Registration is now closed.

We are offering six tracks in-person at Collin College in Frisco, Texas just north of Dallas and three tracks 100% online. See the menu to the left for more details.

Happy 20th anniversary, Summer Working Connections!

The first Working Connections in this region, led by our own grant PI Ann Beheler, was held at Dallas’ Richland College all the way back in 2002. This year's event - the first one to host attendees in person since July 2019 - will be a party you won't want to miss.

Working Connections IT Faculty Development Institute offers cutting-edge, cost-effective professional development opportunities to current community college IT/convergence faculty (including adjuncts!) that are often only available through expensive commercial training. Working Connections makes the newest technologies and industry trends available to attendees, as well as encourages the kind of networking and collaboration among educational and business leaders that can strengthen any IT educational program.

Working Connections training workshops offer several tracks that cover a range of the most in-demand topics in IT. The goal of Working Connections is to provide attendees with the expertise needed to teach their respective track in a subsequent semester, bringing the most current information to their classrooms either as a stand-alone course or as supplemental information to an existing course.

Since 2002, more than 1000 faculty members have attended Working Connections professional development events, learning about more than 100 unique IT topics in that time. In the past six years, an average of 75% of the faculty chose a discipline that they were not currently teaching, leading to 150+ new degrees, certificates, or courses created and implemented using the training provided. By the National CTC's calculations, over 161,000 students and faculty have been impacted by the training provided by Summer Working Connections since the program began.

To see what happened at Summer Working Connections 2019, the last time we gathered together in person, check out this Facebook gallery.

Registration

Class tracks last for the entire duration of Working Connections. Attendees may only select one track. You will be removed from any additional courses selected.

Seating capacity varies by track and instructor, but typically, tracks are capped at 20 attendees.

Travel Reimbursement
Educators that live one hour or more away from the Preston Ridge Campus and complete all five days of training may be eligible to apply for travel reimbursement, so long as funds are available. There are different levels of reimbursement, so please review the relevant travel reimbursement pages (see sidebar menu on the left) for more information. Should you have questions, please contact Mark Dempsey.

Attendance Eligibility
Please note that because of limited space and budget, we only allow FOUR faculty members per school to attend.

If you don't intend to teach or supervise a class in the next two semesters using the track you wish to attend, you must first get a special exemption from the National CTC. Contact Mark Dempsey for more information.

Cancellation Policy
If you must cancel the track you are registered for, please notify Mark Dempsey immediately. The last day to make any registration changes (switch a track or cancel without providing a substitute approved by the CTC) is Friday, June 24, 2022. Changes made after that date may result in a suspension from attending the next two Working Connections (Winter 2022 and Summer 2023). For those who are suspended from attending Working Connections for the next 12 months, both you and your supervisor will be notified.

Certificate Policy
Only those who attend every session (and sign the attendance sheet at every session) are eligible to receive a Certificate of Completion for Summer Working Connections. For online attendees, your instructor will call roll every morning and afternoon.

Surveys
All attendees are required to complete a survey before they sign off from the program on Friday, July 15, 2022. Failure to do these surveys may result in a suspension from attending the next two Working Connections (Winter 2022 and Summer 2023).

Questions?
For more information about Working Connections, contact Mark Dempsey.