NCPN Title and Descriptions of Main Conference Sessions

Presentation TitleSummer Digital Media Institute Using AdobeInDesign to Earn Advanced College CreditSupplying Workforce Needs: NSF NationalCenter for Supply Chain TechnologyEducationTaking It National! The WorkplaceReadiness Skills for the CommonwealthModelTBDTeachers As Advisors: An AdvisementSystem for College and WorkforceReadinessTeaching Introductory Electronics Skills byIntelligent SimulationsTechnical Assistance Tools for ImplementingCareer PathwaysThe 21st Century Connection: Taking theLEAD in the Adult Classroom—Learn, Excel,Achieve, and DeliverThe Career Pathways Effect: LinkingEducation and Economic ProsperityThe Role of Four-Year Institutions inCreating Engaging PathwaysThe Senior Project: Connecting our Studentsto the CommunityThe Toothpick Factory: A Simulation Gamefor the Soft SkillsThe Trifecta: Earning Workforce Credentialsand College Sophomore Status in One YearTransforming CTE: Implications of State-Level Reforms in the Administration'sPerkins BlueprintTransitioning ABE ESL Programs andFaculty to 21st-Century SkillsPresentation Descriptionpathways. Apprenticeship graduates earn industry-valued and created embeddedacademic credentials and skills that are critical and portable within the industry.Santa Fe College showcases skills and technologies that students in digital designcourses can learn during one week of intensive training in the leading graphic designlayout application, Adobe InDesign. Students test for software competencies and createtheir own project portfolio, making them eligible to receive three advanced collegecredits. Computers not required to attend.Participants will learn how Sinclair Community College, Norco College, and their partnersare creating a pipeline of supply chain workers with a NSF National Center for supplychain technology education grant.Experts in research, curriculum, and assessment will describe the partnership thatresulted in the Virginia model, Workplace Readiness Skills (WRS), and how it went froman idea to a stand-alone industry credential. States and organizations are invited toimplement this complete WRS program at minimal cost and effort.Teachers As Advisors (TAA) provides a classroom guidance delivery system thatprovides middle and high school students time to establish academic and career goalsbeginning in the sixth grade. Planning, curriculum, and materials will be shared, as wellas data from implementation and evaluationA browser-based program delivers realistic lab problems with simulated equipment for anintroductory DC/AC electronics course, and then grades and advises the students muchas the teacher might do, looking over their shoulders with no damage to real labequipment. Response data is saved on a central server with reports available forstudents and teachers. This NSF-funded “SPARKS” project is freely available through theConcord Consortium portal. Interested? Come see what students and teachers aresaying, see a demonstration of our modules, and sign up your school! Computer notrequired to attend.This session will provide attendees with information about the technical assistance toolscreated by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration(ETA) to support career pathways development. Among the tools to be showcased isETA’s recently released Career Pathways Toolkit: Six Key Elements for Success.This workshop highlights classroom strategies to motivate and prepare adult students tosucceed in the new global economy by using the LEAD—Learn, Excel, Achieve,Deliver—qualities.Do you need more help in understanding and then implementing Career Pathways inyour state or region? Highly respected experts and authors have come together toprovide you a new CP resource book as co-published by the National Association ofState Directors of Career Technical Education (NASDCTEc) and CORD.The Virginia Career Pathways System fosters smooth educational transitions so thatindividuals can seamlessly move to higher levels of education. Key to this is theestablishment of partnerships aligning K-12, workplace, and college programs, includingfour-year institutions. This roundtable session will provide information about thesuccessful engagement of some VA four-year institutions in the pathways initiative,including a discussion of state policies that play a significant role in the integration offour-year institutions in the process. Handouts and time for discussion will be provided.This session will focus on the design and implementation of a senior capstone project.Participants will hear about one school's experience from planning to implementation,and how the senior project has made a difference for students. Participants will receivematerials that will enable them to hit the ground running.Looking for a job? The Toothpick Factory is hiring! As difficult as finding new employeesmight be, retaining them is also a great challenge. Even those with strong technical skillsoften lack adequate “soft skills.” FLATE Center for Advanced Technological Education's"Toothpick Factory” simulation offers a great way to focus participants on soft skills in afun hands-on simulation set in a workplace setting.This clinic will illustrate an adaptable model that enables high school students to earnworkforce certifications, and achieve college sophomore status before graduating.Program construction, intervention strategies and collaboration will be highlighted. As anoutcome, participants will learn how to replicate this progressive framework at theirrespective institutions.The Administration has called for reforms to transform and strengthen CTE in its blueprintfor Perkins reauthorization. This session will describe the Administration’s proposal andfocus on the assets that states already have and the challenges they may face inundertaking these reforms.To establish successful student transitioning courses from ABE to postsecondarysettings, transitioning ABE ESL programs and faculty to 21st-century skills is necessary.