Educators struggling for funds to provide proper instructional experiences to their students, may be able to rely on a Perkins Grant for some of their needs.  The Perkins Grant, outlined in the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act of 1998, provides funding for school districts and community colleges.  The purpose of the funding is fourfold:

1. to build on the efforts of states and localities to develop challenging academic standards;
2. to promote the development of services and activities that integrate academic, vocational and technical instruction and that link secondary and postsecondary education;
3. to increase state and local flexibility to provide services and activities; and
4. to disseminate national research and to provide professional development and technical assistance that will improve vocational and technical education programs.

It is the fourth purpose where LearnKey’s library of vocational, and technical education videos can prove invaluable to a school or district seeking funding.  

Continue reading “Fun(ded) With Perkins”

The CompTIA A+ 2006 exams expires on February 28, 2010.  I repeat, if you are studying for 220-601, 602, 603, or 604 you have no more than 20 days from the day of this blog post to take and pass the exams.  After this date the only acceptable exams will be the 2009 series.   (220-701, 702)

Potential Certifiers who have not begun studying yet, or are only getting started should begin with the 2009 exams, but this should come as a wake up call to any who have been preparing and studying and were just waiting to feel ready.

If your school is a member of CompTIA’s Education to Careers (E2C) program, the A+ 2006 exam expiration date is extended to July 31, 2010.  Otherwise, time is almost up.

On January 12, 2010, LearnKey and ExamForce announced the formation of LearnForce Partners LLC. This business merger allows both companies to combine their assets, resources, enthusiasm, and experience. Prior to the merger both companies were working with many of the same clients. For details about the merger click on : details about merger

Despite the high unemployment rate in the United States, there are more than 450,000 IT job openings in the country.  If you look around carefully you may see that it’s not a matter of not enough jobs to go around, it is a matter of not enough qualified and trained individuals to fill the jobs that are.  Police, Medical Practitioners, Instructors, and as noted above IT jobs are going unfilled. It is into this atmosphere that CompTIA, Industry leader in technical certifications, selflessly rushes in with thier “ Initiative”.   Continue reading “Getting America Back to work.”

“An optomist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old one leaves.” – Bill Vaughn

“Making resolutions is a cleansing ritual of self assessment and repentance that demands personal honesty and, ultimately, reinforces humility. Breaking them is part of the cycle. Eric Zorn

Whatever your reason for celebration this holiday season.  May it be a time of reflection, and resolution.  As you look over your past year may you find there to have been more successes than failures, and as you look forward to the new year may it be with a sense of wonder and opportunity, for this upcoming year. Wishing you all a brave, uninhibited, fierce Year of the Tiger.

There have been a number of articles and blogs recently proclaiming that Windows 7 is the end for Microsoft. Or at least for Microsoft’s stranglehold on OS (The Operating System that most PC’s run on.). Sure, Microsoft has competition. Apple has always served as an alternative to Windows, and more recently Linux has taken a chunk of the market share, but Microsoft has maintained it’s “king of the mountain” position.  According to the latest news, that may be about to change.

Continue reading “The Death of Microsoft Windows?”