Students meet for first time for technest|SJCC with MITx.

technest|SJCC collaborates with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MITx) on accelerated course

SAN JOSE, CA, 95128, May 22, 2017 /EINPresswire.com/ -- San José City College (SJCC), in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MITx), has launched an 18-week coding course designed to bridge Silicon Valley’s wage and skills gap. The program known as technest|SJCC started instruction on May 16 with its first cohort of 31 students.

“We must open the doors of opportunity in Silicon Valley to students who traditionally have not had access to computer science curriculum,” said SJCC President, Dr. Byron D. Clift Breland. “We believe this first group of students working with a world class institution like MITx will demonstrate that, working together, we can effectively bring more equity, diversity, and opportunity to Silicon Valley’s booming tech industry.”

The accelerated course focuses on the fundamentals of computational thinking, simple algorithms, and computer programming in Python. Students meet three times a week at technest|SJCC, located on the SJCC College Extension in Milpitas, to collaborate with peers and work with SJCC instructors on problem sets, incorporating the best of online and in-class learning.

MITx is the massive open online course (MOOC) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Office of Digital Learning. Students are enrolled in MITx 6.00 Introduction to Computer Science on the edX online learning platform.

When students complete the course at the end of the summer, technest|SJCC will match them with prospective employers for internships and possible employment.

In January, technest|SJCC was awarded a $150,000 grant by the California Workforce Development Board (CWDB) for the innovative program’s commitment to training underserved community members for careers in the tech industry. Of the 15 grant recipients in California, SJCC was the only community college among the recipients.

About San Jose City College
San José City College’s campus is located just minutes from downtown San José off Highway 280. Established in 1921, San José City College just celebrated its 95th anniversary and boasts a state-of-the-art Technology Center, Library and Learning Center, Student Center, Science Complex, Applied Science Center, Cosmetology Building, Carmen Castellano Fine Arts Building, Multidisciplinary Building, and the soon-to-be-completed Physical Education Building.

Daniel Garza
San Jose City College
408-288-3163
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