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TSSB Recognizes Programs at Brookhaven College

October, 2009 - The Texas Skill Standards Board (TSSB) granted program recognition to the Visual Communications-Communication Design Associate of Applied Science (AAS) Degree and Web Design and Development Level 2 Certificate at Brookhaven College of the Dallas County Community College District. The programs were recognized as being integrated with the national, industry-defined Digital Media and Web Development and Administration skill standards, respectively.

The skill standards enhanced programs, which were endorsed by their industry advisory committee, will benefit both employers and graduates. Graduates will gain the work competencies—skills and knowledge—that employers have agreed are required for success in digital media and web development and administration positions. Employers in turn will gain a more qualified workforce.

The Digital Media and Web Development and Administration skill standards define the knowledge and skills that are required for entry-level to more experienced employees in these information technology (IT) specialty areas. The standards were developed nationwide through expert panels of IT workers representing 40 organizations, conducted in geographically diverse locations of the country with high concentrations of these workers. The draft standards were then validated by a random sample of 748 companies.

The National Workforce Center for Emerging Technologies (NWCET) facilitated the skill standards development and validation process with funding from the National Science Foundation and the American Electronics Association. The NWCET is located at Bellevue Community College in Washington State. The skill standards are available for viewing on the TSSB website at www.tssb.org.

Lauri Collins, Department Chair of Visual Communications at Brookhaven College, led the faculty in integrating the skill standards into the programs and applied for TSSB program recognition, with assistance from Ngoc Truong, Instructional Designer. For the Visual Communications-Communication Design program, Ms. Collins collaborated with visual communications professors at three campuses of the Lone Star College system to agree upon a common technical core of courses into which the skill standards were integrated. Brookhaven College then adopted that curriculum to receive program recognition under the TSSB’s replication policy.

The common, skill standards based visual communications curriculum, which includes agreement on the courses in which the competencies will be assessed, provides employers with the added confidence that regardless of the college they recruit from—whether in Dallas, The Woodlands or Houston—program graduates will be prepared with the same skill and knowledge requirements.

For its efforts, Brookhaven College received $1,500 and $5,000 Skill Standards-Based Curriculum Development Incentive Project awards, for the replicated visual communications and web design programs, respectively. The incentive awards were administered by Del Mar College out of Perkins State Leadership funds from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

The Brookhaven faculty followed the TSSB’s recommended six-step process in the guidance document, A User’s Guide: Incorporating Skill Standards into Community and Technical College Curriculum, which is available for download from this web site, and took advantage of technical assistance from TSSB staff, as needed.

Examples of the program recognition application materials submitted by Brookhaven College for TSSB Recognition are available in the Community and Technical Colleges and Employers and Industry Groups sections of this website under the TSSB-Recognized Programs link.

For more information, please contact Anne Dorsey at TSSB at (512) 936-8100.