Educational Program

This year’s professional development activities will include 30 Breakout Sessions, 4 Feature Panels, and 4 half-day Training Workshops.

Breakout Sessions

Sessions will be 90 minutes in length and are organized into five tracks:

View the Full Agenda and list of breakout sessions

Feature Panels

Three panel discussions will be held concurrently. Speakers and topics are still under development.  Tentative topics include:

Half-Day Training Workshops

Four intensive half-day training workshops will be offered this year concurrent to other conference activities. These 3-hour sessions are in-depth professional development opportunities, and will require an additional fee of $35/session.

Group One – Thursday, 1:30pm – 4:30pm

1) Training for CTC Trainers -- CTC trainers often find themselves designing curriculum and managing diverse learning environments with little to no formal background or understanding of educational processes. Often "power-users" themselves, CTC trainers can find themselves doing rather than facilitating. This interactive workshop is designed to train the techie within, unleash the educator and provide techniques to create participatory learning experiences for CTC patrons.

Trainers: Felicia Sullivan (Principal, Forge Consulting; formerly of Lowell Telecommunications Corporation) and Davis Park (Director of Community Technology Programs, Little Tokyo Service Center CDC)

2) Fast Fundraising & Earned Revenue Planning for CTCs -- Executive directors, fundraising staff, and board members need to make strategic choices about financial stability and growth. Find out what's working for peer organizations (and what's not). Try out planning tools to assess your current revenue mix and identify potential new fundraising and earned revenue strategies. This workshop is designed to help you take a hard look at your organization's current funding base and begin to create a stronger, more stable, and sustainable business model.

Trainer: Amy Kincaid, President, Change Matters

Group Two – Saturday, 9:00am – 12:00pm

3) Adding IC3 Certification to Your Training Programs -- Learn how to add value to your training program by offering professional certification for your CTC patrons. This workshop will explain the steps needed for your CTC to become certified to offer these programs, and CTC managers who currently offer this service will provide advice.

Trainers: Mercedes Soto, Project Director, IT Resource Center CTC Accelerator Project (and former CTCNet Board Member) and Vicki Brow, Director of Strategic Initiatives, Certiport

4) Technology Solutions for a Lab Environment -- Discover technology solutions designed especially for lab environments, and get answers to the questions asked most often by CTCNet members. Solutions for monitoring youth and adult online usage, using logins and membership cards, and updating multiple computers will be explored. Participants will leave with a plan for action at their CTC.

Trainers: Steve Longenecker and Matthew Eshleman, Systems Engineers, Community IT Innovators (CITI).

Session Tracks


Operations and Management will focus on effective management practices for organizational sustainability and success including sessions on best practices (business models) for CTCs of different budgets, staffing and volunteer management, client tracking, technology planning and strategic planning.

Programs and Curricula will focus on innovative models for CTC programs including sessions on instructional design, train the trainer and reaching both adult and youth learners. 

Community Outreach and Impact will focus on ways for CTCs to expand their presence in their communities in order to become more vital community assets.  Sessions will cover reaching new populations, community wireless, and tools for accessing health and employment information.

Funding and Evaluation will focus on models for evaluating and funding CTCs. Sessions will explore revenue models, fundraising, and evaluation techniques.

15th Anniversary will take stock of fifteen years of the CTC Network, including reflections from the past, visions for the future, CTC successes, new research studies and public policy.