Preparing Students for Careers in Telecommunications, With Shirley Brown-Harrison

The telecommunications industry is growing, and more people are needed to meet workforce needs. Shirley Brown-Harrison, a senior instructor at the Tennessee College of Applied Technology at Hohenwald, discusses how TCAT is preparing students for telecommunications careers. Focusing on three learning objectives, Brown-Harrison's team ensures the students are prepared for industry careers. Those objectives are:

1. Teach fundamentals and teach them well.
2. Help students develop critical-thinking skills.
3. Learn to learn.

What is Lead Tennessee Radio?

Lead Tennessee Radio features conversations with the leaders who are moving Tennessee forward. Topics include rural development, broadband, technology, legislation, policy and more. The podcast is produced by the Tennessee Broadband Association.

Intro:
The following program is brought to you by the Tennessee
Broadband Association.

Lead Tennessee Radio, conversations with the leaders moving our
state forward.

We look at the issues shaping Tennessee's future: rural
development, public policy, broadband,

health care, and other topics impacting our communities.

Carrie Huckeby:
Hello. I'm Carrie Huckeby, executive director of the Tennessee
Broadband Association.

We have as our guest today Shirley Brown-Harrison, who is the
senior instructor of electromechanical electronic

systems and telecommunications at the Tennessee College of
Applied Technology at Hohenwald.

And while Shirley has over two decades of experience in
industrial electronics, including being the first female

industrial maintenance technician to work at Crossville Ceramics
back in the early 2000s.

Then she switched to teaching.

She's been teaching full time since 2006.

Shirley, thanks for joining me.

Shirley Brown-Harrison:
Thank you for having me, Carrie.

Carrie Huckeby:
So let's start the conversation with giving us an overview of the
telecommunication program at TCAT, how long it's been offered,

and an overview of what you do.

Shirley Brown-Harrison:
Sure. We'll start with the mission of the program.

It is to prepare students for gainful employment in a
telecommunications field by providing students with fundamental

theories, principles, experiments and real world experiences in
the telecommunications industry.

Students will learn through hands on applications, utilizing
trainers and real world projects.

In the first term, students will study several courses,
including intro to telecommunications, copper and fiber

optic based systems and telephony.

And in these courses they can earn industry certifications from
C-TECH.

Students will also study customer service, orientation and
safety and worker characteristics.

They will earn a certification through their safety and customer
service as

well. We all understand how important those are on the job.

The second term concentrates more on the computer side of
things.

Concentrates on hardware, software such as Windows, Mac, Linux,
storage, networking system

management, file management.

All things that have to do with the computer side of the
responsibilities of

a telecommunications technician.

And we utilize a system that called Testout and prepares them to
take their CompTIA A+

certification. The third and final term students will study
practical applications to include satellite

fundamentals, smart technology systems, audio, video and
security surveillance, coupled with practical

applications. And they also can earn more certifications through
C-TECH,

SBCA Satellite and ETA for the STS certifications.

Carrie Huckeby:
There's a lot packed into that program, isn't there?

Shirley Brown-Harrison:
Yes, ma'am. It's a year long.

It's 12 months in length, 1,296 compact hours.

But it is very fast paced, a lot going on.

But students, there's a lot of hands on.

And students generally, they absolutely love that side of
things, the hands on side.

Carrie Huckeby:
Yeah. It's more fun to learn hands on versus reading or lecture,
I'm sure.

So I'm curious, where did your interest in telecommunications
technology begin?

Shirley Brown-Harrison:
Well, you know, I've taught electromechanical for a long time,
and

I'm now teaching electronic systems, but I used to teach it.

And then I kind of went more just electromechanical and then
back.

So there's a lot of overlap between the programs.

And the overlap, I mean, things that are in common and before
telecommunications, you know, I'd

say my real passion was in electromechanical with the industrial
equipment and

the automation – the automated computer side of things.

And with that, it's you're being trained to be a maintenance
technician, but you also

have to understand IP addresses and networking, and then some of
that math.

And is this cable good?

You know, just all the things that even though it's industrial,
it's still computers and part of the telecommunications world.

So, you know, having kind of grown with computer

s throughout my years of teaching, you know, I just that's really
where the interest

stemmed. Just wanting to learn and understand more about those
areas.

Carrie Huckeby:
Right. Because it's very foundational.

You know, if you start with all of that, then there's so many
directions that you go if you have a good understanding of

how all that works.

How do you get the word out about the telecommunication program?

How early do you get into the high schools to be able to to talk
about the program or any of your TCAT options?

Shirley Brown-Harrison:
You know, we have a recruiter at TCAT.

We just hired another recruiter.

So we're approaching it from that side of things.

I know we have some college fairs already scheduled at the high
schools.

So before this year, dual enrollment was open for

juniors and seniors only.

And so we certainly tried to target them to come to class.

And hopefully, you know, when they come, they'll get exposed to
the program and continue on after high school.

But last year or either earlier this year, legislation changed
where we're going to actually dual enroll from ninth

grade to 12th grade.

So that's kind of change our strategy a little bit.

Also, it upped the funding because there was only so much grant
funding available for dual enrollment.

So that's kind of changed our strategy a little bit.

But, you know, so we're constantly doing those things.

Our recruiters are.

I'm trying to recruit all I can, you know, by word of mouth.

And just for example, this week, our Louis County CTE director
is Ms.

Trina Weeks was on campus with our financial aid director, and
they

invited me in to brainstorm some ideas about how to increase
high school dual enrollment.

And, you know, last year during the height of the pandemic, I
created a

video. I never really thought about it, but it made a lot of
sense.

My husband teaches eighth grade social studies, and he said we
can't have – because of COVID.

We have career day, and we cannot have people come in the class.

Could you make me a video, you know, highlighting your programs?

And I said, sure.

So I did that.

In the pandemic, we purchased all GoPros, all the instructors
were, and so went around and made some short

video clips. And then our IT guy, he is great to be able to put
that all together and made

about 20 minutes long video.

And so I had that idea.

I thought for a while, we're just missing the boat per say with
our high school

students. I mean, and just with the public in general, because
we have the digital age right at our fingertips.

But I just felt like we weren't utilizing it as much as we
should have.

So that was my suggestion to her.

And I explained to her what we did with the video and even
shared it with her, and she was all on board.

She's contacted me.

She's going to buy her people GoPros, she's showing videos
everywhere.

And then we are tasked at the TCATs in September,

I think our deadline, is to make a recruiting video for the
school, not just for my programs.

So we're constantly doing stuff like that, social media,

tours. And that's what she said.

She said, you know, the tours are great.

We can bring students on campus, but there's so much going on,
and we have such a limited time.

It's a much better captive audience with something like this.

So I really think that's going to pay a lot of dividends in the
future.

Carrie Huckeby:
I think it's great that you can go in at ninth grade now because
I think the sooner you can start

presenting those options and those careers and get their
interest, the better.

And of course, I always love video.

You know, in today's time, we tend to like video so much better
than reading.

And you do a good job on your social media.

I follow you. So, you know, I don't think there's any one way to
get the word out.

So it's good that you're using all of those.

We do hear in the news a lot today about educational cost and
student loans and that there are other options out there versus

whether it's academic or trade.

Tell us a little bit about the cost of the telecommunications
program.

You said it's a 12 month, 1,296 hour program.

Tell us about the cost and how the Tennessee Promise applies to
that.

Shirley Brown-Harrison:
Yes, the total program cost is $5,615.

So breaking that down, that is for $4,008 for a year of tuition
and

a little over $1,600 for books and supplies.

So, yes, the Tennessee Promise.

We are an eligible institution for the Tennessee Promise.

I do want to mention that as you had inquired about student
loans and asking about did we offer those.

We do not offer student loans.

So the TCAT system, the Tennessee College of Applied Technology
in general, we do not offer student loans.

So most everyone that comes here has some funding.

There's very few that pay all out of pocket.

Some might have to pay a little.

But grant funding wise, it's paid for.

So I'll give you an example.

I looked up the Tennessee Promise eligibility requirements and
of course, our graduating seniors of the class of

2023, they have a deadline.

So in November 1st, they have to apply for the Tennessee Promise
scholarship.

March 1st, they have to have applied for the FAFSA, the free
application for student financial aid.

They have to complete 8 hours of community service by a
deadline.

And then by the spring of next year, they have to apply to
enroll in a class.

So that means basically they'll fill out the application online
and get on a waiting list.

So pell grants, that is federal money.

And when they fill out their FAFSA, it basically looks at all
their grant funding

options. And so if a student qualifies for full pell, we would
still call that the

promise, but that would be an amount of $6,895 a year.

So we do have some students that do qualify for that based on
their parents income and that kind of thing.

So if that's the case, this student would have $1,280 left.

So they would actually have school paid for and almost $1,300
dollars left.

Now, that's all split over three terms.

It's divvied up.

But, they could actually, and I mean, I have one in my class
right now, who qualifies for full pell

and gets money back.

So that's not uncommon.

Just depends on their financial circumstances.

Carrie Huckeby:
Well, it's always nice to have money left versus owing money,
right?

Shirley Brown-Harrison:
Oh, absolutely. And they can use that money however they want to.

They can use it for their living expenses, their gas, food,
whatever.

So they can do that.

I also wanted to mention the Tennessee Reconnect.

That is for adults that are 23 and older.

And it is $2,000 a year and

then our part of the lottery scholarship, which is called the
Wilder-Naifeh Technical Skills Grant,

is $2,000 a year.

So I spoke to financial aid and they said between those two, if
they're an adult student and basically they have not

used those monies before, then they can get every bit of their
tuition paid.

And they're pretty much they'll just owe their books and
supplies.

And that's really the same for the Tennessee Promise, even if a
student does not qualify for any other

aid above tuition, it at least guarantees tuition is paid for
incoming seniors.

Carrie Huckeby:
I think that's a really good point about the Tennessee Reconnect,
because we do talk a lot about getting in the high schools.

But there are older students that are looking for new careers or
want to do something different.

And there is such a workforce shortage right now in
telecommunications that that's a great opportunity to

do something different if you're looking for a new direction.

Shirley Brown-Harrison:
Absolutely.

Carrie Huckeby:
So how many students have completed the telecommunications
program?

Shirley Brown-Harrison:
So since it started, it's a fairly new program.

I went back and was thinking about this.

We have 11 completers, and of those 11 one

changed career paths, and he will be starting in the EMT program
in the fall, which is fine.

You know, we have students come in, they're young.

He was 17. You know, he didn't know what he wanted to do.

And so he decided he wanted to switch programs, but he still
earned enough credentials here that he's a completer.

One, went to work.

So looking at our numbers, we have a 91% completion rate since
we started and a 90%

went to work in a related field.

Carrie Huckeby:
Wow, that's good.

Shirley Brown-Harrison:
Yeah. So I mean, we typically I mean, our accreditation agency,
which

is COE or the Council on Occupational Education, we're in the
middle of our

accreditation process right now, but every year we have to
report for them, we have to have 60% of our

students have to complete and that is at least to a certificate
or diploma level.

70% of those 60% have to go to work in a related field.

If they pursue additional education that counts as that or goes
to military.

So basically, we don't keep our jobs if we're not putting people
to work in the related field.

So everything I'm doing is trying to train them to go to work in
the telecom industry.

Carrie Huckeby:
Well, do you help students actually find jobs or do you find
that employers tend to reach out to you and say, do you have

anybody qualified or ready to graduate?

Shirley Brown-Harrison:
You know, it's a little of both, but there's not a shortage of
people contacting me.

They'll email me.

They'll call.

I make contacts like when we attended the Tennessee Broadband
Association, I made contacts there.

I saw an ad in the paper this week, my local paper.

So I had a student that was working for that company, so I
called him.

"Hey, can I get the lowdown?

What's going on there?" And so there's all kinds of ways.

So there's never any I guess, what we'll say, there's never any
guarantees that there will be things available when students

graduate. But in today's time, you know, I'm still ramping up
the program, so I'm not putting out –

there's way more need than the students I have to put out.

So that's where we have to come back on the front end.

And what we spoke about earlier, focus on recruiting and getting
the word out.

"Hey, this is something you can do." And one thing I spoke to
the CTE director about this week

was high school students could actually come in and do those
fiber and

copper and some of the the first term – which those are all
those are all industry recognized

certifications that are on the approved list for the Tennessee
Department of Education that will be paid for.

I've lobbied and pushed for those to be on that list, so they
will pay for all of those supplies.

And so they can not only get high school credit, your college
credit, certifications, and they could

potentially just graduate high school and go to work in the
telecom industry because they would already have the necessary

skills.

Carrie Huckeby:
Yeah, great.

So I think my next question was about some of the challenges
that you face, or you think about and you've mentioned

a few of those that finding students and recruiting and getting
them into the program.

Are there other things, equipment, awareness, and we touched on
awareness a little bit, but are there other

things that challenge you with the program that you have
problems you have to solve to keep things running?

Shirley Brown-Harrison:
Yeah, absolutely.

I think there's always challenges.

So one of things I thought about with this question was we got
contacted, I don't know, several

months ago by a company that was wanting us to

partner with them to be the educational piece

of a government approved co-op.

And once I really got to looking at what they wanted, it was
more tower climbing

and wireless.

And it's a little different slant.

You know, it's a different outcome than what we're doing now.

Now, I understand that's a need for the telecom industry, but we
had to come back and say, you know,

that's not what we're doing right now.

You know, that's, you know, we had to kind of say that's not
what we're doing.

So I don't know who's doing that, but that's not what we're
specifically teaching.

So that's one thing that I think about as a hurdle.

You know, I think about just trying to make sure that I'm
educated in the industry and know what

equipment industry is using.

And so we're working some things to try to purchase some of the
expensive equipment like splicers

and OTVRs because we know fiber is is the big thing right now in
telecom.

It's not the only thing, but it is probably the biggest thing
going on right now.

So just trying to make sure that they are as prepared as
possible when they go out into industry.

Carrie Huckeby:
Yeah, that makes sense.

When you stepped into the role as the instructor of the
telecommunications program, you were probably thinking more about

the immediate need.

You know, the class needed an instructor, but now that you've
been doing it a little while, where would you like to see the

program three years from now or five years from now?

Shirley Brown-Harrison:
I would like to see different options like I just spoke about.

Whether it be for this other path where we partner with someone,
and we know we're

taking care of the educational piece and they're getting on the
job training for that.

I think their word is in an approved apprenticeship, I think is
their term.

So I would like to have more than one path because there's
certainly going to be more than you

know. And our students take over multiple places and go to work.

So I'm not saying that, but I guess it's just a totally
different path.

I'd like to have at least a couple, if not more different paths
that students can say, "Okay, you can choose A, B or C

." I would like to have the program, I mean, just full and and
kind of bursting at the seams, as they say.

And so much so that I would need to hire someone to help me run
it because I know that's the

need with all the money that I see coming down to ensure that we
have

high speed Internet in the rural areas.

We're going to need that many people in the telecom industry, I
think.

Carrie Huckeby:
Yes. Yes, I agree.

You know, there's still a lot of work to be done connecting
Tennesseans here and across the nation with broadband.

And, of course, when the networks get built, they have to be
maintained.

And, you know, there is some troubleshooting and customer
service that's involved in that.

So it's definitely an industry that is growing.

And I understand what you're saying about the different
direction, because I was just talking to one of my board members

this morning about another training program where they cover the
OSHA 10, you know, the flag training for

right of ways, the CPR, the CDLs, chainsaw training.

So you've certainly got that outside operational, and then
you've got that network side as well.

So it's great that you're thinking about that and trying to
figure out how to bring that together.

I follow you, as I said, on social media, and you guys do a good
job of that, and I see that enrollment is in full swing right

now. How's that going for you for this upcoming term?

Shirley Brown-Harrison:
It's going great.

We're still recruiting.

Still trying to get more.

I have two in telecommunications, two in electronics and

six or seven and electromechanical.

So, again, I'd really like to to ramp up the telecom side of
things.

And we're just continuing to work on that.

It just takes time once you, but I'm a firm believer.

If you build it and you let everybody know what you built, they
will come.

Carrie Huckeby:
Yeah, I think that middle part is really important.

You can build it, and you tell everyone about it.

And I certainly hope our podcast here will help do that and help
get the word out.

Is there anything else, Shirley, you'd like to add before we
wrap up?

Shirley Brown-Harrison:
Yes, I would like to there's a couple of main points here.

And just for whoever's listening, just to understand kind of the
environment of the classroom.

Our classrooms at TCAT for the most part are what we call
self-paced competency based.

And so while I do like to lock step students as much as I can
through some of these courses,

sometimes it's just better that way.

The opportunity for the self-paced approach that is there, and
what that

does for students that want to that are really motivated and
want to push and work hard, they can finish early.

So everything is laid out that you have a year of funding.

We have estimated times, but it is possible that students could
finish early and go to work.

It is possible they could do the first term, which is four
months, and

go to work. Some of these 11 that I told you, that's all they
did.

And they're still working for some of the fiber contractors to
this day.

So really a person can come into the first term and say, that's
all I want and leave.

They can do second term, okay, that's all, I want and leave.

Or third. I mean, it's really unique in that way.

You know, in the classroom environment, as an instructor, I like
to say I wear a lot of hats, you know, make sure all the

necessary equipment is there.

I guide students through courses and projects and while at the
same time allowing them, enough freedom to navigate

the process of learning and managing their time.

Because we really try to treat this – this is their job.

They come here 6 hours a day, five days a week, or 30 hours a
week.

And we treat it like they were going into a job.

You know, they have responsibilities on their side as far as
paperwork and keeping up with their things that way.

And, you know, three things I like to just whichever program it
is, three things I like to

accomplish. We approach learning with three main objectives.

Number one, teach fundamentals.

Teach them well.

Fundamentals they don't change.

Number two, help students develop their critical thinking
skills.

And number three, just learn to learn.

Learn how to – just like this morning with our opportunities
that we had – you have to roll with the punches, as

they say, and figure out how to just accomplish the task at
hand, even though there's going to be

obstacles. So while I do lecture, I do lockstep some, it's also
an

adult environment where, you know, and students, especially the
ones coming out of high school for the first

time, they have their destiny.

What they really want is somebody not telling them every step to
do.

They have that in front of them.

And sometimes they take off and sometimes some struggle with it.

So I just want to throw that in as to the classroom environment
and

management of it.

And when I asked a couple of students yesterday, some of my
better students, I said, you know, when it says give an overview

of what you do, I thought they had some great comments.

And I just wanted to share.

One student said that, you know, I am "someone that educates,
teaches and informs students to the best of their ability to

do said task by themselves or with little to no guidance."
Another student said "someone that presents information in a way

that all students can learn, provide all equipment and guidance
throughout the program, and help students develop troubleshooting

skills and understand complex networking systems with minimal
guidance." And the reason is

it's not that – telling is not teaching.

Teaching is helping best prepare students, as best I can, go out
and

go into the world and be successful.

And so we just have a worklike environment.

And so I just wanted to stress that as a classroom environment,
and

I've got to tell you right now that graduated associates
degrees, and they absolutely – they're glad they got their

degrees, but they really just wanted more hands on, and they're
just so happy they came back to TCAT.

Carrie Huckeby:
I love that. "Telling is not teaching." So true.

And I had the opportunity to visit the campus last month, and I
was really impressed with the program, the

students, the way they did work through their segments
individually, and then they went to the next

one. You know, I was impressed with the equipment set up, but
Shirley, I was more impressed with your

knowledge and the passion that you show for that program and
towards those students to ensure that they

walk out of there prepared.

So we really thank you for what you're doing in preparing those
telecommunications workers because we're certainly going to need

them.

Shirley Brown-Harrison:
Thank you so much Carrie. I appreciate that.

Carrie Huckeby:
So my guest has been Shirley Brown-Harrison, the senior
instructor of electromechanical electronic systems and

telecommunications at TCAT Hohenwald.

And you've been listening to Lead Tennessee Radio, produced by
the Tennessee Broadband Association – cooperative and independent

companies connecting our state's rural communities and beyond
with world class broadband.