Jonathan Townes | API Profile

Jonathan

Townes

Hinds Community College

My Conference Goal:

To develop partnerships toward developing a proposal/workforce opportunity to train and educate community college students.

My Project Goal:

The overall goal of the project is to recruit, develop, support, retain, train, transfer to four-year colleges/universities and/or place within the workforce students who are interested in Information Systems Technology (IST) programs such as Computer Networking Technology, Computer Programming Technology, Cyber Security Technology, and Software Engineering Technology.

Project Working Title:

Pathways to obtain Degrees and Certifications (DC) in Technology (IST) through Career and Technical Education (DC-IST)

Project Idea or Description:

The objectives of the project are to (1) increase enrollment in Information Systems Technology (IST) programs; (2) provide development, training, and certifications to students to obtain skills needed for the STEM workforce; (3) create a pathway to increase IST program completion time and engage in further academic coursework; (4) provide four-year university/industry visits and (5) increase graduation rates of students with two-year STEM degrees that can lead to workforce or Bachelor degree matriculation.

How will this idea advance broadening participation in computing?

The project will help policymakers and the public understand the scope of community college’s mission, especially relating to broadening participation of eligible students in STEM related areas. The project has the potential to advance needed STEM learning knowledge at the community college level due to development of a structured STEM multi-instructional system that heavily involves academic and career and technical engagement. The project would leverage, build, and maintain strong relationships/collaborations with high schools and colleges which will serve as a way to enhance learning for students and disseminate information.

A resource or asset that would be very valuable to add to my project:

Most college students studying for degrees in science, technology, engineering or math make the decision to do so in high school or before. However, only 20 percent say they feel that their education before college prepared them “extremely well” for those fields. With this, providing training and insight to high school teacher can increase the spark needed for students to obtain not just STEM degrees but STEM certifications as well.