Overcoming%20the%20Critical%20Shortage%20of%20IT%20Professionals%20Georgia

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Overcoming the Critical Shortage of IT
Professionals Georgias Opportunity

• By David G. Brown, VP and Dean
• Wake Forest University
• for the Georgia Board of Regent
• Atlanta, April 14, 1999

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Glimpses of the Shortage

• Some 80 of teachers reported having technology
  training, but just 20 of those teachers felt
  well prepared to use it. US Dept of Education
  Study released January 18, 1999
• Two-thirds of all U.S. Households are expected to
  be on line by 2003 Reuters, March 26, 1999

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Glimpses of Shortage

• 346,000 IT jobs are vacant! High Tech Workforce
  Resource Center, Jan 98
• Microsoft is skimming the best minds of academia.
  They are eating our seed corn, Chairman,
  Carnegie Mellon, Computer Science, April 6, 1999.

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Massive Shortage of Computer Scientists
Engineers will be met by----

• Outbidding Other States for Existing Talent
  unreliable
• Retraining Yes, Now
• New Graduates
  Long Run Only
• Promoting AB ITers
  Yes
• Dumbing Systems
  Long Run Only
  

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SPECIAL CHALLENGES IN MEETING RETRAINING AND
UPGRADING NEEDS

• Too Few Knowledgeable Trainers
• Students have too little flexibility
• Good Published Training Guides Become Obsolete
  Too Rapidly
• Training Needed Throughout the State

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Solution Interactive Learning
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From the times of Craft Guilds Small Townswe
have known that ---

• Most learning is collaborative
• Frequent feedback increases learning
• Loyalty-to-group motivates learning
• More time on task usually
  means more learning

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Beliefs of 91/93 Vignette AuthorsPedagogy and
Philosophy
From Interactive Learning Forthcoming June,
1999 From Anker Publishing David G. Brown, Editor

• Interactive Learning
• Learn by Doing
• Collaborative Learning
• Integration of Theory and Practice
• Communication
• Visualization
• Different Strokes for Different Folks

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Computers Enhance My Teaching and/or Learning
Via--
Presentations Better--20
Source Wake Forest Students and Faculty
More Opportunities to Practice Analyze--35
More Access to Source Materials via Internet--43
More Communication with Faculty Colleagues,
Classmates, and Between Faculty and Students--87
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Computers allow people----

• to belong to more communities
• to be more actively engaged in each community
• with more people
• over more miles
• for more months and years
• TO BE MORE COLLABORATIVE

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Actions for Georgia

• Bring Whole Culture to Threshold Literacy.
• Create Robust IT Infrastructure to attract Top
  Talent and enable Georgia to utilize talent from
  distant lands. Include Citizen Help Desk.
• Cross Train- like journalism and library science
• Gather existing electronic resources into
  textbooks Avoid CD sinkholes. Proceed with
  insurance brokerage model.

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Actions for Georgia

• Establish learning clusters throughout the
  state (where learners collaborate and reinforce
  each other)
• Use interactive learning communication tools in
  course design. Avoid the Educational TV mistake.
• Test market virtual exercises in face-to-face
  settings. Expect most modules at first to be
  developed for on campus learning

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David G. BrownWake Forest UniversityWinston-Sale
m, N.C. 27109336-758-4878email
brown_at_wfu.eduhttp//www.wfu.edu/brownfax
336-758-4875