SC ATE Center of Excellence Focal Point for Expanding Excellence in Engineering Technology Education

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Florence-Darlington Technical College and Piedmont Technical College are collaboratively serving as a national Resource Center for dissemination of educational materials, curricula, pedagogical practice, and recruitment strategies resulting from the highly successful South Carolina Advanced Technological Education Center of Excellence (SC ATE). As a national Resource Center for Excellence in engineering technology education, this partnership serves as a highly visible resource for ideas, materials, contacts, and mentoring focused on recruiting, nurturing, and teaching students at the beginning of the engineering technology educational pipeline where most attrition occurs. The institutions involved were an integral part of the SC ATE Center of Excellence work for the past six years, and the envisioned systemic reform has "taken root." They have the largest number of SC ATE-prepared, reform-ready faculty and the most experience in implementing the SC ATE curricula and fostering numerous other improvements in the teaching/learning environment. These two colleges are carrying this significant statewide work from a base of experience and success in South Carolina to the next level to benefit the greater two-year technical and community college engineering technology (ET) community. The vision of the project is to serve as a national model and clearinghouse to increase the quantity, quality and diversity of engineering technology graduates from two-year ET degree programs. The goals of the project are to: (a) Serve as a national focal point for improvement in ET education; (b) Refine and share successful SC ATE recruitment strategies (e.g., ATE Scholars) and share new recruitment strategies; (c) Refine and share the SC ATE Technology Gateway (pre-engineering technology) curriculum (three courses) and the SC ATE Engineering Technology Core curriculum, "ET Core"; (d) Develop multiple course and curriculum scheduling options to increase use of the SC ATE curricula; (e) Introduce a pilot electronic version of Technology Gateway to facilitate greater access to ET programs for students for whom a full-time or an uninterrupted course of study is not possible; (f) Share insights into organizational change issues that can support or hinder lasting improvement in the teaching/learning environment for engineering technology students; (g) Deliver a pilot version of ATE Teaching Team Training via an interactive web-based workshop; (h) Leverage the experience of SC ATE's principal investigators, college administrators, and faculty by providing mentoring for others as they adapt and implement SC ATE models or otherwise address the special needs of beginning engineering technology students; and, (i) Demonstrate how the processes of project evaluation, program evaluation, and accreditation can be linked to implement total quality improvement in the preparation of students for successful careers in engineering technology and beyond.