Overcoming the Critical Shortage
of IT Professionals
Georgia’s Opportunity
By David G. Brown, VP and Dean
Wake Forest University
for the Georgia Board of Regent
Atlanta, April 14, 1999
Glimpses of the Shortage
• “Some 80% of teachers reported having technology
training, but just 20% of those teachers felt well
prepared to use it.” US Dept of Education Study
released January 18, 1999
• Two-thirds of all U.S. Households are expected to be
on line by 2003 Reuters, March 26, 1999
Glimpses of Shortage
• 346,000 IT jobs are vacant! High Tech
Workforce Resource Center, Jan 98
• Microsoft is skimming the best minds of
academia. “They are eating our seed corn,”
Chairman, Carnegie Mellon, Computer
Science, April 6, 1999.
Massive Shortage of Computer Scientists
& Engineers will be met by---• Outbidding Other States for Existing Talent
[unreliable]
• Retraining [Yes, Now]
• New Graduates
[Long Run Only]
• “Promoting” “AB ITers”
[Yes]
• Dumbing Systems
[Long Run Only]
SPECIAL CHALLENGES IN MEETING
RETRAINING AND UPGRADING NEEDS
• Too Few Knowledgeable Trainers
• Students have too little flexibility
• Good Published Training Guides Become
Obsolete Too Rapidly
• Training Needed Throughout the State
Solution = Interactive Learning
From the times of
Craft Guilds & Small Towns
we have “known” that --•
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Most learning is collaborative
Frequent feedback increases learning
Loyalty-to-group motivates learning
More time on task usually
means more learning
Beliefs of 91/93 Vignette Authors
Pedagogy and Philosophy
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From Interactive Learning
Forthcoming June, 1999
From Anker Publishing
David G. Brown, Editor
Interactive Learning
Learn by Doing
Collaborative Learning
Integration of Theory and Practice
Communication
Visualization
Different Strokes for Different Folks
Computers Enhance My
Teaching and/or Learning Via-Presentations
Better--20%
Source = Wake Forest
Students and Faculty
More Opportunities to
Practice & Analyze--35%
More Access to Source
Materials via Internet--43%
More Communication with Faculty Colleagues, Classmates,
and Between Faculty and Students--87%
Computers allow people---• to belong to more communities
• to be more actively engaged in each
community
• with more people
• over more miles
• for more months and years
• TO BE MORE COLLABORATIVE
Actions for Georgia
• Bring Whole Culture to Threshold Literacy.
• Create Robust IT Infrastructure to attract Top
Talent and enable Georgia to utilize talent from
distant lands. Include Citizen Help Desk.
• Cross Train- like journalism and library science
• Gather existing electronic resources into
“textbooks” Avoid CD sinkholes. Proceed with
“insurance brokerage” model.
Actions for Georgia
• Establish “learning clusters” throughout the
state (where learners collaborate and reinforce
each other)
• Use interactive learning & communication tools
in course design. Avoid the Educational TV
mistake.
• “Test market” virtual exercises in “face-toface” settings. Expect most modules at first to be
developed for ‘on campus learning’
David G. Brown
Wake Forest University
Winston-Salem, N.C. 27109
336-758-4878
email: brown@wfu.edu
http//:www.wfu.edu/~brown
fax: 336-758-4875