K-12 educators, Career Technical Education coordinators, representatives from the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation, and representatives from the Fidelity Investments IT talent development program will participate in the Experience More Comp Sci Educator Workshop at the Experience More Summit on Work-Based Learning on December 7.
During this workshop, participants will discuss what computer science and information technology skills students need to be ready for those industries, what “soft” skills students need to know, and what standards and skills teachers need to learn and to teach for students to be prepared for work based learning opportunities and to be successful in computer science and information technology jobs.
“There are currently approximately 23,000 technology jobs that are vacant across the state, and we must prepare our students for a 21st century economy” said Governor Cooper. “We are in a race with innovation, and connecting what teachers teach to what industry needs is vitally important in preparing students to take advantage of work-based learning opportunities that will help them be job ready.”
“The Experience More Comp Sci Educator Workshop aligns with the mission of Fidelity’s LEAP program, which aims to equip IT grads with everything they need to become best in class technologists,” said Thomas Ryan, senior vice president and North Carolina regional leader, Fidelity Investments. “We are thrilled that this workshop will allow us to help even more talent across the state be successful in computer science and IT jobs.”
The Experience More Comp Sci Educator Workshop is a key component of Governor Cooper’s involvement in the Governors’ Partnership for K-12 Computer Science Education. As a member of the Partnership, Governor Cooper works with other state education leaders to support the development of K-12 computer science standards, expand computer science professional development opportunities for K-12 teachers, and enable every high school in North Carolina to offer at least one computer science course. Governor Cooper has also proclaimed Dec. 3-9, 2018 as Computer Science Education Week in North Carolina. To support expanding computer science education efforts in NC, Governor Cooper included funding for teacher professional development in computer science in his 2018-2019 budget proposal.
Increasing work-based learning opportunities for students is a key part of NC Job Ready, Governor Cooper’s priorities for making sure North Carolina’s workforce is ready for the jobs of today and tomorrow.
The Experience More Summit on Work-Based Learning is hosted by the NC Business Committee for Education and the Governor’s Office, in partnership with the NC Community College System, the Department of Public Instruction, the Department of Commerce, and NC Works. The summit is focused on scaling real-world learning opportunities for students and is the culmination of a grant from the National Governor’s Association Center for Best Practices.
More information on the Summit can be found here.
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