The article comes from The Chronicle for Higher Education.

“Information technology permeates every aspect of the campus these days. At The Chronicle’s Technology Forum, three experts spoke about what the future may hold for IT. They were Richard A. DeMillo, dean of the College of Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology; Richard Garrett, program director for online education at the consulting group Eduventures; and Mark David Milliron, president of the consulting group Catalyze Learning International. Warren Arbogast, president of Boulder Management Group and a regular on The Chronicle’s “Tech Therapy” podcast, was the moderator.” Click here to read the rest of this interview.

We found this interesting article at the Tech Republic Blog. It supports why Gatlin Education’s project management online training has become very popular in the last year. The need for on the job training in project management is growing considerably.

“Whether you’re a support tech who wants to take on management responsibility or a developer wanting to take a step toward a management position, the best place to start is often in project management. Project management can build your organization and management skills to prepare you for a future role in managing people.

Former CIO Mike Sisco shares his advice for IT pros who have their eyes on a project management position. His advice on laying the groundwork for such a move includes:

• Gaining experience while in your current position.

• Sharing your goals with your manager.

• Working with your manager to develop your skills.

Learning and using the proper project management tools and processes.

Show the desire before there’s a need

Sisco advises that prospective project management candidates start collecting experience and learning the tools before the need arises.He suggests looking for ways to incorporate project management skills into your current job. For example, if you’re a developer, apply a project management approach to your assigned projects. This might include:

• Creating a clear definition of your project or work objectives.

• Defining the resources needed to accomplish a goal.

• Defining a project’s deliverables before starting it.

• Gaining approval of the project’s deliverables before beginning the project.

• Providing realistic delivery dates and meeting or exceeding those projections.

• Frequently and proactively communicating a project’s status to your manager or the project’s client.

• Identifying a project’s problems before being asked to.

• Going out of your way to eliminate surprises.

Fulfilling tasks like these for every project you work on provides good project management practice, which will pay off when you apply for such a position.” Click here to read the rest of this article.

This post comes from The Glacier Reporter.

In 1999 the Montana Legislature passed the Indian Education for All Law, which states all educational personnel should have an understanding and awareness of Indian tribes so they can teach about the first Americans in a culturally responsive manner.

It’s a lofty goal that hasn’t been implemented in many Montana schools. Teachers often feel intimidated about integrating Indian education into their classrooms, especially when they received very little themselves.

Now the University of Montana offers a new tool to help teachers and administrators enhance their Indian-based curriculum. It’s an online graduate course called Indian Education Leadership Training.

The two-semester, six-credit course started last fall. It’s innovative enough that two participants are from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington DC. The other 48 educators work at 10 high schools scattered across Montana - from Kalispell to Billings to Opheim.

“The course is rather unique,” said Sally Thompson, director of UM’s Regional Learning Project, which spearheaded creation of the new curriculum. “The depth and breadth of content we are exposing these teachers to is way beyond anything I ever had in my own education.”

The Regional Learning Project, part of UM Continuing Education, was founded in 2001 and has worked to produce educational resources about Indians such as films, DVDs, Web sites and study guides. Thompson and her staff also periodically put on Indian education workshops for 30 or so teachers. Click here to read the rest of this article.

CHICAGO, March 25 /PRNewswire/ — Returning to the workforce after an extended absence doesn’t necessarily put you at a disadvantage, a recent survey from CareerBuilder.com indicates. Forty-five percent of workers who returned to the workforce in the last 12 months after taking at least one year off said they found a job in less than one month. One-third (33 percent) said they found a job in one to six months while only 14 percent said their job hunt lasted more than a year.

“This goes back to the labor shortage factor in the job market today,” said Rosemary Haefner, Vice President of Human Resources at CareerBuilder.com. “Employers are struggling to find skilled labor and are recruiting qualified employees before the competition has a chance to do so. Even in a tighter job market, skilled workers re-entering the workforce after a leave of absence can find good opportunities and competitive compensation packages.”

When asked about the primary motivator for taking an extended period of time off from work, workers reported:

– Medical reasons (17%)
– To raise a family (15%)
– To relax and enjoy life (13%)
– To continue education (9%)
– To move to a new location (9%)

When asked to identify the main challenge in finding a job when they returned to the workforce, 37 percent of workers reported having to prove themselves all over again while 24 percent said it was difficult to explain the gap in employment. Twenty percent pointed to a lack of required skills or education as the main obstacle in finding a job while 18 percent cited the competition with younger workers. Nine percent said they perceived a concern amongst employers that they would once again leave the workforce.

Haefner recommends the following tips to help in the transition back into the workforce:

1) Cover your bases. Cover letters not only help to highlight skills and accomplishments and bring more personality to your application, they are also useful for explaining an extended absence.

2) Reach out. Chances are you know someone who knows someone who can get your foot in the door. Talk to family, friends, neighbors, former colleagues, etc and ask them to keep you in mind for potential opportunities.

3) Take a refresher. Sign up for seminars and events and online programs to brush up on new technologies, current trends and developments in your desired field.

4) Stay active. The majority of employers consider volunteer work to qualify as relevant experience. Volunteering in your local community can help to build up your resume, show your continued drive and establish networking contacts.

5) Make no apologies. Keep the conversation positive. Don’t dwell on how long you’ve been out of the workforce. Focus the discussion on your strengths and contributions and enthusiasm for the position at hand.

Survey Methodology

This survey was conducted online within the U.S. by Harris Interactive on behalf of CareerBuilder.com among 6,852 U.S. employees (employed full-time; not self-employed) ages 18 and over between November 13 and December 3, 2007 (percentages for some questions are based on a subset of 314 U.S. employees, based on their responses to certain questions). With a pure probability sample of 6,852, one could say with a 95 percent probability that the overall results have a sampling error of +/- 1.3 percentage points. Sampling error for data from sub-samples is higher and varies. A full methodology is available upon request.

About CareerBuilder.com

CareerBuilder.com is the nation’s largest online job site with more than 23 million unique visitors and over 1.6 million jobs. Owned by Gannett Co., Inc. NYSE: GCI, Tribune Company, The McClatchy Company NYSE: MNI and Microsoft Corp. NASDAQ: MSFT, the company offers a vast online and print network to help job seekers connect with employers. CareerBuilder.com powers the career centers for more than 1,600 partners, including 140 newspapers and leading portals such as America Online and MSN. More than 300,000 employers take advantage of CareerBuilder.com’s easy job postings, 26 million-plus resumes, Diversity Channel and more. CareerBuilder.com and its subsidiaries operate in the U.S., Europe, Canada and Asia. For more information, visit http://www.careerbuilder.com.

This post comes from Seattle PI.

The average construction worker is well into his 40s, and unless something changes to make the fresh-from-prom set take a sudden interest in framing and drywall, that work force is just going to keep getting older.

In an industry where retirement tends to come early and knowledge is passed down on the job, that trend presents a potentially paralyzing problem — especially as demand for workers continues to rise.

Crews will be at a loss for skilled workers. Buildings might not go up so quickly. So-called “green initiatives” could falter.

And the young people who passed up those opportunities? Unless they managed to land that desk job at Microsoft, they might have missed out on a chance to make a comfortably upper-middle-class living, some industry experts say.

The shortage isn’t confined to carpenters — it extends to plumbers, stonemasons, electricians, cabinetmakers, welders and a list of other trades that were once sought after.

What has some educators and employers puzzled is that many of those professions offer the chance to make upward of $50,000 right away. But they say a negative perception of the trades coupled with a mounting push for college education has dealt the professions a hard blow in the United States.

Nettie Dokes, manager of Seattle City Light’s apprenticeship program, calls apprenticeships “the other four-year degree.” (An apprenticeship, often regulated by unions, is a period of on-the-job training that typically lasts one to five years. After that, workers graduate to higher journeyman-level wages.)

Dokes worries how her quickly expanding crews of linemen will be able to retool technologically without new blood coming in.

Years ago, she would hire 20 apprentices every year. Now she has spots for almost 60, and can’t guarantee those will be filled.

“Historically here, from even a biblical time, a parent sent their child to apprentice with a skilled trade individual,” Dokes, said. “Here for us, after World War II, we made a shift where all of the focus and energy was based around a four-year credentialed program.” Click here to read the rest of this article.

The UCEA 93rd Annual Conference “Inspiration, Creativity, Innovation — and All That Jazz” will be held on March 26-29, 2008. This conference promises to embody the creativity, innovation and the spirit of renewal that is blossoming anew in our host city of New Orleans.

We know only too well how quickly and dramatically our landscape can change. In continuing higher education, we must respond to a changing environment with agility and flexibility. We need to effectively scan community, national and international environments to develop programming that meets ever changing economic, educational, cultural and social needs.

This post comes from the Baltimore Sun. After his systems-engineer position was outsourced in late 2006, Korey Reid took his career in a new direction. He’s now a sales manager at a company that provides computer-based training — a job he got by leveraging the expertise he gained during his 15 years in technology.

As the economy slows and job losses mount, many workers in fields like financial services, real estate and the auto industry are scrambling for a Plan B. Contemplating the odds that a career switch may be necessary can be daunting. But if you’re in a sinking industry or staring down a corporate layoff, there’s good news. With some creative attention to your resume and thought about where your talents can best be used, many skills are fairly easy to transfer from one profession to another, career experts say.

Reid, for example, says he thought of joining CBT Nuggets LLC in Eugene, Ore., because he had been a longtime customer and was adept at using the company’s products. To land the job, he pointed this out and highlighted the communications skills he had gained from working on teams at employers like Hewlett-Packard Co. and Northrop Grumman Corp. Click here to read the rest of this article.

This post comes from Wired Magazine. “While Google has made headlines over the last two years for scanning thousands of copyrighted works for its Book Search project, the Internet Archive is quietly digitizing around 1,000 public domain titles every day.For those picturing an efficient, automated process involving robotic arms and high-tech scanners, the scanning at the University of California’s Northern Regional Library Facility is relatively primitive. With monastic diligence, workers sit in book-scanning stations and manually turn pages all day long.

The process is labor-intensive, but surprisingly efficient: The text collection on archive.org is the world’s largest online collection of free books, with nearly 350,000 titles and growing.

And though there are high-end auto book scanners on the market, even a giant like Google is reportedly using a similar manual process due to size variance and the delicacy of old books.

It’s still unclear whether the courts will allow copyrighted books scanned by Google to stay online, but the titles scanned at the Internet Archive will always be free and available. You can even order copies to be printed on demand and shipped to your home, paying only for production costs. Take the Wired.com tour of this grass-roots effort to liberate books from the confines of scarcity”. Click here to read the rest of this article.

Today’s post which appears on the home page of MSN.com is a reprint of an article written by Stephen Gatlin, president and CEO of Gatlin Education Services Inc.

In January, many people welcome the New Year with a list of resolutions including a promise to improve their professional lives. However, in the busy months that follow, many of these job-related goals are forgotten and never achieved. Here are 10 keys you need to realize your professional objectives and take control of your career:

1. Explore career options
Reflect on your job by asking yourself these questions: Does my current position utilize my professional abilities and talents? Am I maximizing my earning potential? Am I doing what I was born to do or something that I’m passionate about? If the answer is an overwhelming “no,” assess your work style and personal characteristics and discover a career field that highlights them.

2. Brush up on job skills
On the other hand, if your career suits you, take time to better yourself at what you do. Stand out from other employees by completing the latest training and updating your industry expertise. With an Internet connection, work-force development is at your fingertips. You can peruse TheeLearningCenter.com, which offers numerous career-training courses in a number of languages, from the comfort of home - to find convenient options that will bolster your skill sets and strengthen your résumé.

3. Meet with your boss
Instead of guessing at your strengths and weaknesses, gain the input you need directly from your boss. Schedule a lunch or sit down over coffee to get his or her opinion on skills that will boost your advancement possibilities. Meeting regularly to review performance will help you re-evaluate goals and set priorities.

4. Set realistic career goals
Identify what you want to accomplish professionally by the end of the year and write them down in order of priority. Your goals may include improving current work performance, being promoted to a job that you’re qualified for or making a complete career switch. Just make sure each goal is specific and attainable.  

5. Establish a plan of action
Think of the required steps you need to take to get your career goals under way, and put them down on paper. Give yourself deadlines to follow, but keep them realistic. Remember that becoming CEO of a company does not happen overnight.

6. Start preparing now
What are you waiting for? Get a head start on your career goals today. Make a list of career challenges to conquer this week and celebrate your achievements along the way. The small steps today will lead to big accomplishments down the road.

7. Get organized
Take time in the slow weeks at work to rearrange your files so they are more organized and efficient. Start by archiving anything you haven’t used in the last year into a file cabinet farther from your desk, leaving the files used daily closer and less cluttered.

8. Analyze your workday for efficiencies
Practice better time management this year. Are you making your phone calls when people are normally at their desk (8:00-9:30), rather than in meetings or at lunch (10:00-1:00)? Are you spending too much time on certain activities? Make a to-do list before you leave the office and dedicate the next day to completing those tasks.

9. Boost work relationships
Strong relationships with people you work with can develop in small ways. For example, keep a positive attitude when working with others or key co-worker birthdays into your calendar and recognize them on their special day. Maintaining good relationships with colleagues will not only make the office a place you want to be but can boost work productivity. And, you never know who may get promoted and become your next boss.

10. Follow through on actions
Taking control of your career will not happen unless you follow through. Visualize your success regularly and don’t be afraid to ask for help when necessary. More importantly, pursue your goals aggressively and resolve not to give up on reaching them.

Being in the career training industry for more than 20 years, I’ve noticed that it isn’t enough just to make a commitment to improve your professional life – you have to act on it. If you get a head start on your career goals now, you can reach your full potential and finally take charge of your career.

As president and CEO of Gatlin Education Services Inc., Stephen Gatlin develops corporate vision and strategic direction, manages product development and international expansion efforts, and oversees day-to-day operations of the world’s largest provider of online work-force development programs to colleges and universities.

This article is from the U.K. Financial Times.

Some recent feedback gathered by the Financial Times from senior employees of 700 companies all over the world, and in a wide variety of sectors, uncovered an interesting fact. It was that companies prefer online, or distance, learning not just because it is cheaper than sending employees on training courses – although this is a popular argument – but in equal measure because it is convenient and flexible.

A large company in the UK leisure industry sums up these main recurring themes: “One [reason for using distance learning more in the future] is cost-effectiveness, and secondly it allows more people to study at a time convenient to them and that suits their work pattern.”

The information was collected as part of the FT 2007 annual executive education survey.

The companies in question have all used business schools to develop and deliver customised education programmes for employees.

Companies rate their experiences and express their opinions on subjects such as online and distance education and training. Click here to read the rest of this article.