IT-aruba

Schools move to educate future IT leaders


Aruba adds new four-semester curriculum targeted at IT leadership

IT-arubaAruba Networks, an HP company, has expanded the coursework offered by its Aruba Mobility Academy, which has been adopted by higher education institutions since its launch in 2014.

The Aruba Mobility Academy is a mobility-specific higher education program that provides students with the fundamentals required to build, maintain and advance wireless LAN networks.

Recognizing that future IT leaders need to include mobility education in their general networking curriculum, the global program gives educational institutions courses that they can integrate directly into their IT course offerings.

Since introducing the program, Aruba has incorporated feedback from its customers to enhance the Mobility Academy offerings. New to the program is a four-semester curriculum that culminates in students taking the Aruba Certified Mobility Expert (ACMX) exam. The courses cover enterprise Wi-Fi fundamentals, large enterprise Wi-Fi networks, enterprise Wi-Fi troubleshooting and access control, and designing and integrating Wi-Fi networks. Students can earn five different certifications over the course of two years, preparing them for the kinds of networking jobs that will be in demand to support the #GenMobile workplace.

Algonquin College in Ottawa Canada will begin offering Aruba Mobility Academy Courses this fall for both its Computer Systems Technician Program and its Bachelor of Information Technology Program. Shawn McBride, Professor and Program Coordinator for Algonquin’s Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) Department, says the Aruba Mobility Academy courses are critical to prepare their students for the kinds of IT jobs they will seek post-graduation.

“As wireless has quickly become the preferred method of access, it’s imperative that our students understand this technology thoroughly to prepare for employment opportunities once they’ve graduated,” McBride stated. “We know from our own experience of using Aruba’s 802.11ac solutions that the company is an industry leader that can provide relevant and accurate content for our students. And with the popularity of our Programs, which are currently oversubscribed, the Aruba Mobility Academy assists us in providing cutting edge training to our students.”

McBride also mentioned that Algonquin is looking to develop a graduate certificate in networking, and wireless technology will be a key focus area. The College is ready to expand on the current Aruba Academy courses to support this new graduate certificate program.

The British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) is a public post-secondary institution with over 47,000 students enrolled into over 300 programs annually.

For this academic year, 72 students are already enrolled in the new Aruba Academy courses, offered as part of BCIT’s Computer Information Systems Administration two-year diploma program.

“Adding the Aruba Mobility Academy courses allows our students to gain experience with real-life wireless solutions and will prepare them to meet complex industry demands,” said Paul Morrison, Associate Dean Digital Communications for BCIT.

At Limoilou College in Quebec, Canada, The Department of Electrical Engineering Technology boasts no fewer than 300 students including 100 new enrollments annually. To boost their existing curriculum, Limoilou incorporated the Aruba Mobility Academy courses into their programs to help prepare their students for future IT jobs.

“Mobility is a critical piece of technology education and we want to be sure our students emerge from our Technical College well-rounded and ready to take on 21st century IT jobs,” said Eric Tailleur, Instructor at Limoilou College. “Aruba’s Mobility Academy provide a thorough program with hands-on experience, preparing students for the opportunities they’ll encounter post-graduation.”

Collège Lionel-Groulx, also based in Quebec, has approximately 8,000 students and is offering the Aruba Mobility Academy content as part of several degree programs, as well as their continuing education courses.

Said Michel Cossette, Instructor at Collège Lionel-Groulx, “We had a small module on wireless before, but now are developing a much more rigorous program based on the Aruba Mobility Academy offerings,” he said. “It’s important for students to have a high level of competency with mobility technologies.”

Community College of Rhode Island (CCRI), which includes four campuses in the state, has implemented the Aruba Mobility Academy as part of its associate degree in Computer Networking Technology, for the Knight Campus in Warwick, R.I. The College plans to
extend the courses to a second campus next semester.

The Aruba Mobility Academy courses replace some older and outdated wireless networking courses that CCRI previously offered and will enable the College to offer a special concentration in Mobility.

“The new courses will give our students both a general and broad exposure to wireless networking, as well as valuable hands-on experience with Aruba solutions like ClearPass for network security and AirWave for network management,” said John Mowry, Associate Professor, CCRI. “We need to be sure our students receive the most current coursework and training relative to changes in the networking industry and integrating the Aruba Mobility Academy content helps us accomplish this.”

Aruba plans to continue expanding the Mobility Academy offerings with new hands-on training such as a pilot program that takes students on field trips to customer sites. Currently, a select number of schools have the ability to take students to Aruba customer sites, meet with an Aruba sales engineer or technical specialist to learn about these real-world customer deployments.

Material from a press release was used in this report.

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