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TechConnect

TechConnect is designed to link technology education programs, traditionally offered to sixth through eighth grade students, with the technical preparation programs offered to juniors and seniors at local technology centers. TechConnect is designed to transition ninth and tenth grade students to the next level of career development. It gives those students a chance to experience and develop foundational skills in career options at a time students are considering career goals.

Designed as a two-year program, TechConnect can be taken in a one-period format referred to as “TechConnect” or a two-period format, called “TechConnect Two” that contains expanded laboratory experiences. “Students have the opportunity to choose three content areas from 16 career clusters that range from architecture and communications to health science and information technology,” according to Larry Bullock, trade and industrial education program specialist at the ODCTE.

TechConnect is structured so that students spend a semester in each of the three courses gaining foundational experiences in the ninth grade and the first semester of the tenth grade. During the last semester of the tenth grade, students pick one of the three completed content areas to fulfill a capstone course focusing on all aspects of the industry. This includes a work-based learning project. “Students participating in TechConnect are not being trained to build a house,” Bullock said. “We simply want the students to have the appropriate academic foundation and basic employability and technical skills necessary to transition into a fulltime technical program at the local technology center their junior and senior years."

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Updated 07.02.07