Re: giving an iSeries system to each college

["Mark S. Waterbury" <mark.s.waterbury@xxxxxxx>]

The success of any program like the IBM System i Academic Initiative 
(formerly iSeries Scholars Program, nee PIE), is predicated on several 
things that MUST HAPPEN (not necessarily in this order):
1. availability of necessary infrastructure (e.g. access to an i5/OS 
system either locally or remotely) and any i5-related software students 
need to use (especially on their PCs, for IDEs, etc.)
2. availability of full-time i5/OS administrators or programmers from 
industry who are willing and able to serve as "adjunct faculty" to teach 
part-time courses in a local community college or university, and/or to 
act as a part-time administrators for any i5 systems on campus -OR- 
availability of full-time faculty with the necessary knowledge to do the 
same.
3. availability of textbooks, preferably with "instructor's guide" and 
lesson plans, suggested homework exercises, sample quizzes and exams, 
etc., so that anyone trying to teach the course for the first time can 
get "up and running" quickly. (This was a major inhibitor over the past 
5 years at several schools I was involved with.) Many college professors 
will not even attempt to teach a new course without this kind of 
support. (Oh, by the way, Microsoft does an EXCELLENT JOB in providing 
all of these kinds of materials to colleges, for their recommended 
courses, at very low cost.)
4. students willing to enroll in such courses.  Without enough students, 
most colleges will be forced to CANCEL those courses, as they cannot 
afford to run them "at a loss" (or at least "break even" with regard to 
paying adjunct faculty, etc.)  Many students are not willing to take any 
courses in a curriculum for "some platform they never heard of" -- 
especially if they have little or no faith that there will be any jobs 
available upon the completion of such coursework.  This is a big 
"CATCH-22" ... I know of several community colleges that listed several 
AS/400 related courses in their catalog, but NO ONE EVER SIGNED-UP for 
those courses. There needs to be some kind of advertising-marketing in 
the local community to attract student interest, such as having 
potential employers (companies that use i5) come on campus and give a 
lecture to the students in the "introduction to computers" courses to 
explain that there are jobs in the local market for people with i5 
skills.  This requires some cooperation and assistance from the i5 
community -- most colleges generally cannot or will not be able do this 
adequately by themselves (there are of course some rare exceptions who 
do a very good job of this "promotional" work.)
CALL TO ACTION
If you want to see System i education offered in your area, GET INVOLVED 
... Volunteer to serve on a local college's CIS Advisory Board (or 
whatever they call it), so you can have input into their curriculum, 
etc. -- volunteer to help to "spread the word" ... Employers who use 
System i in the local community could pay for their employees to sign-up 
for and take courses (evening or week-ends) at the local colleges, in 
these courses ... For example, how many RPG programmers would like to 
learn Java for iSeries? etc. 

It is not easy -- it requres a commitment of your time, effort, etc.; it 
can take a year or more to "get the ball rolling" -- perhaps you may 
even need to volunteer to teach one or two courses the first time around.
If we don't take any action, we will continue to get the same results we 
are seeing now -- very few colleges are currently offering ANY courses 
related to IBM System i, p or z.  (Think globally, act locally.)
Sincerely,

Mark S. Waterbury