Agenda | Minutes | Email on Internships
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Joint Manatee and
Sarasota Schools and Advisory Committee Meeting
Time/Date: Wednesday April 29, 2009 from 3:30-5:00 Location: Manatee Community College Technology Building (Bldg 19) Room 19-158 The Technology Building is basically in the middle of campus, immediately north of the Student Center (Bldg 14). 19-158 is our main computer lab in Bldg 19.
Agenda
Please read Minutes from last meeting before we start our meeting (printed on back) Please read Purpose of Advisory Committee Meeting before we start our meeting – (see below) 1. Opening Remarks: Dr. Idelia Phillips, Director of Career and Technical Education, MCC 2. Introductions – please be very brief as you introduce yourselves: company, name, 1 sentence 3. Review Key Issues from last meeting 4. Current Programs highlights. Each college/institute will have 2-3 minutes to present and provide handouts. 5. Internships: why are they not as successful as they can be? How can we make them more successful? Should an Internship be a required course for students without an IT job? From last meeting - Diane Frenz (Manatee County): “Interns for most part have worked out well. Not a lot of MCC student apply, perhaps because many openings require experience.” 6. Follow up and Open discussion on: From last meeting - Eileen (Bealls): “Lack of project planning skills. Not well-trained socially to work as a team.” From
last meeting - Bruce Williams (City of Bradenton): “Needs a well rounded
adaptable and cross trainable person. 7. New Technology Trends? New Software Trends? Other Recommendations or Comments? 8. Summarize discussions 9. Next Meeting – Set date and time 10. Adjourn
Depending on the institution, the Purpose of an Advisory Committee is to provide assurance, through technical expertise and resources that: (1) A career and technical degree program meets the needs of business, industry and government, and the community it is designed to serve, and (2) The career and technical education degree program graduates are skilled, knowledgeable and capable of performing entry-level job duties in the field in which they are trained. Specifically, the advisory committees are designed to assist the educational institutions and their staff in the long-range planning of programs, to review curriculum for relevance to the changing needs of our community, and to provide insights into employment needs in Manatee and Sarasota counties.
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Email on Internships sent on April 20: Hi All – in the past two or three years you have asked for MCC students to fill an internship for your company. I advertized your Internship request by BCC email to over 300 students. I would like to thank the 14 companies that I have sent this email to for your support in the past. We are trying to improve our internships program. It would be very helpful if you could reply to this email and answer the following questions: Only 2 replies out of 14 emails. Employer 1 wrote: “1 replied, asking if about "intern credits" ()which I refered back to MCC for answers, never got back…thought what I was offering to teach had value…” But employer 1 never replied back to me and neither did the student. I used to include at the top of every email about internships: “Students - please let me know if you apply, and especially please let me know if you get the job. Also let me know if the employer does not reply back to your inquiry. The Employer should reply back to each student who applies.” So from now on I will also include this with every email about internships: “The Employer should reply back to winterf@mccfl.edu and let me know if they received any replies and if I can do anything else.”
Employer 2 wrote: “Several years ago I sent a paid position description which you circulated. I only received a few responses, and none of them worked out. If I recall correctly, one of the people did meet the job requirements, but they were difficult to contact, and by the time I was able to reach them, they had taken another position. I’d emphasize to your students that it is important to respond immediately to positions they are interested in.
Thanks for the opportunity to provide feedback, and for your efforts to continually improve the program.”
Agenda | Minutes | Email on Internships
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MCC-USF Joint Advisory Committee Minutes 05/02/08
Present: Patty Harshbarger, Gary Lill, Bruce Williams, Eileen Sullivan, George Vensel, Diane Frenz, Alex (?kaiser), Jim Bode, Bob Donovan, Patti Roy, Rick Walsh, Vera Bourenita, Greg Mallay, Pam Doer, Dr. Bonnie Jones, Jane Rose, Hillary (?), Floyd Winters, Sunnita Lodwig, Heather Mills
I. Introductions II. Program/Business Updates since last meeting A. Sunnita Lodwig: Bundling courses towards specializations. IT Security- 9 courses. Certificate to be offered in the Fall. Based on market studies/needs looking into web development and design, database specialization, service oriented architecture. Program completely online except for one class. Synchronous, interactive/blended. Using Illuminate. BS in IT for AA transfer. BSAS for AS transfer. IT Security, Web Development. Working on Graduate program still undefined at this date. Post baccalaureate certificate programs. B. Vera (MTI): CIW certification, continuing with CISCO, Computer repair and maintenance. Net Plus, A+, Vista, 2003 Server. C. Jim Bode (MCC): Condensing of the MCC programs, offering specializations in Computer Info. Technology, Network Administration and Security, Computer Programming and Analysis. As requested, started offering more Linux/Unix. D. George Vensel: Represents infrastructure and MIS not familiar with school academies. However, internal switch to emphasize security. Lost some staff due to budgets. May have some computer repair internships to offer in the future. Problem exists with staff being weary of students. Trust issues and responsibility over them. E. Kaiser University: Consolidation of accredited IT AS Degree. From 18 course t o12 core courses. 4 week semesters. Security, open source systems, Microsoft. Scaled back Novell. Currently looking at web/database certificate. Articulation with USF in process to transition to BSAS.
III. Feedback- Where are we lacking? A. Diane Frenz- Interns for most part have worked out well. Not a lot of MCC student apply, perhaps because many opening require experience. Have used some Kaiser interns as well. Graphic arts interns are needed as company looks to design new web site. Problem exists with interns looking for more money than what is being offered. B. Patty Harsbarger: Interns have the technical skills and brains. They are however lacking in soft skills, business knowledge, interpersonal and basic work ethic training. C. Eileen (Bealls): Lack of project planning skills. Not well trained socially to work as a team. Need task management training. Too much emphasis on the technology and not enough on planning and critical thinking or being able to think and act alone. Need quality control training as well. Would help greatly if program offered a segment on retail industry IT issues. System analysis and design skills needed. Vertical training, exposure to vendor/business relationship skills/training. Be ready to adapt and learn and not focus on one specialty or software. D. Gary Lill (Bay Systems): Can not use the interns from MCC because they lack PMI certification. E. Bruce Williams (City of Bradenton): Needs a well rounded adaptable and cross trainable person. City has specific software that would be learned upon hire. Needs people with basic application/processing skills. Many of the areas are outsourced and contractors are hired to train employees. ** Many businesses are seeking people with Project Mgmt. Certification. USF is offering classes to enable student to pass the certification, however none of the institutions are currently offering the certification.** ** Bealls asked if someone could offer SAP training onsite or online for Bealls employees** F. Customer service/vendor simulation training G. Team project to get student used to working with a team. Nobody present needs a “one man” unit.
IV. Other Recommendations/Concerns A. Eileen (Bealls): Would it be possible to get an intern for P/T 10-20 hours various days and times that would correlate with a current class MCC or USF offers to give the students “real world” experience that would apply to their class? (both MCC and USF could offer flexible internships and possibly tie it into program coursework) B. Diane Frenz- sees the need to focus more attention on web based applications in combination with open source C. Skills depending on environment. For example Bealls needs someone with SAP portal skills for self service web platform. Needs basic understanding, data driven, of the existing tools. D. V. Summary of Topics Discussed A. Project Management certification B. Soft skills a MUST C. Well rounded adaptable not so specific in skillset. D. Internship flexibility with regards to hours and pay E. System design and analysis skills needed F. Business skills and training needed
Respectfully submitted by Heather Mills 05/06/08
Agenda | Minutes | Email on Internships
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