Mentoring the TIMSGeoTech program

The TIMSGeoTech program at Pikes Peak Community College recently participated in a webinar hosted by the GeoTech Center (http://www.geotechcenter.org/). TIMSGeoTech is the Tiered Internship Model for Students in Geospatial Technology and was funded by the National Science Foundation DUE #0902511 last year. The SC ATE Center is mentoring the Principal Investigators of the project, and has provided assistance in the creation of their successful internship program, which is modeled on the SC ATE Scholars (internship) program at Florence-Darlington Technical College. (http://www.fdtc.edu/) Colorado is one of the fastest growing regions in the country, and is home to the second largest geospatial technology workforce in the country. To learn more about PPCCs program check out:  http://www.ppcc.edu/programs/geographic-information-systems

Manufacturing: The Misunderstood Industry

Scott Doron, director of the Southern Technology Council, recently wrote:
According to a 2009 national survey, Americans believe that manufacturing is the most important industry for a strong national economy. Yet only 17 percent said their schools encourage manufacturing careers, and only 13 percent said their own parents encouraged them to pursue a career in manufacturing. Read more...

SC ATE Center Receives National Science Foundation Funding

The S.C. Advanced Technological Education (SC ATE ) National Resource Center for Expanding Excellence in Technician Education, headquartered at Florence-Darlington Technical College, has been awarded a $1.6 million National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to support its Advancing Faculty Development and Program Improvement plan.

Dr. Joshua Phiri, principal investigator for the project, said the SC ATE National Resource Center will be adapting and implementing innovative strategies and using Web 2.0 technologies to expand the services and increase use of http://www.teachingtechnicians.org/; scale up peer mentoring and technical assistance to affect program improvement in technician education; identify and broadly disseminate proven and promising strategies for program improvement, with a specific focus on broadening participation of underrepresented groups; and, stimulate the use of evaluation tools with faculty development programs to identify and sustain success and help foster a culture of evaluation in the ATE program.

SC ATE presents at HI-TEC Conference.

SC ATE partnered with ATE TV and ATE Central to present a session on ATE Online Resources at HI-TEC in July. HI-TEC is a national conference on advanced technical education where technical educators, counselors, industry professionals, and technicians can update their knowledge and skills. Charged with Educating America's Technical Workforce, the event focuses on the preparation needed by the existing and future workforce for companies in the high-tech sectors that drive our nation's economy. Save the date for next year in SAN FRANCISCO, July 25-28, 2011!

Robotics Technician Training Program

Throughout 2009, SC ATE collaborated with the US Department of Defense-funded National Robotics Training Center (NRTC) to develop a robotics technician training program. The SC ATE team assisted NRTC by identifying Subject Matter Experts from across the ATE technician education community who traveled to the Southeastern Institute of Manufacturing and Technology (SIMT) to participate in the curriculum development process. The curriculum design is based on the SC ATE Center model of project-based learning that emphasizes hands-on, just-in-time learning, integrates content across disciplines, and requires teamwork. During the fall 2009 semester, the curriculum was pilot-tested with a class of FDTC ATE engineering technology (ET) students. SC ATE Director, Elaine Craft, assisted with the evaluation for the project. Picture attached.

Instructional Leadership Institute

All 5 SC ATE curriculum implementation partners and two “exploratory” partners sent faculty teams or representatives to an Instructional Leadership Institute, held at the Highland Lake Inn in Flat Rock, NC, April 1-3, 2009 [White County High School (Cleveland, GA), Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College (Asheville, NC), Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology (Boston, MA), Wayne Community College (Goldsboro, NC), South Florence High School (Florence, SC), Denmark Technical College (Denmark, SC), and Harford Community College, (Bel Air, MD)]. The theme of the workshop was “Teamwork Works” which focused on a critical success factor for implementation of the interdisciplinary, project-based SC ATE curriculum: effective use of teamwork in the classroom and among faculty who teach the curriculum.

SCATE Intro

The South Carolina Advanced Technological Education (SC ATE) National Resource Center for Engineering Technology (ET) Education serves as a central resource for the two-year college ET community. The SC ATE National Resource Center provides this "one-stop shopping" web site for accessing best practices and exemplary materials for recruiting and retaining students, as well as for teaching engineering technology. In addition, SC ATE provides resources for potential and current ET students and for businesses and industries who hire associate degree ET graduates.

An integrated, problem-based curriculum, collaborative teaching strategies and extensive active learning techniques-together with faculty and student teams-form the cornerstone of the Center's successful strategy. These tools are a nationally-acclaimed model for recruiting, retaining, and graduating more students in engineering technology programs.

The Center is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and Florence-Darlington Technical College (Florence, SC).