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The system provides Iowa community colleges with access to view and change curricular details for all state-approved CTE programs offered in the state. Consultants at the Iowa Department of Education also use the system for reviewing new programs and program modifications.
Several CurricUNET “superusers” across the state's 15 community colleges have already put in many hours of testing the META version to make sure that courses, programs, and curriculum modification processes all operate as planned. A key advantage of the META version is the way in which state and local college data will be drawn. Rather than pulling from two separate databases that interact with each other, as the current system does, META will draw the data from a single database.
During the next few months, Governet, the curriculum management system software vendor, will complete several requests called “tickets” to ensure the META system is ready to go live. The revised timeline includes short periods of targeted testing by the state and college-identified users to verify that the tickets were implemented correctly. Time is also needed to create updated training materials for general use and system understanding, and by colleges to train on local uses. It is anticipated that colleges will start using the new META system by January 2018 for all curriculum changes.
Contact Chris Russell, education consultant for program quality, at chris.russell@iowa.gov or 515-725-2247 for more information. The public may view all currently approved programs at http://www.curricunet.com/iowa_doe/index.cfm.
Celebrity Mike Rowe, best known for his work on the Discovery
Channel's hit TV series Dirty Jobs, is coming to Iowa to help build awareness
of the opportunities in the skilled trades.
The event is scheduled for Thursday, September 28 from 4 to 8 p.m., and will include a vendor
exhibit and networking opportunity from 4 to 6 p.m. with the dinner and program
immediately following.
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Turning one’s life around isn’t that easy when you’ve had past
run-ins with the law. With a felony in his past and no high school diploma,
Kirk Howard had many doors closed in his face.
“I found myself looking at my life and seeing that I wasn’t
getting any younger,” Howard said. “But after my trouble with the law, it was a
lot harder to go out and get a job. It just wasn’t that easy.”
When Howard
walked through the doors of Hawkeye Community College's Metro Center he
intended to work on his high school equivalency diploma (HSED), but ended up
with a whole lot more.
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Today’s energy industry is rapidly changing and growing with influences in science, engineering, finance, business, policy, and even
design. With many high-growth career opportunities in Iowa and the nation, it
is important for students to see themselves working in energy.
To give students, parents, and educators a better understanding of
what jobs in energy look like, the Iowa Sector Partnership Leadership Council
worked with the Iowa Department of Education, the Iowa Energy Workforce Consortium
(IEWC), the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning, and Iowa Central
Community College to develop a new tool that can be used when talking with
students. Matching personality traits and skills with different high-demand
jobs in energy, the Opportunities in Energy: Iowa tool shows how career
opportunities exist for every type of person, no matter interest or skill.
Jolene Rogers, executive director of community and business
relations at Iowa Lakes Community Colleges and convener of the energy sector
partnership in Northwest Iowa, identified the lack of people in the pipeline as
one of the major challenges facing Iowa’s energy employers. Career pathway
maps, like the 'Opportunities in Energy: Iowa' tool, are important to show
different types of jobs at varying levels of training and education, from
noncredit training over the course of several days, to two- and four-year
degrees and beyond.
“Employers in our area are expanding, but they compete for
talent,” Rogers said. “There are great careers along a continuum of training,
certification, and education levels. These are well-rounded jobs with
advancement opportunities and the skills are transferable to many areas.”
The Iowa
Sector Partnership Leadership Council, which helps identify best practices, provides
direction, and serves in a formal advisory role for the state’s sector
partnerships, previously released a similar tool focusing on careers in information
technology.
Questions about the new energy tool, and sector partnerships in general, can be directed to Joe Collins, education program consultant, at joe.collins@iowa.gov or 515-725-0646. More information, resources, and an interactive map to locate
sector partnerships across Iowa can be found on the Department’s website.
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