The Convergence College Network, also known as the CCN
is a network of over 70 community colleges and universities
in 28 states across the nation.
Faculty and administrators from the CCN meet regularly
in person and online to share resources and know-how,
collaborating to strengthen their programs
and to get their students ready for a career in the IT industry.
Within the CCN there is a special sub-group
of four-year universities called the “CCN University” group.
The CCN University Group is a sub-group
within the larger CCN of four-year universities.
We have a lot of specific challenges and ways that we need
to integrate our programs with those of the community colleges.
So this gives us an opportunity to share what works
and what doesn’t work.
We get together and we talk about some of the challenges
that face us and some of the things we’ve done
to face those challenges.
We get to share back and forth.
The CCN is looking
for new member schools like yours.
Some of the benefits for joining the CCN include:
Developing new transfer-friendly programs
that work for two-year technical college students;
Creating and sharing new programs
and new curriculum;
Sharing outreach strategies and tools;
Finding joint funding opportunities;
And disseminating resources like online labs.
I’ve been a part of the CCN University sub-group
since it started in 2015.
It’s really a great benefit to be able to interact
with each other and also within the larger CCN group
so that we can interact with our colleagues
at the community colleges and understand
what their unique challenges and needs are
and how we might support them as well.
It costs what you put into it.
It costs your time to engage with other people,
to listen to other ideas, and to put in your input.
There’s no cost other than however much
you want to put into it.
Within the university subgroup we certainly share curriculum,
we share online resources and other resources to help us out,
we share the experiences that we’ve had in trying
to get our programs going and trying to get those programs
to integrate well with those students coming out
of the community colleges,
and even how to do thinks like survive an ABET accreditation.
A big benefit of membership in the CCN University group
is connecting with the
National Business and Industry Leadership Team, the BILT,
which meets regularly to discuss IT workforce trends
and to annually update a ranked list of
essential entry-level job skills.
Even building bridges between different colleges
it’s hugely important.
Some people have already slayed the dragons
that other colleges haven’t even been able
to pick up a shield for, let alone a sword.
And it’s really fascinating when you kind of get
that camaraderie together.
Over the years that I’ve been doing this I’ve seen
so many educators who are like best buddies
and they’re sometimes in competing colleges.
But they all have the same goal.
It has been a great success.
We’ve sent many faculty to Working Connections,
we’ve engaged with many other faculty talking about
some of the problems that they face,
we’ve found some unique solutions to very large problems.
I think it’s been a great success,
not only the CCN but also the university group.
We’ve had the opportunities to interact with various people,
to promote our programs,
to get support for our programs,
and in reality the fact that we have a bachelors in IT program
is largely a result of our involvement in the CCN.
If you’d like to join the “CCN University” group
or have questions,
please email us at mdempsey@collin.edu.
