APPLETON, WI (WTAQ) – A local college recently completed a $1,300,000 expansion of its IT program.
Fox Valley Technical College unveiled the changes at its Appleton campus this week.
In addition to consolidating the entire IT program into one wing, a number of new lab spaces and classrooms have been added.
Officials say a new student maker lab space will allow students to work collaboratively on projects.
Dean of Information Technology and Learning Innovations Doug Waterman says practical experience with teamwork projects was one of the top qualities identified as desirable by area employers in a study that was conducted prior to the expansion.
Waterman says some of the lab spaces were designed for students to sit in ‘pods’ of four. While each student has a computer at their desk, there is also a computer on the wall next to the pod that allows students to project their work onto the wall for peers to review and provide feedback.
A new faculty maker space was also added. Waterman says that has already allowed for some innovative projects.
In a private project, Waterman says one professor used a single board computer called a ‘raspberry pie.’ The professor then wrote an app that hooked up to a web service that the raspberry pie was monitoring. From his smart phone app, the professor was able to open and close his garage door.
To ensure his students could have a similar experience, the professor bought an old slot machine. The students hooked the raspberry pie up to the slot machine and wrote a smart phone app that allowed them to control the slot machine’s lever with the phone.
The school’s construction project also yielded an expanded student help desk, expanded network lab and data center, new computer support lab, versatile lecture rooms, and a new commons area.
Waterman believes this expansion will better prepare students for professional careers in IT. He says data shows 28 full-time IT positions are posted in the region each month, with the average starting salary ranging from $40,000-$51,300.
