Computer Support and Networking Advisory Board Meeting - April 29, 2025

CCRI Computer Support and Networking Advisory Board

Tuesday, April 29, 2025 - 5 pm Warwick Campus – Room 3076

Agenda

  • Welcome and Member Introductions
  • Pathway to Cyber Readiness
  • Computer Support Specialist Degree
    • Talk about our Stackable Certificate programs
    • Changes needed?
  • Networking Technology Degree
    • Talk about the certificate program
    • Changes needed?
  • Discussion

Computer Support Specialist and Networking Advisory Board Minutes

Members Present: Kevin Crawford, Liz Del Sesto, Christine Turenius-Bell, Paul Fontaine, Jacqueline Knight- Barber, Carlos Lourenco Jr., Ryan Nicolace, Andrew Norfolk, and Jack Knight

Kevin welcomed everyone and had them introduce themselves.

Kevin gave a brief description of the purpose of the advisory board and stated that their feedback on the handouts he provided would be helpful.

Kevin had a handout showing how some of the courses prepare students for different certification exams in the IT field. He then explained that the department has a new certificate program called Pathway to Cyber Readiness, which follows the CompTIA model. Paul stated how important it is for students to get certifications, and it shows they are committed to the field and makes them more employable versus just having the degree. Ryan said the only certificate that we are missing is the ITIL v4 certification.

Kevin talked about the Computer Support Specialist Degree and explained about the stackable certificates that lead to the degree program. He talked about the courses in the program and asked for feedback.

Jack said that that students applying for a job only know how to work with home wireless access points and not the enterprise access points. Enterprise wireless is a major part of industry and students need more access. Kevin and Paul explained how it has increased in certain courses as the curriculum has changed over the years.

Andrew talked about how he visions the program needing to change in the next few years because of AI. This started a large discussion on how AI needs to be added to every course in both programs. Kevin stated that this is something that has been talked about within the Cybersecurity program. Students need to know what AI is and how to use AI. Students also need to recognize that AI is not always correct.

Kevin asked where they see the future jobs in this area. The group talked about monitoring platforms and using dashboards. Another area is reading logs, which Kevin said students must read logs in the Scripting for System Administration course. Next, there was a discussion on cloud-computing increasing in industry. Students need to have a better understanding of cloud- computing works, including zero trust architecture. Andrew said cloud-computing is very important and needs to be added.

Carlos talked about the issues in the industry having bad tickets and bad documentation. Jackie added that there are so many who don’t want to do the documentation because they look at it as job security, but how it makes it difficult to the job in a timely manner.

Kevin then talked about the Networking degree. He stated that they are not getting a lot of students in the program because most are in the Cybersecurity Degree. Therefore, did the group think that a Networking degree is still warranted and if so, what changes would they make to the degree. Jackie and Jack stated that it is still warranted. Jack added that changes need to be made to make it an effective program.

Jackie talked about how it is so important to understand reverse engineering for a network because this is done so often in the field, and she used this in her past two jobs over the last ten years. She added how she was taught about what an MAC address was and how to find it on a computer. However, she was never taught when you are in a LAN environment and the device is having an issue, but you only have the MAC address, how do you find out where that device is located.

Kevin asked if the department should include cloud-computing in this degree. Ryan said that he thinks it would be a great addition for the degree. Kevin said how the department had a cloud- computing degree, but it didn’t work out as it was using AWS. Kevin was wondering if they should teach it more generalized versus towards a certain vendor. Andrew said that majority of the industry is using Microsoft Azure in some fashion and therefore, we should teach towards that platform. Ryan added that Microsoft Teams is another area to include with Azure.

Jack said that students also should learn how to work on a patch panel. He stated that it is great that we have students make cables, but also learning the patch panel is important as well. Also, students need more troubleshooting because AI will be helping with the commands needed in the field. Jackie and Paul both agreed with Jack on troubleshooting is really needed more today.

Andrew said the other two areas that we need more education on network disaster backup of equipment, not just software, and SANS storage.

Jack stated two of his biggest interview questions that he asks interviewees is: 1. “Explain to me something that you taught someone about IT” (he wants them to explain this because this is important in the job) 2. “How would you deal with a situation when someone has a difference of opinion than you on a project”. Ryan stated how important these questions are, and he would add “How are you able to communicate with a global audience especially if there is a language barrier?”

 

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