Technological Education for the Rural Community (TERC)

霍普金斯维尔社区学院服务于肯塔基州南部和田纳西州北部的一个由五个县组成的农村地区，那里有70多家制造公司，这些公司一直难以招聘到合格的员工来填补与技术相关的职位。农村社区技术教育项目正在为社区大学一级的技术教育制定创新的教育途径，以影响农村社区技术领域的就业能力。TERC采用便携式、个性化的教学方法来解决已确定的障碍，包括不灵活的工作时间表、高中和大学之间的间隔时间过长以及学习准备不足。特别是，通过利用混合传输系统和情境化的数学和工程课程，解决了获取问题和低数学理解。这个混合项目结合了基于问题的学习（PBL），以行业设计的课程标准为中心，使课程与高技术工作场所相关。该项目采用了一种融合的教学模式，面向那些在职且无法参加传统大学课程的学生。教学内容正在通过互联网和预装在便携式媒体上的内容传播。在开放的实验室环境中，通过实践应用程序和通过项目开发的模型，通过一对一的指导促进了实验室工作。TERC对代表性不足的群体和农村学生进行有针对性的营销，在区域商业和职业博览会上突出学生的成功。项目评价和评估活动正在收集关于将情境化数学作为改善农村和代表性不足的学生进入初级制造业工作途径的一种手段的数据。通过比较参加传统课程的学生和参加混合课程的学生，以及比较保留率和学生的看法，可以衡量混合授课模式的使用情况。

Hopkinsville Community College serves a rural, five-county region in southern Kentucky and northern Tennessee that is home to over 70 manufacturing companies that consistently have difficulty hiring qualified employees to fill technology related positions. The Technological Education for the Rural Community (TERC) project is developing innovative educational pathways for technological education at the community college level to influence employability in technical fields within the rural community. TERC utilizes portable, personalized instructional methods to address identified barriers including inflexible work schedules, extended time between high school and college, and poor academic preparation. In particular, access issues and low mathematics comprehension are being addressed by utilizing hybrid delivery systems and contextualized mathematics and engineering coursework. The hybrid program incorporates problem based learning (PBL) centered on industry designed curriculum standards making coursework relevant to the highly technical workplace. The project uses a fusion of delivery models for students who work and cannot attend traditional college classes. Didactic content is being delivered via the Internet and preloaded content on portable media. Lab work is facilitated through one-on-one instruction in an open lab environment with hands-on applications and models developed through the project. TERC uses targeted marketing for underrepresented groups and the rural student at regional business and career fairs highlighting student successes. Project evaluation and assessment activities are collecting data on the incorporation of contextualized mathematics as a means of improving the pathway for rural and underrepresented students into entry level manufacturing jobs. The use of a hybrid delivery model is being measured by both comparing the students enrolled in a traditional course with those enrolled in the hybrid sections, and by comparing retention and student perceptions.