ICN News

Real world ICN sessions, sponsored through an IT STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) Grant for science, technology, and education were held in February with additional sessions scheduled for March and April. The two types of sessions, IT-Adventures and HyperStream, strive to develop student interest in STEM careers. IT-Adventures is an innovative program that engages Iowa high school students in exploration and experimentation with information technology (IT) through instructional material delivery, competitive events, and service learning projects. Iowa State University’s Information Assurance Center, the Iowa Department of Economic Development, the Technology Association of Iowa, the Iowa chapter of InfraGard and Iowa businesses have forged a partnership for development of this program. The program is dedicated to increasing interest and awareness of IT among high school students across the state and stemming the downward curve of students selecting IT as a career. The HyperStream program, also highlighted in the December blog, is a a technology career awareness program developed and tested by The Technology Association of Iowa (TAI) Educational Foundation has to support its key initiative of developing Iowa's future technology workforce. Iowa Public Television (IPTV) and the ICN are working with the program to offer ICN sessions focused on increasing student interest in technology careers.

IT-Adventures sessions provide an opportunity for current IT-Adventures Teams to get together (via the ICN) to discuss their projects with staff from Iowa State. IT-Adventures is an exciting innovative IT exploration program for high school students managed by staff at Iowa State University. During these sessions, staff from Iowa State will also offer guidance on service learning projects and will provide more information about what happens when students travel to Iowa State University for the IT-Olympics. Interested students and teachers who participate will also be invited to learn more about IT-Adventures and the IT-Olympics coming up in April 2009.

During the Hyperstream ICN sessions, students have the opportunity to meet with individuals involved in the program. During the February sessions, Jennifer O’Conner (picture, on the left), a representative of the Technology Association of Iowa, shared resources with students through the TAI’s Hyperstream Program and website. She also talked about the Technology Association of Iowa’s HyperStream partnership between business and education. Also during the February sessions, Spencer High School students met with Microsoft’s Linda Welseng (pictured, on the right), a senior technical account manager. Welseng talked about her career path from her high school studies, to college and graduate school, and finally to her career with Microsoft. Welseng shared with students that she would help them develop a class project. She or other volunteers will partner with the class to help them complete their project. March and April sessions will have the same or similar speakers.

The times and dates for both HyperStream and IT-Adventures sessions are listed below:

IT-Adventures Sessions:

March 31
12:30 PM - 1:30 PM

April 02, 2009
3:15 PM - 4:15 PM

HyperStream Session:

March 23
9:00 AM – 9:50 AM

If you are interested in attending these sessions with your students, please check the K-12 Connections website or contact LaShell Staley at lashell@iptv.org with questions.