Speakers
Kyle Jones, Department Chair, Computer Science and Information Technology
M.T. Hickman, CMP, CRECP, Program Coordinator and Lead Faculty, Dallas College (formerly known as Richland College)
Matthew Cloud, Department Chair/Associate Professor, School of IT, Ivy Tech Community College
Transcript
How to Crosswalk Competency Models for Curriculum Development.
Development of the Programmatic Curriculum
Working with Industry Advisory Boards
The way we worked with our advisory board is they had buy in from the beginning. They are industry professionals and they were also wondering, "Are we really teaching the skills we need to be successful?"
Well we bring them together, and we look at the curriculum together. We are going through the gap analysis right now. So we are in the process. So, the first thing we are doing is comparing what we are doing with the tools in the competency model.
Engaging with New Industry Representatives
Every single one of our program is built with an industry team. Take for instance our recent data analytics program. It was very hard for us to get that going because we are the first community college to have a data analytics program at an associates level.
I go and look for job openings for that specific job. We found out there is a large employer in southern Ohio area, Kroger the food retailer. Well they have a large data analytics department. So, we reach out to that department and say, "Hey, do you have someone who would like to help build a program with the community college here?"
And as odd as that might sound like a cold call, we have great feedback from our companies. We have Kroger and Honda both reached out to us instantly to say they wanted to be a part because they saw the lack of data analytic professionals.
The way that we started the process, we were trying to figure out what skills a student needs. So we started with a programing language. We drilled it down to five skills and built a survey in Google Docs. We handed it to them at the meeting. I had iPad and tablets ready at the meetings and they answered the questions as a part of our meeting, I also sent it back out to them. We had about 95% feedback from these meetings, getting them involved. Letting them know their answers were going to be used in the development of the program.
That really got employers involved because it felt like they had a voice. That if they filled this out, we could develop a program out of their recommendations. What's nice is taking their recommendations, building a program and turning them back, and saying "thank you" your recommendations were used to build this program.
Building Curriculum to Align with Competency Models
The objectives for each course goes into a content alignment matrix. That content alignment matrix must show how every assignment and every module and reading thing, every little thing inside of the course how does it align back to the objectives. Our objectives then map back to the competency models.
In terms of Cyber security we focus more on the NICE framework because it a little bit more explicit in what is required there. Personal integrity is everything that they (students) do in not just in cyber security but everything in IT. IT is the backbone of much of industry at this point. So what you are doing must make sure you have a high level of professionalism, integrity, and those basic skills. Otherwise, those students are not going to get hired.
To hear more from your peers on "How to Crosswalk Competency Models with Curriculum", please visit the Competency Model Clearinghouse. Click on "Get Started" at www.careeronestop.org/CompetencyModel.