SiTUATE and the Technology Assurance Group (TAG) National are pleased to announce a partnership demonstration project to develop an IT apprenticeship program using the SiTUATE digital platform.
Information technology is critical to our country’s infrastructure, security, and economic competitiveness. The challenge is that there are significant talent shortages and skill gaps in this business sector. IT apprenticeships are similar to more familiar industrial apprenticeships, in that they are industry driven and give employers an active role, alongside training institutions, to provide a high-quality, paid, learning experience to the apprentices.
The demonstration project focuses on those IT occupations that have limited requirements for entry, such as the Network Support Specialist, Tech Support Specialist, and Tech Project Coordinator. Each occupation has a national guideline standard, that has been approved by the U.S. Department of Labor. The demonstration project broadly entails: 1) selecting an IT occupation of high demand, 2) adapting the approved occupational guidelines to a complete job analysis, based on input from a participating employer, 3) preparing the structured on-job-training (S-OJT) modules, 4) showing how the training would be actually delivered by a qualified S-OJT trainer, and 5) connecting the end-of-training performance checks with the each apprentice’s learning plan. Using the SiTUATE platform ensures the apprenticeship learning experience remains on the tasks that match actual job expectations.
Both partners anticipate the project will show a more efficient and effective way of delivering IT apprenticeships. Jonathan Blakey, vice-president of technology for TAG National, states “As a membership organization committed to IT education, we must continue to find innovative ways of delivering results, especially in today’s environment that focuses on using digital learning solutions. We want to be a model of best practices to the entire managed services providers industry.”
Ron Jacobs, principal of SiTUATE, LLC., states that showing how the SiTUATE platform might be used for IT apprenticeships is a great opportunity to show the versatility and performance-orientation of the platform. Since SiTUATE is based on structured on-the-job training (S-OJT), no other training platform focuses on job expectations to the same extent.
Among the expected outcomes of the IT apprenticeship project between SiTUATE and TAG National include:
· Digital apprenticeship training guides for the most in-demand IT roles of the future
· Forecasts of learning times, anticipating reductions in the learning time
· Forecasts of technical errors and rework, anticipating more complete learning
For more information about the IT apprenticeship project, please contact us today.
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