Monthly Archives: May 2020

Oklahoma Technology Centers Virtually Teaching Students, Helping Businesses

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Working remotely and having adjusted work environments to fight COVID-19 doesn’t DeliveryArms.jpjgmean Oklahoma CareerTech’s delivery arms have stopped offering services.

Like the state’s preK-12th grade public schools, CareerTech’s statewide network of technology centers has entered the world of distance learning for its secondary and postsecondary students. The tech centers are continuing to provide education — including classes and assignments — through web-based technology and, if needed, paper packets.

An auto collision and refinishing instructor at Metro Technology Centers in Oklahoma City is allowing students to see what he is working on with live feeds from his shop at his home. A diesel technology instructor at Gordon Cooper Technology Center in Shawnee is creating videos of repairs he is doing in his own shop in addition to having Zoom meetings, assignments and quizzes.

“The good from this is finding yet another way to teach,” said Ed Jolly of Gordon Cooper Tech.

A service careers instructor at Canadian Valley Technology Center’s El Reno campus has created YouTube instructional videos and is giving his students assignments based on each video’s information. Some are hands-on, like mowing lawns or using certain landscape tools, said instructor Jayson Floyd, and others are written.

Some of his students, however, do not have internet access, he said.

“For those students, I will be calling them three times a week and directing them to a hands-on activity they can perform within their house that is related to what I teach,” he said.

ODCTE is posting tech centers’ distance learning plans at okcareer.tech/Techplans. Students can contact their technology centers to receive information about the tech center’s distance learning plans and requirements.

In addition, the technology centers continue to offer training to Oklahoma business and industry clients when possible. Businesses with workforce training needs can contact their local technology centers to explore distance learning options.

To help support career and technology educators across the state, the Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education has instructional resources, okcareer.tech/CTinstruct, and guidance on financial, educational and other issues as well at okcareer.tech/CTFAQs.

“Oklahoma CareerTech is here to support our stakeholders, and we will make it through this situation together while continuing to provide education that meets the needs of our students and our state,” said Marcie Mack, ODCTE state director.

The Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education provides leadership and resources and assures standards of excellence for a comprehensive statewide system of career and technology education. The system offers programs and services in 29 technology center districts operating on 58 campuses, 394 K-12 school districts, 16 Skills Centers campuses that include three juvenile facilities and 32 adult basic education service providers.

The agency is governed by the State Board of Career and Technology Education and works closely with the State Department of Education and the State Regents for Higher Education to provide a seamless educational system for all Oklahomans.

CareerTech Champions

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Trevor Hughes – Meridian Technology Center, FFA, HOSA

FFA taught Morrison High School student a $60,000 lesson about hard work.

THEN: His father once told him, “If you’re the smartest person in the room, then you’re Hughesin the wrong room.” So,Trevor Hughes found a different room. The high school junior said he needed more challenging math and science classes than his small high school was able to offer him, so Hughes enrolled in Meridian Technology Center’s biomedical sciences program. There, the Morrison High School standout was able to take anatomy, physiology, precalculus and biomedical sciences.

Already a member of FFA, Hughes enrolled in HOSA, the CareerTech student organization affiliated with health careers education. At Meridian Tech, he said he learned about

  • Lab safety and procedures.
  • The body’s reactions to everything from diseases to open wounds.
  • The importance of homeostasis.

After a year at Meridian, Hughes took college and high school classes concurrently. Hughes said he knows the value of hard work, and he attributes that to his membership in FFA.

“I am forever in debt to the FFA,” he said. “I am thankful for every person who pushed me to better myself, and I hope to carry on the values of the organization for the rest of my life.”

In addition to classwork and involvement in CareerTech student organizations, Hughes played baseball, football and piano.

Still, he said, he found time to apply for numerous college scholarships, and one of those paid off in a big way. Hughes received the OG&E Positive Energy Scholarship. If he keeps his grades up, that scholarship will be worth $60,000 throughout his college career.

NOW: This fall, Hughes will major in engineering at Oklahoma State University. After graduation from OSU, he hopes to travel the world and inspect above-ground oil storage tanks.

“A life full of service rather than self-absorption is a life well lived.”

Trevor Hughes

 

CareerTech Champions

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Dean Baker – Francis Tuttle Technology Center

It’s man over machine in this high-tech classroom.

Dean Baker didn’t want to teach the way he’d been taught. The manufacturing-Dean Bakermachining technology instructor at Francis Tuttle Technology Center said his instructor gave his students a blueprint and said, “Please write.” The students wrote code, and the instructor made corrections where they were needed.

That was 40 years ago, and today the self-proclaimed G-code guy is teaching his students to write similar G-codes that manipulate machines to perform tasks. But today’s students are working with a high-tech machine powered by the Siemens SINUMERIK 828D control, which is giving his students game-changing skills that employers seek.

The 828D has a conversational feature that teaches students what is happening behind the machines when they push a button. Conversational computer numerical control machines have come about as a result of a shortage of workers qualified to write code.

Baker serves on the SkillsUSA board of directors, and the forward-thinking instructor was recently highlighted in Technical Education Post, a journal for technical, technology and STEM education.

At Francis Tuttle, Dean stresses three things with his students:

  • Safety – the most important lesson he teaches.
  • Being mindful of others and their surroundings.
  • Problem-solving.

Dean said he borrowed his philosophy of teaching from Albert Einstein, who said, “Education is not the learning of facts. It’s rather the training of the mind to think.”

Related content: Tech Ed Magazine

 

Oklahoma CareerTech: Developing a World-Class Workforce

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Oklahoma’s Career and Technology Education System is focused on developing a world-class workforce. This comprehensive system delivers educational experiences through 394 PK-12 school districts, 29 technology center districts, 16 Skills Centers sites and 32 adult basic education providers and to more than 6,900 businesses.

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Keeping Mental Health In Check

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Steven R. Aragon, Ph.D, CareerTech’s Equity and Diversity Specialist, talks about ways to take care of not just your physical health, but your mental health during these trying times of pandemic.

CareerTech Champions

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Steven Rogers – DECA, High Plains Technology Center

Technology center instructor literally grew up in the CareerTech family.

THEN: As a small child, Steven Rogers says, he ran the hallways of High Plains Technology Center while his dad taught in a classroom there. Having grown up on that campus, it wasn’t much of a stretch for him to take classes there as soon as he was old StevenRogersenough.

Steven chose marketing and management classes at High Plains Tech and joined DECA, the CareerTech student organization for marketing students.

He said his two years in DECA taught him:

  • Public speaking, through competitions and events.
  • The importance of good customer service.
  • How to be more self-confident, something his marketing instructor emphasized.
  • Business management skills.

After graduation, Steven used those management skills to open three businesses in five years.

“I think students coming out of CareerTech have a better understanding of the mechanics of a business,” he said.

NOW: Steven needed to make a career change for personal reasons and decided to join the High Plains family once again, this time as an instructor. He was denied that opportunity three times, but he did not give up. With his fourth application, Steven was hired.

“I have a passion for teaching, and I love the CareerTech family as my own,” he said.

Steven is now the industrial coordinator at High Plains Tech. Also a fireman and EMT, Steven teaches fire, industrial and wind rescue classes.

“CareerTech helps students develop strong work ethics.”  Steven Rogers

 

What It Takes – Duncan Regional Hospital

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It takes partnerships to power our economy. Check out how Oklahoma CareerTech works with Duncan Regional Hospital to train the workers they need, from the area they serve.

CareerTech Champions

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Hunter Poston – Meridian Technology Center and Central Technology Center

Paramedic chose CareerTech and higher ed in crafting his career plan.

THEN: A Perkins Tryon High School student whose CareerTech experiences began in HunterPostonhigh school and continued after college.

Hunter Poston started down his health care career path by enrolling in Meridian Technology Center’s pre-nursing program. He loved it enough to enroll in Northern Oklahoma College’s health services technology program after high school. Hunter left NOC with an Associate of Applied Science degree and a passion for emergency medicine.

He returned to Meridian Tech to get his EMT certification, then continued his CareerTech education at Central Technology Center’s paramedic program. At Central Tech, Hunter was active in HOSA, the CareerTech student organization affiliated with health careers education. His public health team took first place at HOSA’s international competition in 2019.

He said CareerTech taught him how to

  • Be a more confident public speaker.
  • Remain calm in chaotic situations.
  • Think critically.

“Speaking in front of a small audience is required of me on almost every emergency call I run,” he said. “I may have to speak with family and friends of my patient or give instruction to other health care providers.”

NOW: Hunter is a paramedic at LifeNet EMS. He has earned numerous professional certifications, including Emergency Medical Technician and National Registry Paramedic.

CareerTech Horizon Podcast: “Driving Progress”

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Do you remember your first car, and how liberating it was to drive on your own? Do you remember the first time that car stopped working?CThorizon6

In this episode, CareerTech Horizon hits the road, driving through the many parts of this growing, diverse industry in our state.

  • Our first stop is the Oklahoma City Auto Show, bringing together auto dealers and enthusiasts to spread the word about the opportunities of the auto industry to students.
  • We visit an auto service education program mixing alternative fuels into the curriculum, and the importance of playing it safe around natural gas, electric, and hybrid cars.
  • We fire up the not-so modern marvel of the internal combustion engine, and the oil-based fuels that power it. A journalist shares his documentary, seeking the truth about the oil industry.
  • Finally, we look at the bigger picture of Oklahoma’s auto manufacturing industry, and how state leaders are planning to build it up all over the Sooner State.

You can follow us on Twitter @CT_Horizon, or find us on Facebook.

You can also visit our website, cthorizon.org for show notes, discussion, and bonus content, “Beyond Your Horizon.”