Consortium for Optics and Imaging Education

美国工业界迫切需要增加光学技术人员的数量，以保持在国际市场上的重要竞争优势。该项目正在开发新的教育资源，既强调这一职业道路对学生的吸引力，又支持继续教育。这些工具以探索真实的数据为基础，以发展必要的技术技能。目前正在通过一项新的协同努力来完成这项工作，这项努力是在现有资源和该小组已证明的专门知识的基础上进行的。新的教育工具正在开发中，在为期两年的大学课程，光学技术和通信部门在门罗社区学院在罗切斯特，纽约州的测试。这些新工具包括由学术合作伙伴共同开发的教学材料，并基于教育图像处理中心开发的先前ATE资助工作。目前还在与高中教师合作编写供大学预科学校使用的材料。学院的教师正在为K-12教师举办讲习班，展示成像技术在科学和技术教育中的应用。重点特别放在少数民族人口众多的学校和那些在典型的中学环境中有学习困难的学生的学校。正在为那些没有必要资源的机构建立一个用于K-12教育的成像工具借阅图书馆。为了满足既定光学/成像技术人员继续教育的迫切需求，在先进精密光学制造协会（APOMA）成员的指导下，这些计划的一部分正在进行调整，以便在工业环境中使用以及成像科学与技术协会（&IST）。这些行业成员也参与了该项目的招聘和宣传工作。

There is an urgent need to increase the number of optical technicians in U.S. industry to maintain a vital competitive advantage in international markets. This project is developing new educational resources that will both emphasize the appeal of this career path to students and support continuing education. These tools are based upon exploration of real data to develop the necessary technical skills. This is being accomplished by a new synergistic effort that builds upon existing resources and the demonstrated expertise of the team. New educational tools are being developed for testing in the two-year college curriculum in optics technology and the communications department at Monroe Community College in Rochester, NY. These new tools include instructional materials co-developed by the academic partners and based upon previous ATE grant work developed by the Center for Image Processing in Education. The materials are also being developed for use in pre-college settings in collaboration with high school teachers. Faculty of the colleges are conducting workshops for K-12 teachers that demonstrate the use of imaging technologies for science and technology education. Particular emphasis is being placed on those schools that have a large minority population and those who deal with students who have difficulty in learning in a typical secondary school setting. A lending library of imaging tools is being established for K-12 education for those institutions that do not have the necessary resources.In order to meet the pressing need for continuing education for established optical/imaging technicians, portions of the programs are being adapted for use in the industrial environments under the guidance of members of the Advanced Precision Optics Manufacturing Association (APOMA) and the Society for Imaging Science and Technology (IS&T). These industrial members are also participating in recruitment and dissemination efforts of this project.