Deborah Boisvert, University of Massachusetts, Boston
This session will focus on lessons learned by BATEC for creating pathways in computing and the infrastructure needed to support students in their educational pursuits. Participants will learn about strategies such as problem-based curricula tied to industry and accreditation standards, stackable credentials that promote transferability, and developmentally-appropriate work-based learning opportunities that can be adapted and implemented in any field of study.
About the Presenter:
Deborah Boisvert, Executive Director, Broadening Advanced Technological Education Connections (BATEC)
Deborah Boisvert is the PI and executive director of the Broadening Advanced Technological Education Connections (BATEC) Center for IT. She also leads the Synergy Collaboratory for Research, Practice, and Transformation project. Both are NSF-funded and headquartered at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. With experience in both the corporate and educational arenas, she has focused her efforts in the development and implementation of initiatives to advance the educational and professional objectives of area high school, community college, and university students and faculty. Boisvert is also a PI for an NSF CPATH grant on computational thinking and co-PI for a Broadening Participation in Computing Initiative based at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She was a founding partner in Camp Telecom, a summer camp for high school students and teachers sponsored by Massachusetts Network Communications Council. In 2006, she was honored as their Workforce Development Leader of the Year. Boisvert wrote the curriculum for the Technology Goes Home@School initiative, which bridges the digital divide by equipping fourth graders’ families in the Boston Public Schools with beginning technology skills and a new computer for their homes. She founded the Bridge to Community College Program, a partnership with local community-based organizations, which provides adult learners with credit-bearing technology courses combined with English and mathematics tutoring to prepare them for matriculation into a technology degree program. Boisvert serves on the Mass. K–12 Technology Standards Revision Team, the Mass. Board of Higher Education’s Transfer Task Force, Mass. TechHub, National Advisory Board of IWITTS, and the ACM SIGITE Education Board.
