Alumni involvement in a technology program

Abstract: Everyone knows that in today's modern world, it is hard to keep up with the pace of the ever changing field of technology. This is no different in technology programs at the cegep level. Teachers who are employed at the cegep level find it difficult to keep up to date with the evolving industry trends, especially when working full time. In this paper, the involvement of alumni in the program is examined. The purpose of this study is to examine five areas of alumni involvement. These five major areas of alumni involvement are advisory committees, internships, field trips, guest speaking and real life projects. The literature is reviewed with respect to each of the described areas of involvement as well as theories of motivation. The shift of emphasis from teacher to student is discussed as well as the role of the teacher when faced with changes in technology. Finally students and alumni are surveyed to examine their perceptions to the various types of alumni involvement in the B.S.E.T. program. This research helps to describe whether and to what degree alumni involvement benefits our students in B.S.E.T. Several variables are examined, such as: academic satisfaction and alumni involvement; graduation year and academic satisfaction; graduation year and alumni involvement. The study also examines areas such as motivational attitudes of graduates to stay involved; areas where it is crucial for alumni to stay involved; desire to partner in a capstone project and area of involvement that tends to motivate students the most and that the graduates find of utmost importance.

Developing Web Design Skills Through Group Critiquing and Feedback.

The aim of this quasi-experimental research study was to investigate whether guided small-group discussions that involved explaining, analysing or justifying design and followed a modeling session from the teacher could improve students' creativity in web design. The convenience sample comprised of 37 third year students of the ""Publication Design and Hypermedi Technology"" program at John Abbott College in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellvue, Quebec who had enrolled in the Web Design course offered in the Fall semester of 2011. The primary instrument of this study was a set of two assigments for the course. A traditional teaching method was used during the first assignment and a small-group teaching strategy was implemented during the second one. Another instrument used in this research was a questionnaire on willingness to participate in teamwork. The last instrument of this study was a questionnaire on the type of intelligences that students possessed. It is hoped that the knowledge gathered from the study will add to the information about group-work activities and critiquing in particular.