April 2013 NACTEL Newsletter
Are your days feeling longer? You might be tempted to spend that extra daylight puttering in the garden, playing with the kids, or napping in a sunny spot (we won't tell!). But don't forget— you can use this summer to further your education, and prepare for tomorrow's telecom.
No matter your interest or career direction, NACTEL has the perfect course for you. And every course was built with busy, working adults in mind; you can bring your NACTEL education with you, wherever you are, because all NACTEL courses are offered entirely online, and can be accessed from your laptop or tablet.
Now is your time - register today!
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Don't forget to check out our Master's degree in Internet Technology!
Contents
Register for the Summer
NACTEL Virtual Open House
VIVIDFuture Career Connection
TDM Today
Cellphone turns 40!
Skeuo-what?
Meet NACTEL
Have a beach trip planned? No problem! On July 17th, you can attend a Pace University open house from the comfort of your phone or computer— no need to change your travel plans to make it!
This is your chance to speak with Pace/NACTEL advisors, and learn how NACTEL works for you! Pace's programs are built through collaboration with the telecom industry, meaning through NACTEL, you'll earn a degree recognized and created by the industry. This could be your chance to get ahead.
You know your education is the best way to prepare for a change in the workforce-- but where do you look for your next career move? Check out VIVIDFuture.org, your telecom connection. Not only does it host great jobs (like Senior Telecommunications Analyst or 9-1-1 Operator), it has tips for interviews and your job search, and information about industry conferences and events.
Have you posted your resume yet? Searched for jobs? Learn more at VIVIDFuture.org.
And with apologies to REM, we feel fine. If you use the term POTS (plain old telephone service), you're probably aware that bit by bit, TDM (time division multiplexing) is being overtaken by VoIP (Voice over IP).
This could be your time to shine- with NACTEL courses, you can up your knowledge, and be ready to weather what the future brings.
Do you remember when the cellphone was just a twinkle in the telecom industry's eye? On April 3rd, 1973, Martin Cooper of Motorola made the first cell phone call-- to rival Joel Engel at Bell Labs, to brag.
Weighing in at 2.5 pounds, and 10 inches long, the first cell phone had a battery life of 20 minutes. Imagine holding that to your ear!
By the time the first commercial cell was sold almost 10 years later, that battery life was extended to 30 minutes and would cost $8,700 in today's prices. According to Cooper, his breakthrough came when he realized "That people are fundamentally, inherently mobile." Mobile use has exploded over the past decade, and now, there are about 6 billion cell phone subscribers around the world. This has meant revolutionary changes to health care, banking, data and communication. How has the cell phone impacted you?
The term skeuomorph has been making its way into design and tech talk lately. And even if you haven't seen the term, you've definitely seen it in practice. Taken a picture with your phone and heard a shutter click? Gone to save a document and clicked the icon of a floppy disk? Seen a car with 'wood' paneling? These are all examples of skeuomorphs: design choices that serve no purpose but to replicate the way a machine or object used to look (or act, or sound).
When you use a notepad app, there's no need for it to 'look' like a notebook, with lined pages or a binding on the right, but many do. Skeuomorphs are used to make new things seem familiar-- but they can also limit our ability to think outside the box.
This month, we spoke to Jeffrey Batiste Jr, Manager of Technical Training at Verizon Communications. Welcome to the NACTEL Newsletter Jeff!
We know you're a member for the NACTEL Executive Board, but what do you do in your "real" life?
I'm a Technical Training Manager for Verizon Communications. My team is responsible for nine training centers across four states in the Northeast. This team consists of over 100 permanent and contract instructors that specialize in Outside Plant Training. We touch over 10,000 employees per year with focused training that directly impacts their job performance.
What's new at Verizon?
The company has a renewed focus on the customer experience. It understands that a company can't survive by focusing on price and product alone. There are programs underway today that harken back to "telecom monopoly" days when the key objective was keeping our customers happy.
You've been a member of the NACTEL Executive Board for a while now. Why are you involved?
I initially got involved because of my experience with another college program within Verizon. The reason I'm proud to be associated with NACTEL is the leadership that it exhibits in the online education arena. I truly believe that a revolution in education is coming and this program is in the forefront of things to come.
Any advice for current or future NACTEL students?
If you are interested in a Telecommunications program that reflects the state of the industry, the NACTEL program is it. The partner organizations that direct curriculum are currently involved in fundamentally changing the US telecom landscape. They understand the future direction of wireless, fiber based facilities and the move to IP transport. You can trust that our degree programs have been created with an eye to the future.
Anything the world should know about you?
I'm a self-professed computer hardware geek. Nothing interests me more than the ever increasing bus speeds of mother boards. The superiority of solid state drives makes me secretly wish for the pre-mature extinction of spinning hard drives. My worst nightmare is being forced to create an executive level presentation on a Commodore 64 with a green mono-chrome monitor. I would be forced to save the presentation on four, 5-inch floppy diskettes and then print out my project on a dot matrix printer.
NACTEL News is brought to you by the National Coalition for Telecommunications Education and Learning.
NACTEL is administered by CAEL, the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning.
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