Tech Prep News and Notes

CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION MONTH
Career and Technical Education Month kicks off this Friday. CTE Month begins with Annual National Job Shadow Day on Friday, February 1, and will conclude with National Entrepreneurship Week, which will be celebrated February 23-March 1.

Visit the CTE Month Web site for more information: http://www.acteonline.org/ctemonth/index.cfm

"WEB FIRST" PHILOSOPHY
Read about the "Web First" Philosophy toay and according to the new Digital Future Report, released January 17, the Internet is perceived by users to be a more important source of information than television, radio, newspapers, and books. A few stats..

85% of online visitors age 17 and older consider the Internet to be an important source of information

41% post photos online

50% visit sites like YouTube or Facebook once a week

22% visit YouTube or Facebook at least once a day

45% was important or very important in helping them maintain social relationships

PEW INTERNET VALIDATES YOUTUBE MARKETING
We have been encouraging technology centers to take advantage of online videos, and especially YouTube and TeacherTube, as an important feature in online communications. If you haven’t seen it, we even have an Alliance video on both. This report shows that 48% of regular Internet users have been to a video site. Daily traffic to sites like this has doubled in just about a year and it is expected to grow.

Find the full report at www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/232/report_display.asp

EMAIL MARKETING
"Email 2008: Top 10 Research Findings and Practical Ways to Increase Email Performance" at www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=30249

UGC SUPER BOWL ADS
According to USA Today, viewers will see user generated content (UGC) from Doritos, Canon, KFC, Upper Deck and maybe more.

Details of some of the contests advertisers used to generate the content are at
www.usatoday.com/money/advertising/2008-01-21-super-bowl-ads-consumers_N.htm

What a great opportunity for students within Marketing Career Majors or Communications Career Majors to create advertising for your technology center and specific career majors to be shown at recruitment fairs.

4-H
Great ideas can come from all around us and many program elements can be infused into our delivery. Here are a few examples from the National Association of Extension 4-H Agents. You will need to register and it is free.

Rural After-School Programs: Meeting the Needs of At-Risk Youth and Their Families
Developmentally-Responsive Relationships During After School

Addressing the Needs of Children of Offenders: The 4-H LIFE Model

GOT PICTURES?
Are you or your students working on presentations and need quality images that are available in the public domain? There are several options that you can use in the classroom or in your presentations.

Wikimedia Commons: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
Morgue File: http://www.morguefile.com/
YotoPhoto: http://yotophoto.com/
National Biological Information Infrastructure: http://images.nbii.gov/

These are mostly free though you should always check the individual photographs copyright information.

ALLIANCES AND COLLEGE TRANSITION

WHAT IS THE MOST INNOVATIVE EDUCATION INSTITUTION IN THE U.S.?
“The community-college movement in the United States has been one of the most creative, productive and generally successful education initiatives anywhere on the planet,” according to a recent Chronicle Review. To support this statement, the author points to the accessibility of community colleges and their ability to educate non-traditional students. Community colleges, as the author suggests, might be the resource that America needs to retrain the existing workforce as baby boomers retire.
http://chronicle.com/review/brainstorm/trachtenberg/the-two-year-college-experience

GOVERNORS’ CUP
The Donald W. Reynolds Governor's Cup isa statewide business plan competition for college students. The competition is open to undergraduate and graduate students, and cash prizes will be awarded for first, second and third place. Encourage your former students to particiapte.

For more information and to apply to compete by March 7, visit www.okgovernorscup.org.

CAREER MAJORS

NATIONAL GRANTS TO TRAIN WORKERS IN ENERGY, CONSTRUCTION AND SKILLED TRADES
The Employment and Training Administration (ETA) recently announced the availability of $10 million in grants to train workers for careers in energy, construction and the skilled trades. A webinar for prospective applicants will be held on February 1, 2008 and grant applications are due March 25, 2008.

See http://www.doleta.gov/usworkforce/whatsnew/eta_default.cfm?id=1799


PREPARATORY SERVICES

High School/High Tech Program Manual
From the National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability for Youth provides a foundation for developing partnerships to help young people with disabilities prepare for jobs in technology related occupations. High School/High Tech is a national network of state and locally operated programs designed to provide young people with all types of disabilities the opportunity to explore jobs or further education leading to technology-related careers.
http://www.ncwd-youth.info/resources_&_Publications/hsht_manual.html

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

GOOGLE TEACHER RESOURCES
A listing of Google resources and testimony from instructors of how they have integrated the technology into their classrooms.
http://www.google.com/educators/index.html

INNOVATIVE TEACHERS
From Microsoft, a worldwide resource of innovation in the teaching profession.
http://www.innovativeteachers.com/

WEB 2.0 FOR THE CLASSROOM
We talk about how to use Web 2.0 technologies for recruitment and communication, but how ca Blogs, social networks, wikis and online learning communities be used in the classroom? Students can publish class portfolios on blogs or social-networking sites and brainstorm or share ideas via wikis or school-based learning communities. http://www.redorbit.com/news/education/1233658/social_technology_as_a_new_medium_in_the_classroom/