Working Partners: Documenting the Impact of Industry Collaboration within the ATE Community

认识到行业在科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)技术人员队伍的教育和培训中的重要作用，“工作伙伴：记录高级技术教育(ATE)社区内行业合作的影响”项目调查并确定了行业/社区大学合作伙伴关系和合作的有效模式的指标和特征。研究结果和工作伙伴工具包将加强和提供在创建和维持有效的行业伙伴关系和合作方面的专门知识，这些合作伙伴包括两年制院校的STEM技术员导向项目以及职业和技术教育的中等教育项目。研究和面向用户的传播活动的参与性旨在满足不同群体的信息需求。项目成果将促使政策制定者和实践者加强现有的伙伴关系和合作，并开发新型的行业/高等教育伙伴关系和合作，以进一步提高STEM技术员队伍的全球竞争力。该项目的范围和目标是：(1)确定、调查和记录ATE社区和行业之间存在的伙伴关系和合作模式；(2)调查和阐明伙伴关系模式的实施、挑战和影响；(3)探索和记录维持和支持富有成效的行业关系的条件；以及(4)记录有意义的经验以及学生从ATE社区与行业伙伴关系中产生的职业道路。基于系统的理论方法试图理解和阐明由工具、规则、总体社区期望和劳动分工组成的系统中人与物之间的各种相互依赖和联系。混合方法研究设计将研究项目的理论方法与ATE计划理论相结合；将研究问题与研究方法相结合；构建数据收集(调查、访谈、文件分析、焦点小组)和数据分析(将紧急主题和相关性与预期模式和相关性进行比较的描述性分析)；并为验证ATE/行业伙伴关系模型提供一个概念性框架。

Recognizing the significant role of industry in the education and training of the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) technician workforce, the "Working Partners: Documenting the Impact of Industry Collaboration within the Advanced Technological Education (ATE) Community" project investigates and identifies indicators and features of effective models of industry/community college partnerships and collaborations. Research findings and the Working Partners Toolkit will enhance and provide know-how on creating and sustaining effective industry partnerships and collaborations with STEM technician oriented programs at two-year institutions and with secondary education programs in Career and Technical Education. The participatory nature of the research and user oriented dissemination activities are designed to meet the information needs of a diverse body of constituents. Project deliverables will engage policy makers and practitioners in strengthening existing partnership and collaborations and developing new types of industry/higher education partnerships and collaborations to further the global competitiveness of the STEM technician workforce. The scope and goals of the project are to (1) identify, investigate, and document the models of partnerships and collaboration that exist between the ATE community and industry; (2) investigate and articulate implementations, challenges, and impact of the partnership models; (3) explore and document conditions that sustain and support productive industry relationships; and (4) chronicle meaningful experiences and student academic and career pathways that arise from ATE community partnerships with industry. The systems-based theoretical approach seeks to understand and articulate the various interdependencies and connections between people and objects in a system composed of tools, rules, overarching community expectations, and divisions of labor. The mixed methods research design aligns the theoretical approach of the research project to the ATE program theory; couples the research questions to the research methods; structures data collection (surveys, interviews, document analysis, focus groups) and data analyses (descriptive analyses comparing emergent themes and correlations to expected patterns and correlations); and provides a conceptual framework for validating ATE/industry partnership models.