Assessing IT Educational Pathways that Support Rural Broadband: Strategies for Aligning IT Curricula,Policy, and Employer Needs

ABSTRACT

In this National Science Foundation Advanced Technician Education program (NSF ATE) project, we aimed to explore factors that would strengthen the rural IT employee workforce and improve educational support related to broadband, telecommunications, and networks in rural settings. Using multiple methods to triangulate rural IT program curricula content with employers’ perceptions and new professionals’ on-the-job experiences, we gained an understanding of common general and technical competencies, perceived rural IT technician workforce readiness, and strategies to bring educational experiences in alignment with professional performance. We also offer findings concerning alignment of technician pathways and recommendations for how to transfer identified competencies to other similar rural markets, along with examples of extensions of this work for exploring and assessing IT pathways.