CATC Highlight - Innovative Leadership Helping Students to Success

John Rullan understands how to inspire student learning. The CATC at the New York City Department of Education is home to John Rullan’s innovative leadership in the Networking Academy. Rullan embraces collaboration, outside of the box classroom tactics, and content level instructor support to enhance the Academy experience in his region. Rullan’s tactics proved themselves successful as many of his graduates went on to four year institutions and reported that they had been employed as undergraduates to manage their institution’s computer labs. In fact, this year Rullan had an impressive 90% pass rate for CCNA certification with 43 out of 48 students passing the arduous exam.

Rullan's attitude toward his students is to engage them in every aspect of the learning process. He has used the Interactive Course Guides (ICGs), created by Cisco Learning Institute with students and has also assigned his students the task of creating their own “Student” Course Guides for the most challenging concepts they face in the material. Additionally, Rullan expects students to become part of their institutions’ infrastructure. His students are routinely imaging computers, locking down classroom security, networking the school, and troubleshooting. These experiences propel students in Rullan’s class to success in the curriculum as well as give them practical skills to apply to other courses and hands-on practices to build their resumes.

One of the tricks of the trade for Rullan’s methods stems from his close ties to the schools’ administration where his Academies are based. By communicating about the program with the administration, Rullan has opened doors for more student engagement and teacher creativity that goes beyond the standards for the curriculum. “The one thing that we try to accomplish is to make the coursework more than just a curriculum in a box. It’s a global economy and a human network. We let people know that it’s not a stand alone program. We demonstrate how much we are involved in making students excited about learning this material by engaging them in the learning process.”

Beyond the innovative methods that Rullan employs to reach Academies from a pedagogical standpoint, he also addresses the social-cultural needs of his students. “This gives students with technical ideas a place to develop their skills and gives them a sense of “home” where they feel comfortable. So much, they come out of their shell and become outgoing. Other students often come to them and ask for help.” Students learn how to work together in ways that they may not have interacted otherwise. “We do a lot of team activities that are so practical even if they aren’t looking to IT as a career, they will be equipped for their future.” His students often come back and tell him that college is not as hard as they thought it would be because they were prepared.

“Every student at the Academy has a computer. They have online personalities that they don’t show in person. This class helps people express who they are.” Rullan has opened up a global world to his students and the students of the Academies that he leads. The network is expanding and these students are collaborating with other students all over the globe. As they move on to college and their careers, they will certainly take with them the life skills and values that were foundational in their courses with John Rullan through the New York City Department of Education.

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