Posted: Might 10, 2010
The large college instructor understands how to give a lecture, but is not quite present in regards to the most current technologies in laptop or computer science. The IT professional is up-to-speed on laptop or computer science, but does not know how to produce a lesson strategy, or deal with an unruly teenager within the classroom. Jointly, nevertheless,
Office 2007 Enterprise, they may be studying from one one more.
"Pedagogy is what I am finding out from them, while I'm bringing my IT skills,
Office Enterprise 2007, which they don't have, to them," says Devon Smith, 46, who spent more than 20 years working for Dow Jones & Co. as a software engineer, before leaving the company in 2006. "Everybody is helping everybody."
The three-year program, called Operation Reboot, is trying to help 30 IT professionals—ten each year—re-enter the workforce as high university personal computer science teachers. The program, run by the Georgia Institute of Technology's college of computing in collaboration with the Georgia Teacher Alternative Preparation Program (GaTAPP),
Office Professional 2007, pairs an IT worker with an existing computing teacher.
They co-teach at least two computing classes for one year, allowing the IT professional to learn the ins and outs of the classroom,
Office 2010 Key, and the teacher to get an education in information engineering. The National Science Foundation is funding the program through $2.5 million in grant money, as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
In Georgia, teachers need only a business certification to teach laptop or computer science. As a result, "a lot of people who teach laptop or computer science classes don't have any formal training in pc science," says Barbara Ericson, director of computing outreach at Georgia Tech's college of computing. "So the idea was to match up people who have the knowledge and background in pc science, but don't necessarily understand how to teach."
Each of the IT workers is taking courses with GaTAPP to obtain a teacher's certification. They have three years to finish. Georgia Tech pays the $5,000 in fees. Since there is no certification in personal computer sciences, the IT professionals concentrate on math, science or business. The IT workers and the teachers also attend classes at Georgia Tech, which provides courses on how you can teach personal computer science.
Furthermore, the teachers and the IT workers both attend workshops once a month throughout the university year and week-long workshops inside the summer. Each duo also is assigned a "mentor," an experienced laptop or computer science teacher, who meets with them periodically to talk concerning the issues they are encountering in their schools, and offers suggestions to enhance their laptop or computer teaching skills. The teachers receive new textbooks for their classes, and stipends totaling about $2,250 for attending the sessions.
"The idea is to get them both trained in better ways to teach pc science," Ericson says. "Sometimes, you're the only personal computer science teacher in the college, and it's hard to discuss things with anyone else at the college because nobody understands what you are talking about."
For the one-time pc professionals, "it's now a extremely different lifestyle," Ericson says. "School is different."
Smith, who teaches in an inner-city Atlanta large university, agrees. "It's been a little rough," he says. "Many of these students bring different issues into the classroom from day to day. But I'm committed to doing this."
With a homemaker wife and three children, one particular of them in college, he's happy to be using his skills from the workplace again. Each IT worker receives a monthly stipend of $3,410 for 11 months, and the use of a laptop while inside the program. "It's been a good experience, "Smith says. "I'm making it work, and I get a lot of support."
He wishes, nonetheless, that the schools had newer, more up-to-date computer equipment for their students. "They're not the best,
Windows 7 Download," he says. "They're old. They definitely need some upgrading."
Still, "some of the kids really like computers. Their faces really light up when I take over. It's different from what they're used to," he says. "Initially, the kids didn't see where computers would help. I have to remind them that what they learn here will absolutely affect everything they will be doing, that, whatever it is, somehow a computer will be involved."