CompTIA Partnership Pays Off
in CareerTech Classrooms

By Linnie Berkenbile
Program Specialist
Business and Information Technology Education

A longtime partnership between the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) and the Oklahoma Department of CareerTech Education pays off in the classroom.

For 22 years CompTIA has been dedicated to advancing the growth of the information technology (IT) industry and those working within it. With more than 19,000 members in 89 countries, CompTIA is the leading global IT trade association with influence in all areas of the IT industry.

Benefactors of this partnership are business and information technology education (BITE) and trade and industrial education students and instructors at high schools, technology centers and Skills Centers across Oklahoma.

These programs receive donations of equipment, CompTIA certification of instructors, and price reductions for students on testing and training for instructors at schools with limited resources.

Last year for the first time the state agency applied as a member of CompTIA for a grant that allows non-profits to take advantage of free equipment from the National Cristina Foundation.

The National Cristina Foundation is a not-for-profit organization that provides computer technology and solutions to give people with disabilities, students at risk and economically disadvantaged persons the opportunity, through training, to lead more independent and productive lives.

The Foundation notifies us when donated equipment becomes available. Last year Anheuser-Busch distributors from Elk City, Woodward, Guthrie, Durant, Clinton and Ponca City donated six servers for CareerTech high school programs across the state.

The CareerTech system follows up these donations by training instructors to use the donated materials and equipment. For example, instructors were given three days of training on how to load Linux, set up a server for the classroom and administer the Linux program. As part of the training, Linux books for reference material were also provided.

Instructors were also trained on how to set up the server to link into Windows using Samba. Schools were given the equipment to be used in the classroom and asked to submit plans for the use of the servers. The plans include storage of their students’ files using Web servers and trainers to help students load Linux and set up a server in a networking environment.

In FY04 we have received more than 800 pieces of equipment from the Honeywell Corporation that will go to the Skills Centers for their programs. The equipment included printers, monitors, CPU units, laptops and docking stations that were used to set up networked labs. These labs allow student access to computers where computer availability is limited and outdated computers become part of computer repair classrooms.

"We hope to continue this valuable partnership with CompTIA in the future as the opportunities it brings into our schools and classrooms for students is priceless." said Berkenbile.