Leverage Group Know-How with ITIN
Membership in the National IT Innovation Centers’s (NITIC) IT educator community of practice – called the IT Innovation Network (ITIN), which consists of 150+ schools across 39 states – provides a unique connection to like-minded faculty members across the country to share common challenges. One way this connection is leveraged is through a series of asynchronous email Q&As. Questions from the ITIN community are shared via email to the entire group. Those questions typically receive several detailed answers, plus offers for further one-on-one off-line discussions. Anonymized summaries of these Q&As are posted to the NITIC website for ITIN members to reference. For IT faculty members facing a specific challenge or seeking resources and tools, this Q&A system provides a valuable avenue for help.
To date, eight different topics – ranging from competency-based education to machine learning labs – have been discussed with these Q&A emails. Two recent questions asked the ITIN about entry-level job skills for data centers and strategies for teaching SQL server classes. These questions drew 18 total responses – some brief, some fairly long and detailed – that included textbook suggestions, job skill lists, website referrals, and more than a few blunt opinions.
If you’re an IT faculty member or administrator, you are not alone. Consider joining the ITIN’s 600+ members and taking advantage of this vast repository of technical know-how. It’s free to join ITIN. Learn more here.