Lend Tech Industry Knowledge to CCSD and CSN

The Clark County School District (CCSD) and the College of Southern Nevada (CSN) have established Joint Technical Skills Committees for Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs offered by both educational institutions.
The Joint Technical Skills Committees provide leadership and promote the development of Career and Technical Education programs to meet the needs of instructors, students, and the community.  This continuing forum allows instructors and skills committee members to discuss their mutual interests and concerns regarding the instructional program.​
“Our Joint Technical Skills Committees are made up of members of the professional communities for each of the programs-of-study (POS), higher education, and members of the Career & Technical Education Department,” explained Monique Gaudin, Project Facilitator in Career and Technical Education for CCSD. “For example, the Media Tech Committee had a professional working in graphic design and video production and photography along with CSN professors from each of those departments along with myself and my boss.”
Gaudin says that in the past, many professionals have been invited to hold a seat on the Joint Technical Skills Committees. However, in the end, the group always has a heavier presence of educators than working professionals. Having more working professionals is sorely needed so the group can have more input and feedback on current industry standards.
The Joint Technical Skills Committees serve a handful of key functions:

• They provide the public with an added assurance that community interests in education are being protected.
• The committees serve as an organized base for three-way communication between the Clark County School District, the College of Southern Nevada, and representatives from business, industry, and the community.
• The committees are tasked with evaluating and recommending program curricula, facility, and equipment needs. They also develop and review program articulation. Members recommend resources for program support such as guest speakers, facilities, equipment and materials, etc.
• They provide program assistance about new technologies, careers, employability skills, and work-based learning opportunities.
• Members of the committees collaborate with educational institutions to promote school-to-work transition.

“Since the Nevada State Department adopted the programs-of-study (POS) with mandated standards 3-4 years ago instead of teaching CTE courses as “electives,” the committees have been instrumental,” said Gaudin. “The committees assure that we are fostering and implementing the industry standard rather than a formed concept of a profession established by academia. The Joint Technical Skills Committees serve as a litmus test of if we are still progressing on the correct path to meet academic and industry demands.”
Gaudin and her colleagues are seeking additional industry professionals to join the Joint Technical Skills Committees.
“The could send me an email with their contact information and the industry they are in so I can match them with the correct committee and contact person,” she said. “I am currently looking for industry representation for the IT, Media Technologies and Business and Marketing JTSC which will be meeting on February 23, 2017, but we have 6 career cluster area in total with 64 programs-of-study (POS) in CCSD. We are always happy to embrace any new members. We try to meet 2-3 times during a school year.”
Gaudin can be reached at [email protected].
“We are so appreciative for the support we have received in the past from the #VegasTech community,” she said. “When we wrote a grant to increase computer science a couple of years ago, we received excellent support from Work In Progress and #VegasTech for our teachers, which they credit as being pivotal to their current success. Three years ago we had 681 students enrolled in the Computer Science POS. This year we have 2,185!”
For more information about the Computer Science program, see stats released by CCSD: