Mike Keogh, Rutland CCV’s Academic Coordinator and Workforce Liaison, will personally work with area students and continuing education registrants who sign-up for free Microsoft IT Academy training at the college.
Two months ago, we announced the Community College of Vermont (CCV) Rutland facility was going to be the first location for free highly accessible digital workforce education training delivered by project partner Microsoft. We are very pleased to confirm that the cutting-edge Microsoft IT Academy Program ® (ITA) is now available to any person who applies to CCV as a regular or continuing education student and who then goes to the Rutland facility to register for the ITA program.
After registering in-person in Rutland, the courses can be accessed from any Windows-compatible computer with an Internet connection. We selected Rutland, because it was one of the fifty Vermont towns that were directly and significantly impacted by flooding by Tropical Storm Irene. It is also very accessible to residents of more than a dozen other flood-impacted communities, and it is served by CCV’s second-largest academic center, providing courses, computer access, and support to over 700 students.
I wanted to understand the ins and outs of ITA registration, so I went to Rutland last Friday to meet with Mike Keogh, Academic Coordinator and Workforce Liaison at Rutland CCV. I had been told in advance that I needed to first apply to be a CCV student. I did that online in less than two minutes the day before. It is strongly recommended that you do this a full business day in advance of your in-person ITA registration, to ensure that you are in the system and that your CCV ID is activated. Mike walked me through all of the steps and within 5-10 minutes, I was registered for access to all ITA digital training classes.
A typical registrant or prospective student will most likely call the Rutland CCV facility (the phone number is 802-786-6996) and reach Becky, the administrative assistant, who will immediately refer them directly to Mike or CCV Rutland’s Site Operations Manager, Chris Ettori, who also provides assistance to ITA participants. Mike or Chris will either arrange a time to meet with the student personally, or suggest an ITA registration workshop. The workshop is presently available two times each week: Thursday evenings at 5:00pm and Friday mornings at 9:00am. High school classes or other large groups that want to leverage ITA classes and materials can also call in advance to arrange a group orientation to ITA.
One thing was absolutely clear after less than one minute into my meeting with Mike: he loves his job. In addition to getting me all set-up for the Microsoft training, he proceeded to recommend that I take the free Intro to Internet Marketing class and a free online Web Analytics class. I imagine this happening to every prospective student who comes through the door.
“I love this. I do this job because I have a purpose and a strong sense of giving back to the community,” said Mike Keogh. “I am really excited that we now have the ITA Academy here. Rutland can really use this type of workforce development.”
When asked why he is personally working with every ITA registrant, Mike said, “Technology is always changing and I don’t want the registration process to be about adapting to technology. I have a handout that explains the steps for registration, but I want to make sure it is about learning what there is to offer in the IT Academy, not about learning how to navigate our systems.”
Therefore, each ITA student can walk through on his or her own with step by step instructions, but students will be encouraged to attend the workshop to make sure they fully understand what’s available to them with the Microsoft IT Academy as well as how to access it.
In addition to getting this friendly in-person assistance to register and access the ITA classes, Rutland CCV is also using one of the project’s Internet Interns to assist students on site after they begin their ITA student experience. The intern will be available two days per week with office hours to be announced soon.
If you are interested in finding out more information about the IT Academy courses at Rutland CCV, please contact Mike Keogh at [email protected] or Chris Ettori at [email protected]. To apply to be a CCV student, please do so online here then visit the Rutland CCV facility to register for ITA access. You can also follow what Mike has to say about the goings-on at Rutland CCV and around the web by checking out the CCV Rutland blog.
You can read more about the Microsoft IT Academy here.
Find the handout with instructions for registering here.