BY MICHAEL CROUCHLEY & HANNAH JOHNSON
What else
What’s next?
Collin College’s technical campus has allowed the school to o er several high-demand programs. “We started o ering programs that we’ve never o ered before,” Johnson said. “The technical programs like welding, automotive, construction management and things of that nature—our region was hungry for those programs. All of those programs have grown by leaps and bounds since we started.” The college has continued to expand opportu- nities within those programs as well. The most recent example is a partnership with Toyota for its automotive technician program, which provides a fast track for automotive technician students to work in Toyota and Lexus dealerships. Martinez added these programs have contrib- uted to the growth of dual enrollment students. “Four-year universities are not for everybody,” he said. “Some people just need a little bit of training to get them into a high-wage, high-de- mand job.”
New campuses and new programs could be in Collin College’s future. Johnson said school o cials plan to expand workforce programs and add a fth baccalaureate program to its current lineup which includes: • Clinical Operations Management • Construction Management • Cybersecurity • Nursing He also added Collin College owns property in Anna, but any new campuses won’t be built until “much further down the line.” Right now, the focus is ne tuning what the school already o ers. “Our immediate plan of attack is to look at the campuses we do have,” Johnson said.
Collin College’s construction management program is o ered at the school’s technical college in Allen.
COURTESY SARA CARPENTER
INNOVATION MEETS EDUCATION: UNT FRISCO'S PROJECT DESIGN AND ANALYSIS PROGRAM SHAPES TOMORROW'S LEADERS Q&A The story was produced by Multi-Platform Journalist Mary Katherine Shapiro with Community Impact's Storytelling team with information solely provided by the local business as part of their "sponsored content" purchase through our advertising team. Students in the Project Design and Analysis program at University of North Texas at Frisco have the unique opportunity to work with local business leaders to solve real industry problems and gain valuable experience through project-based learning. Kevin Sanders, Director of Project-Based Learning, explains the principles of project-based learning, its practical applications at the university and how this approach better equips students for their future careers.
Kevin Sanders, Director of Project-Based Learning
Can you give a basic definition of project-based lear�ing? Sanders: Project-based learning is a concept in which we try to build a curriculum around a centralized project throughout the course of the semester. At UNT at Frisco, we build that project around an industry partner. We identify an industry problem and we work to solve that problem throughout the course of the semester. How do you think that prepares students for what they’re going to do after college? Sanders: I think it really heightens the stakes because they’re not working with a simulation or theoretical problem. They’re working with something that somebody from an industry has actually identified as something that they need help with. One of the benefits of project-based learning is that it does increase the degree of authorship and ownership that a student has over their work. Our students are getting a chance to see what works and what doesn’t work because they’re getting feedback in real time. Therefore, when our students are going to work full time and doing interviews after they graduate, they have a little bit of a better grasp of what works and how to take those things from a classroom and actually apply them to the real world. Read the full interview and learn more
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PLANO NORTH EDITION
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