Instructional Resources

IT Curriculum and Assessment

Adobe
The Adobe K-12 Education Resource center offers tools to help educators to use technology to enhance teaching and learning with curriculum, professional development, articles, special pricing and more. The Adobe Higher Education resource area offers training, articles, special pricing, and other resources to support faculty and administrators using Adobe tools.
http://www.adobe.com/education/index.html

Brainbench
Brainbench offers 275 certifications covering all aspects of the IT industry from programming to databases to network administration to web design. Brainbench Certifications™ are not affiliated with or approved by any of the major software vendors. The company is an independent certification authority that develops its own test content with the assistance of over a thousand well-credentialed experts. All tests are offered and tracked on the Internet, rather than at specific testing sites.
http://www.brainbench.com/

Certiport
Certiport, Inc. offers global, performance-based certification programs and services designed to enable individual success and advancement through certification. Certiport is the exclusive administrator of the Microsoft® Office Specialist program worldwide. In addition, Certiport offers Internet and Computing Core Certification (IC³) to certify individuals in broad-based computing and Internet knowledge and skills, as well as World Organization of Webmasters (WOW) exams and Adobe® Certified Associate certification.
http://www.certiport.com

Cisco Networking Academy
The Cisco Networking Academy program is a complete, four-semester program on the principles and practice of designing, building, and maintaining networks capable of supporting national and global organizations. The program is adapted to the individual needs of high schools and colleges, and features hands-on, project-driven training in high-demand job skills.
http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/779/edu/

CompTIA
CompTIA certifies information technology and service professionals with its widely adopted and vendor-neutral IT certification programs. CompTIA currently offers the A+™ certification for entry-level technicians, the Certified Document Imaging Architech (CDIA) for individuals involved in (Mastery-level) document imaging, and Network+, CompTIA's newest industry-wide certification exam which deals with networking technologies. More than 120,000 professionals hold the A+ Certification, which assesses basic computer service and repair technology skills.
http://www.comptia.org

ETS
ETS customizes solutions to meet the need for teacher professional development products and services, classroom and end-of-course assessments, and research-based teaching and learning tools.
http://www.ets.org/

Giant Campus
Giant Campus makes fun and engaging, experience-based technology learning content. Hands on, self-guiding instruction designed to help young people to learn basic or advanced technology skills, and challenge their creativity and ingenuity. Young people can actually learn things like web design, robotics, 3D animation, computer game design, and programming.Giant Campus products deliver this content in a variety of learning environments: in K-12 school classrooms, on-line, at community centers, and in university-hosted camps. Giant Campus partners closely with schools, and where needed, will provide staff training to educators and community centers so they can easily integrate and facilitate this unique learning experience into their standardized education program.
http://www.giantcampus.com

International Computer Driving License (ICDL)
ICDL is an internationally recognized training and certification program that provides a way for people to raise their knowledge level and confidence in fundamental computer concepts and skills. It allows people to document their acquired knowledge and skills through a series of performance-based tests, which will be taken at a network of training and test centers throughout the U.S.
http://www.icdlus.com

ITworks.Ohio
The Ohio Information Technology Competency Profile, developed jointly by the Joint Council of the Ohio Board of Regents and the State Board of Education, provides the framework for itWORKS.OHIO, a broad-based educational response to Ohio's need for a skilled information technology (IT) workforce. The profile includes information technology competencies centered upon core academic subject areas and built around four occupational clusters: Information Services and Support, Network Systems, Programming and Software Development, and Interactive Media. The profile was generated using the Ohio Tech Prep model of curriculum development and reflects the job opportunities and skills required for Ohio's information technology workers.
http://www.ode.state.oh.us/GD/DocumentManagement/DocumentDownload.aspx?DocumentID=13177

Lab-Volt Systems
Lab-Volt provides practical, skills-based training systems that prepare students for a wide range of jobs in the growing field of IT, from basic skills in computer operation to network installation and troubleshooting. Their training packages include communications, computer technology and networking.
http://www.labvolt.com/

LJ Create
LJ Create offers products ranging from topic specific learning solutions through to complete classroom management systems for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics curricula. They offer a complete series of technology teaching packages suitable for beginners at introductory level, through to technicians at advanced level.
http://www.ljcreate.com

Microsoft IT Academy
The Microsoft IT Academy program enables academic learning institutions to connect the world of education to the world of work by enabling faculty and students to acquire new technology skills in an academic setting. Microsoft IT Academies benefit from Microsoft curriculum and software tools.
http://www.microsoft.com/education/MSITAcademy/default.mspx

National Academy Foundation
The National Academy Foundation and the Center for Occupational Research and Development is currently piloting a national Academy of Information Technology program focused on grades 9-12 curriculum.
http://www.naf-education.org

National Advisory Coalition for Telecommunications (NACTEL)
Created by a union and industry coalition, the NACTEL associates degree program is not company-specific, but rather, union and industry driven. The online, asynchronous program is designed to train network technicians in the telecommunications industry.
http://www.nactel.org/

National Workforce Center for Emerging Technologies (NWCET)
The National Workforce Center for Emerging Technologies (NWCET) offers products and services to aid in the initial development and the updating of IT curriculum. The NWCET Skill Standards for Information Technology provide a foundation for curriculum development and a benchmark for ensuring that students attain IT competency. NWCET also offers online courseware that provide educators with access to academically rigorous, technically current IT instructional programs in an online format.
http://www.nwcet.org/

Nortel Technology Solutions Academy
The Nortel Technology Solutions Academy (NTSA) provides schools with leading-edge learning solutions that educate and certify students in technologies that are shaping the future of communications. The program includes free, industry-proven courseware on advanced technologies that are shaping the future of communication solutions, access to state-of-the-art lab equipment, affordably priced, in addition to adaptable courseware that can be taught as a standalone course or integrated with existing curricula. The program is also an opportunity for students to earn a Nortel Professional Certification that demonstrates their proficiency in business communications solutions.
http://www.nortel.com/prd/academy/index.html

Northeast Center for Telecommunications Technologies
The Northeast Center for Telecommunications Technologies provides curriculum to secondary schools and professional development support to teachers for the instruction of Telecommunications Engineering Technology.
http://www.nctt.org/

Novell Education
The Novell Education Academic Partner (NEAP) program was established to allow educational institutions to teach Novell-authorized courses. Novell is the pioneer of IT certification offering training in NetWare, Oracle, Network+, iNet+ Etc. Novell offers instructor-led training through NEAP programs in high schools and post-secondary institutions, as well as self-study opportunities through on-line labs and CBT.
http://www.novell.com/training/index.html

Oracle University
Oracle offers the OCP (Oracle Certified Professional) certification for IT professionals. The online Training Plan Builder helps students to design their own program, based on interests, experience, and location.
http://education.oracle.com/web_prod-plq-dad/plsql/show_desc.redirect?redir_type=3&p_org_id=&lang=

TeachScheme
The TeachScheme! Project offers free summer workshops on a revolutionary introductory curriculum on computing and programming. The workshops introduce teachers to a new program design method, a series of supportive programming languages, and a pedagogically well-founded programming environment.
http://www.teach-scheme.org/Workshops

Thomson Prometric
Thomson Prometric, Inc.provides value-added information, software tools and applications to more than 20 million users in the fields of law, tax, accounting, financial services, higher education, reference information, corporate e-learning and assessment, scientific research and healthcare.
http://www.prometric.com/default.htm

Working Connections
Working Connections is a joint project of the American Association of Community Colleges and Microsoft; it makes grants to community colleges for IT programs to increase the number of IT-skilled workers. Working Connections has an extensive list of IT resources for teachers.
http://www.nwcet.org/programs/workingCon/default.asp

World Organization of Webmasters (WOW)
WOW offers certification programs for Web professionals. The purpose of WOW's Certified Web Professional program is to: 1) identify skills associated with current demands of all types of small, medium and large organizations, 2) define key Web skills necessary to deploy Web based solutions, and 3) create content, curriculum and examinations based directly on the need of HR managers, hiring managers, business managers and Web Professionals worldwide.
http://www.joinwow.org/certification/

Youth Tech Entrepreneurs
Youth Tech Entrepreneurs (YTE) prepares high school students for leadership and educational achievement by helping them apply academic, entrepreneurial, and technical skills to real-life problems in schools and businesses. YTE employs a project-based curriculum, where students learn by taking leading roles in real-life projects at their schools and in their communities. YTE provides an innovative example of student-centered, project-based learning.
http://www.yte.org