Why a blog?

The New York 6 (NY6) Consortium recently launched a new program titled ITAP (Instructional Technology Apprenticeship Program). It is a unique and interesting program available to the students of the six schools within the consortium. For the full details, check out the website (http://newyork6.org/itap) but to put it simply: the program allows one student from each of the six schools to act as that institution’s ITAP apprentice. As apprentice, students are exposed, first hand, to a wide range of Instructional Technology (administration, tools, web sources, day-to-day activity, etc.). Additionally, each student is given the opportunity to complete a “digital project” of his/her choice in which he/she will learn and explore a given technology and apply it through creation of a final project. In the end, we ITAP apprentices will walk away with a ton of IT exposure as well as a solid tangible project for our selves and even future employers (oh, and they’re even helping us to update our resumes and create e-portfolios!)…. ultimately, we’ll have extensive exposure and knowledge, as well as some really useful material for future education and/or employment opportunities!

The hope for this blog is that each year, as ITAP continues to and grow and develop, the ITAP apprentice from Hobart and William Smith Colleges will share his/her experiences with past, present, and future ITAP participants (as well as those simply interested in the program). Ultimately, it will serve as a source of information about the program (tasks, processes, pros and cons, etc.) but also a platform for reflection.

We encourage dialogue between the apprentice and the community and are happy to answer any posts/questions/suggestions you have pertaining to our topics!

We are really looking forward to the development of this blog and are excited to share our individual experiences…. and can’t wait to see how it adds to the ITAP experience as a whole!

Our next post: 

An introduction to this year's ITAP apprentice from Hobart and William Smith Colleges!