simply speaking in classrooms allows companies to provide inspiration to students as they learn about the evolution of an industry or the “day in the life” of a particular profession. The more students learn about the exciting developments in STEM-related fields, the more impassioned they will be about pursuing such careers.

4. Organize a field trip – Just as employers visiting classrooms can have a motivating impact, hosting students on-site at a company can also foster a passion for STEM. Facilitating visits to observe industry professionals as they perform in the workplace can help students to connect their studies to positive, real-world outcomes. Field trips can be an especially powerful tool for engagement in STEM among younger students by fostering their natural curiosity.

5. Cultivate a capable pipeline – Employer involvement in STEM education can also extend beyond the classroom, creating a pipeline of skilled workers. Apprenticeships, for example, combine classroom learning with on-the-job experience, allowing students to not only apply their classroom theory at a job but also use their hands-on work experience to better understand their coursework. Employers also benefit from apprenticeships, which provide them with a low-risk return on investment in the form of future employees already up-to-speed on the required skills.

The STEM skills gap is real, and is on track to continue growing, but employers don’t have to watch passively from the sidelines. By investing time, skills, and resources to build strong STEM education-to-career pipelines, employers can be part of the solutions that close the gap. Some companies, such as Chevron, Dow Chemical and Texas Instruments, are already taking the initiative. However, true and tangible progress can only be made if more employers become proactive, ensuring not only the successful growth of STEM-related careers, but also their own continuing success as companies.  

About Festo Didactic

Festo Didactic is a leading provider of technical education equipment and training. Festo’s educational solutions evolved from its world-class automation and engineering division and integrates the latest trends in each learning system it offers. The innovative product range from Festo allows educators and trainers to equip their classroom with the technology they need, from individual workstations to complete Learning Factories, as well as training and consulting, eLearning, courseware solutions, and LMS integration. For more information visit http://www.festo-didactic.com/int-en/

Finding a Future in Agriculture

By Christine White, Director, Education Division, National FFA Organization

Each year, teachers across the nation work with students as they begin exploring careers in multiple fields of study. This exploration focuses on interests, educational requirements, individual job accountabilities and expected salaries. Often, teachers and students have overlooked careers in agriculture because of the stigma that these careers only relate to production agriculture.

Until now.

Welcome to AgExplorer, a new career exploration website launched last fall by the National FFA Organization, in partnership with Discovery Education. AgExplorer, available at AgExplorer.com, is a robust, comprehensive career resource to help students explore the broad range of careers within agriculture. 

The featured agricultural careers fit within nine exciting career focus areas: agribusiness; animal; biotechnology; environmental service; food products and processing; natural resources; plant; power, structural and technical; and agricultural education. The website features 235 unique career profiles that each include a description, typical responsibilities, job outlook, educational requirements, average salary, and links to a college and career database as well as a live feed of open jobs for each specific career. More career profiles will be added this summer.

AgCareers.com, the strategic career success partner for the National FFA Organization, worked with industry leaders to identify unduplicated careers in agriculture and developed profiles for each career. AgCareers.com also maintains a database of all two- and four-year colleges and universities that offer some type of agricultural degree; this database is linked to each career profile.

In addition to the career profiles, AgExplorer features nine videos that highlight how each of the career focus areas support the global solution to feeding the world. Students are also able to use the site to explore ideas for an experiential learning project or supervised agricultural experience.  

AgExplorer also offers the Career Finder, an interactive assessment tool designed to help students match careers with their interests. The agricultural career profiles are searchable and filterable to allow users to find careers using terms and categories that appeal to them.

Teachers and students can also take virtual field trips and hear from experts who work in the industry. Our first two field trips took students behind the scenes of the Ford Motor Company and Cargill. During the Ford field trip, students learned how a veterinarian’s vehicle was manufactured. While at Cargill, they explored a variety of diverse careers that play a key role in feeding families across the country. Virtual field trips with Syngenta and Zoetis are planned for 2017. Each virtual field trip is available on AgExplorer.com and includes educational resources to help enhance the experience in the classroom.

AgExplorer is not just for students and teachers; the site is open to anyone, particularly those not familiar with agriculture. Accessing the Career Finder requires a login; click on the Sign In/Register button to begin creating your account.

Agriculture can open a world of possibilities, and the demand for professionals in every agricultural area is high. Careers may have you using advanced equipment, creating new hybrid seeds, raising animals, managing people or designing new products and packaging. Whether your interests lie in biology, carpentry, chemistry, computers, the environment, finances, genetics, health, nutrition, statistics or welding, there is a career in agriculture for you!  Learn more about which career may be right for you by visiting AgExplorer.com.