iFair: IT and Engineering Career Fair with a Twist Wisconsin STEM Summit August 17, 2010 Presenter: Joe Kmoch 1

In a nutshell... iFair is among other things an Opportunity for Gr 7-10 students to find out about computing (IT) and engineering opportunities Opportunity for businesses to sell the excitement of IT and engineering careers Opportunity to have students and professionals to interact in a meaningful, personal way 2

An iFAIR involves Student and teacher preparation before the visit Business and university professionals preparing before the event Selling the excitement of careers in IT and engineering, but not selling product Students having in-dept discussions with young professionals on the exhibit floor and in the panel discussion at the end of the visit Followup by teachers and students in their classroom 3

What caused iFairs to be created? Large need for both new and replacement computing and engineering specialists in the next 10 years and beyond Declining pipeline of students at the post- secondary level in degree programs in computing fields and engineering Declining enrollment in computing programs and declining courses available in gr

...a particular reason... Businesses on the Advisory Board for the UW- Whitewater MCS program couldn’t understand why few if any high school students were applying for lucrative scholarships they offered for the MCS program. These AB members thought having a career fair for high school seniors would help. 5

...a particular reason... Dr. Robert Horton who heads UWW MCS program thought WHSoIT might be interested He and our WHSoIT AB board became convinced that the efforts should be directed at the middle school students With some trepidation businesses on both board agreed to going “toe to toe” with mostly middle school students! Did first one in two months and a second two months later 6

What are these workforce issues in STEM careers, particularly computing and engineering, that our country is faced with? 7

Growth sector forecast & employment opportunities Two of many recent articles: – Computing Careers: the Future is Bright statistics statistics – The Market for Computing Careers

Future Workforce Expected growth in jobs is very high in CS/IT and Engineering CS/IT – 2008 actual: 3,424,300 (2006: 3,200,000) – 2018 projected: 4,187,000 (2016: 4,006,000) Engineers – 2008 actual: 1,571,900 (2006: 1,512,000) – 2018 projected: 1,750,300 (2016: 1,671,000) 9

Projected Percentage Change in Jobs from 2008 to 2018 CS/IT, +22%, 762,700 new jobs – Software Engineers, +33% – Programmers, -3% – Computer System Analysts, +20% – Database Administrators, +20% – Computer Support and System Admins, +17% – Network Sys Analysts, CS Research, others, +36% Engineers, +11%, 178,300 new jobs 10

Number of Job Openings due to Growth and Replacement through 2018 (in thousands) CS/IT, (762.7 growth repl) – Software Engineers, (295.2 gr repl) – Programmers, 80.3 (-12.3 gr repl) – Computer System Analysts, (108.1 gr repl) – Database Administrators, 44.4 (24.4 gr + 20 repl) – Comp Support and Sys Admins, (156.9 gr repl) – Net Sys Analysts, CS Rsrch, others, (190.3 gr repl) Engineers, (178.3 growth, 353 repl.) 11

Two of the top 3 Best jobs now and into the future are 2. Software Engineer Software engineers are one of the occupations projected to grow the fastest between , according to the BLS. This profession applies computer science and mathematical analysis to design, develop, test and evaluate software and systems. Median Salary: $79, Computer Systems Analyst Computer systems analysts help organizations use technology effectively and incorporate rapidly changing technologies into existing systems. Median income: $69,760. Ten Best Jobs in America, CNBC.com, July, 2010; From CareerCast.com

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Wisconsin IT/Computing Specialist Projections Through 2016 an increase of 10,400 new IT jobs and about replacements totaling nearly 22,000 job openings Of fastest growing occupations 5 of top 6 are IT careers (34% to 48% increases); another shows 25% increase Very much parallel to national statistics for IT/Computing Specialists 16

Wisconsin IT Details 17 (choose employment projections)

What to do? Showing students at a young age that computing and engineering careers can be exciting Engage young professionals to be role models Encourage high levels of significant studies in preparation for post-secondary education Thus... 18

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An iFair at WHSoIT 20

Mission of iFairs Provide valuable, informative, educational experiences promoting careers in Information Technology and engineering focus primarily on students in grades

Participant Outcomes-1 Awareness of – Growing needs for IT and Engineering professionals – Lack of students moving into the pipeline and its effect on the US 22

Participant Outcomes-2 Understanding that role-models and mentorship are important as is – Starting with middle school-aged children – Involving young business professionals in IT and engineering – Involving post-secondary schools Sustained effort is important and necessary 23

Goals Provide free bus transportation for about students Students visit business and post-secondary school booths in a trade-show setting Experience robotics Interact with students and opportunities at WHSoIT 24

More goals Talk with young professionals of various ethnic backgrounds and both genders – At each booth – During a half-hour panel discussion where visiting students are encouraged to participate Be at the event for about 1.5 hours and be active and involved the entire time 25

Business and Post Secondary Booths Develop a tradeshow-like booth Provide high levels of educationally sound interaction to interest visiting students “Sell” the excitement of IT and engineering Interact with the students (including standing in front of the booth not behind the table) 26

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Visiting Student Responsibilities Prior to the iFair – Think about excellent, probing questions to ask each exhibitor using the provided list of sample questions as a guide (teacher facilitated) – Know the agenda – one hour with the exhibitors, half hour with the panelists 28

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Visiting Student Responsibilities At the iFair – Each student will receive a bag with materials about IT and engineering careers, some “chotzky”, and several brochures about IT careers – Receive a passport which they will get stamped by exhibitors they visit and talk to – Escorted through iFair by WHSoIT students wearing iFair t-shirts – Completed passports can be turned in for a prize drawing 31

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Evaluations Visiting teachers are asked to provide an evaluation for both the day and any followup discussion they have with students Exhibitors participate in a short discussion right after the last school leaves plus they fill out a written evaluation form 34

Experiences with the iFair We’ll be holding our 9 th and 10 th iFairs during the school year Very positive comments and support from the business and post-secondary community Very positive comments from teachers and students 35

Results at WHSoIT Prin McWilliams sees an influx of more students interested in IT and engineering He sees high-level interest from the hs students to help exhibitors and then act as guides for visiting schools He finds this energizing for the staff of the entire school who all get involved in some way 36

More info I’m Questions??? 37

References and Contact Info Computer Science Teachers Association – National Academy Foundation – and Joe Kmoch, 38

Recent National Imperatives-1 CS Explicitly in STEMCS Explicitly in STEM. The Department of Education has recognized computer science as a science part of STEM. This is important for applying for funds related to STEM. policy/RTTT_i3_Funding_Memo_v2.pdf 39

Recent National Imperatives-2 Inclusion of Computer Science in the Draft of the Math Core StandardInclusion of Computer Science in the Draft of the Math Core Standard. This statement by John White, President of ACM, relates to the inclusion of computer science in the set of standards being worked on by the Council of Chief State School Officers and the National Governors Association for use by all states once it is finalized in the next few months.. Council of Chief State School OfficersNational Governors Association standards1 Cameron Wilson, Director of Public Policy for ACM, wrote a longer blog post with more context as to what this means. computing-and-the-common-core/fulltext 40