“The SCC approach really mimics the real world more than the traditional classroom does. I am already working in teams at work... Classroom instruction has the student come away knowing a lot of theory but provides little guided practice with actually trying to use that knowledge in a realistic setting on realistic problems and working in a team... I am already taking a lot away from my schoolwork and applying it to my job, because I can leverage it right away... What I learn on Monday I can apply on Wednesday... Here I feel we will use everything we learn."

-- Master's student at Carnegie Mellon West

Our team has produced a number of successful curricula projects, ranging from 6-hour short courses to full-year programs for such clients as Carnegie Mellon University, Grandview Preparatory School, Foothill-DeAnza Community College District, and the Bay Area Information Technology Consoritum in California.

Carnegie Mellon University / Software Engineering Masters Programs

Members of our team developed several blended (online/in-person) Masters' programs to teach software engineering from technical, development, and management perspectives. Six Master’s degree programs primarily in fields related to computer science have been offered there since 2002, and by August nearly 250 students will have graduated from these programs. The programs are each housed on a website and are delivered to students either online or in person from the newly established West Coast campus. Our job there was to take existing Master’s degree programs and turn them into SCCs. >>more

Bay Area Information Technology Consortium / IT Basics for BAY ITC

Bay ITC asked us to create a blended (online/in-person) program for community college students to enhance their literacy and numeracy skills. We designed a project for BAY ITC that would engage students in effective verbal and written communication appropriate for an office environment and community college standards, and enabe them to perform mathematical computation necessary for an entry level job in a technical field and in compliance with community college standards.

During the course, students practiced verbal, written, and mathematical skills in both a classroom and online environment by playing the role of computer support specialists at a fictional company, Eureka Savings and Loan. Eureka has operated in Los Angeles for over a century, but its board of directors recently approved plans to open new branches throughout the state. Participants worked as members of the IT help desk team based in L.A., offering phone and e-mail support to bank employees at various branches. Their responsibilities at the help desk include diagnosing and troubleshooting hardware and software configuration problems, and assisting users in the proper use of their workstations.

Foothill-DeAnza Community College / Practicum in Enterprise Security

Through a National Science Foundation grant, we worked with faculty members from Foothill-DeAnza Community Colleges in California to develop a blended (nline/in-person) to prepare community college students for entry-level network security jobs.To prepare participants with the skills necessary to secure and succeed in entry-levelenterprise and network technology positions, we put them in the role of IT staff at C-Bay, a fictional online real estate auction firm. Working in collaborative teams, students refined and implemented a new security policy for the C-Bay's ’s expanding network. Working on a security policy in a realistic business setting, participants addressed the many risks and trade-offs associated with securing an enterprise without interfering with its operations.