Guest Editorial, National CareerTech Week, Feb. 9-15 2003

By Pete Buswell
State CareerTech Director

As a newcomer to Oklahoma who has spent more than 30 years in the corporate training world, I hope that each and every one of you feel good about what you, and Oklahoma, have accomplished by building Oklahoma’s statewide system of career and technology education.
You’ve built a world-class system that offers education and training opportunities for citizens of all education levels and all walks of life…from junior high school students to senior citizens, from customized training programs for business and industry to skills training for soon-to-be-released prison inmates.
In late December, I was named director of Oklahoma’s CareerTech system. Since then, I have been traveling across the state to see the system firsthand and to visit personally with Oklahomans who are so passionate about what this system has done for them or for members of their families.
While there is so much left to learn, I’ve already seen how high school students in Perry, Ripley, Edmond and Broken Arrow are not only learning technical skills, but teamwork and leadership skills through their participation in CareerTech programs and its student organizations such as FFA, FCCLA, and others. I’ve visited several of our technology centers and I’ve listened as Oklahoma chamber of commerce executives and business and industry leaders describe to me how critical CareerTech has been to their productivity and profitability.
And, I’ve been to the Jess Dunn and Eddie Warrior Correctional Centers where I saw firsthand how dedicated CareerTech instructors trains both male and female inmates with the marketable skills they need to earn a living and prevent their return to a life of crime.
Yes, Oklahomans have every right to be proud. But, in these troubled economic times, we face many challenges…we have so much more to do.
One of our most pressing challenges is to accelerate the CareerTech system’s efforts to help speed Oklahoma’s economic recovery. We must do an even better job of providing technical and soft skills training needed to help Oklahoma’s businesses and industries build a world-class employee talent pool. And we must step up our efforts to help entrepreneurs and small businesses become more productive and profitable.
We must also speed our efforts in electronic learning. Although the CareerTech system provides impressive learning opportunities in “brick and mortar” facilities, many rural Oklahomans have limited access to those facilities. That’s why online learning is so important. My most recent experiences in the corporate world have been with a global provider of e-learning content, hosting and customization services and with an information technology curriculum provider. Using those experiences and the expertise already available in our system, our hope is to standardize, improve and expand our electronic course offerings. Our goal is to address the learning styles of each student by offering a variety of online formats including instructor-led, computer-based, Web-based and self-study.
We will also continue our efforts to be even more accountable to the taxpayers of Oklahoma. We understand the value of taxpayer dollars and pledge to use those funds to ensure quality programs with high standards.
I’m very much looking forward to the opportunity to work beside Oklahoma’s educators, business leaders and our other partners to face, and conquer, these challenges. Together, we can positively impact Oklahoma’s economic recovery and make our state even better.

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