Notes: Advisory Meeting, March 13, 2008
I’m finally typing up a summary of the meeting we had after the Advisory Dinner on March 13th.
Present:
- Valerie Green (PATHS)
- John Zaner (USM)
- Gene Ellis (Maine Dept. of Labor)
- Deborah Ellis (UNUM)
- Andrea Roma (UNUM)
- Jim Smith (UNUM)
- Mark McGhie (Medical Mutual)
The notes that I took centered around 2 topics: giving kids an idea of what it would be like to work in the tech industry, and proposed changes to the Java curriculum when I next teach it (2009 - 2010 school year).
“Life after high school”
- most tech classes at SMCC won’t transfer to a 4-year college. Often, core courses such as English and Psychology will transfer.
- I need more industry contacts. It would be great to have people come to class and talk about what they do. Note: maybe I can have a monthly panel with a few people, and/or combine with another class for this.
- Could people from UNUM come to talk to the class?
- I need more job shadowing opportunities for students.
- John Cole (Scarborough) is interested in UNUM. He may be a good contact for me.
- UNUM used to have kids come in for “a day in the life” or “a week in the life” at UNUM, often doing software or user testing.
- what are students’ perspectives on IT professionals? Can I find people to come in and talk?
- MESDA has user groups at night, and UNUM has something called Maine Bites. Could I get kids there after hours?
Curriculum Needs
- kids need practice in reading comprehension and study skills
- kids need to practice being precise
- kids need to practice getting out of their comfort zones, “daring to try hard enough to succeed”
- they need lessons in logical reasoning
- they need to know what they expect to happen, so that they can decide whether something is working correctly or not.
