Web Professional Role and Responsibilities: A Riverland Community College Advisory Board Perspective – Austin, MN
I made a trek to Austin, Minnesota early last week to participate in an education and technology advisory board meeting with a group of local Web professionals and community college principles at Riverland Community College.
For today’s podcast, I’d like to provide the subscribers of the Web professional minute with an overview of that meeting complete with a few of the higher level talking points. I would also like to make you aware of the availability of an Web developer associate degree program at Riverland Community College that is completely online. WOW’s been working with Riverland Community College for a number of years to suggest student learning outcomes that meet best practices and Web standards of today and WOW is really excited about their program.
If you’ve ever wondered about how leading edge colleges prepare for workforce development and improvements to their course programs or if you’re an educator looking for insights on Web professional advisory groups, you owe it to yourself and your students to follow along with this podcast.
Austin, MN Home to the Spam Museum
To get a sense for the physical location of Riverland Community College, the campus is situated a couple of hours drive time from Minneapolis Saint Paul, MN. Austin, MN is home to several well known corporations ranging from the food giant Hormel to the well known Mayo Clinic. In fact, Austin, MN, is home to the makers of SPAM (the food kind from Hormel) and I was fortunate enough to visit the front of the SPAM museum and I am including an image of the building located in the heart of downtown Austin, MN.
Riverland Community College Designated as a WOW Web Professional Academy
In addition to participating in the annual advisory board discussion, I was also in town to present Riverland Community College with a WOW “Web Professional Academy” designation for their associate degree level program that meets WOW’s educational review process. 
I’m pleased to report that Riverland has signed on as WOW’s newest “Web Professional Academy” for incorporating the appropriate depth and breathe of skills required by the Web developer today including Web standards and today’s best practices into their curriculum. For more information about Riverland Community College Web Developer program, check out their website.
Riverland Community College Web Professional Advisory Board Meeting Discusses the Roles, Responsibilities and the Education and Training Requirements for the Web Professional
The goal of the local advisory board meeting from a Riverland Community College perspective was to collect the necessary feedback from local Web professionals working within small business and the enterprise to enhance their programs to meet the educational requirements for career bound students while meeting the training needs for those already practicing in the space. This valuable educational balancing act is particularly important in an environment of shrinking budgets and fiscal constraints.
Meeting the rigorous requirements of students looking for work in the Web field and those already practicing in the field, is no easy task. I walked away from the event quite impressed with the entire process and the leadership demonstrated at Riverland Community College.
Participants in the roundtable included a balanced mix of educators representing career technical education, academic affairs, workforce development, and training and strategic development as well as several instructors with Web design and development experience.
Also participating was a group of incredibly bright and knowledgeable industry professionals with a diverse set of occupational backgrounds ranging from those working within the enterprise, small business including freelancers.
Most if not all of the participating advisers had several years of experience working in the field with titles ranging from the Web designer, Web developer, programmer, database administrator and a corporate technical and business analyst.
I’m going to post the entire 90 minute audio podcast later in this podcast for those that have the time and the interest in learning more. If you’re as passionate about the Web profession as I am, I think you will find it well worth your time. If you’re a teacher teaching Web topics or a program manager or dean heading up a Web program you owe it to yourself, your school and your community to listen in and learn.
Although the issues raised at Riverland Community College regarding working in the Web space are not unique to Minnesota, the discussion provides a terrific glimpse into the complexity of the Web profession today and the wide range of skills required. It also reflects the challenges faced by educational institutions developing strategies to meet the growing demand for the Web professional workforce with limited budget with limited resources including a a team of instructors doing everything that they can to keep pace.
From a WOW perspective, I enjoyed sitting in on the dialogue because it’s becoming “crystal clear” to me that as profession we’re inching our way to becoming better understood by those that provide education and training at the college level. I also think we’re slowly but surely being recognized for the value we bring to the equation and for the incredibly diverse set of skills that many Web pro’s have mastered from scratch.
We’re realistically years away from being as recognized and supported to other such notable college programs such as nursing but collaboration with organizations such as Riverland Community College will ultimately get us there.
Feedback from the Riverland Community College Web Professional Advisory Board
•the need for a generalist education background is critical for the Web professional
•the need for specialist within the enterprise with broad base of skill to draw from and background including the baseline skills of the generalist
•managers also need a broad understanding of Web topics to mange the process and the various professionals that make up a web team
•a need for strong communication skills for Web professionals
•educators need to structure their programs with a blend of both education and training to meet the needs of students seeking a broad base of skills and practicing professionals that seek intensive training
•the U.S. will continue to face increased global competition including countries such as India and Russia and we need to keep pace
•web design and development requires far more education and training and understanding beyond the use of software tools
•“right brain and left brain” talent is rare but highly sought after and most valuable
•customer service is the differentiators for competing globally
•three career paths discussed the most was that of the Web designer, web developer and Webmaster
•parallels to web professional and the medical professional such as nursing we’re discussed
•tools speed up the process but hiring managers wont hire people without knowing the code behind the tools
•“Jack and Jill” of all trades may not be experts at all things but but they know how to research it to get the job done
•meeting client needs vs own preferences is the key to success
•design is not just about pretty pictures but process and usability and structure
•hiring managers found great value in developers that asked the questions as to why are we doing it this way in the development process
•business skills including presentation and listening skills and the ability to guide clients is in high demand
•the need for a four degrees was also discussed
•educators and students see a need for internships programs to get the experience employers need