This project is creating a regional partnership of industry, academia, and high schools to more effectively recruit and prepare a skilled and diverse workforce of web and mobile programmers who can design and create secure, data-driven web and mobile software applications to fill unmet job demand in the Puget Sound region.
Specifically, the project is partnering with: 1. local high schools to increase the number and diversity of students training to become web and mobile programmers through summer camps and Career Start, a program through which students may earn a professional-technical degree in web/mobile programming while still in high school. 2. industry to improve student job preparation, mentoring, and placement through networking events and the Industry Fellows program, where a faculty member and an industry professional are paired in the classroom. 3. a four-year university to develop a Reverse Transfer program, providing opportunities for university students to earn certificates in web/mobile programming while gaining relevant real world experience and hands-on job skills or complete two-year degrees after transferring.
The goal of these initiatives is to increase the number of students entering the workforce as web/mobile programmers by reaching out to underrepresented groups and strengthening job skills and preparation for the job market for program graduates. The college is working closely with Seattle Central Community College (SCCC) and the University of Washington Tacoma (UWT) to accomplish these goals. The primary audiences for these efforts are high school and two-year college students.
Intellectual Merit: This project is using several innovative techniques that serve as a model for other programs in a wide range of fields. The first is the Industry Fellows program, which integrates a working professional into key courses. The second is a unique Reverse Transfer program, which allows students to freely move from a four-year university to the community college to meet their personal educational goals. The Reverse Transfer program is improving articulation between the community college and the university and contributing to life-long learning.
Broader Impacts: This program is supplying a cadre of diverse and well-trained technicians in an area of large unmet need through targeted recruitment, particularly outreach to local high schools with diverse student populations. The project is strengthening partnerships between high schools and the community college, between the college and industry, and between the college and university. In order to provide a model for other institutions, results and curricular products from this project are being broadly disseminated.
