New Approach to Building a Workforce Pipeline for Electro-mechanical Technician Education

在威斯康星州东北部，对熟练的机电技术人员的需求继续超过合格申请者的供应。该项目建立了东北威斯康星技术学院、东北威斯康星制造联盟和当地行业之间的合作，以满足地区对机电技术人员的需求。这些合作伙伴共同设计和实施战略，使目前的入门级工人有兴趣获得工业维护证书。这一证书是获得机电副学士学位的第一步，但不要求达到课程后续课程所需的数学水平。为了让获得证书的学生在副学士学位课程中取得成功，该项目旨在将数学课融入到证书课程的实验室部分。通过这种方式，该项目期望学生在职业生涯的开始就学习数学概念，并培养在副学士学位课程中取得成功所需的信心和数学理解能力。活动将包括开发课程和教育材料，将数学和学生成功技能与计划课程联系起来。该项目将通过提供设备升级来支持农村学生的实验室需求。到三年结束时，预计该项目将使至少60名入门级成年人、5名大学教职员工和多个地区行业雇主受益。该项目将利用多个平台向其他区域传播该项目所取得的做法和知识。该项目将专门研究技术学院和行业合作伙伴如何合作，以鼓励学生进入教育途径，从而创造一条职业管道。这项研究将增加目前关于行业参与教育和成人回国障碍的知识体系。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

In Northeast Wisconsin, the demand for skilled electro-mechanical technicians continues to exceed the supply of qualified applicants. This project builds a collaboration between Northeast Wisconsin Technical College, the Northeast Wisconsin Manufacturing Alliance, and local industry to meet the regional need for electro-mechanical technicians. These partners work together to design and implement strategies that can interest current entry-level workers in pursuing an Industrial Maintenance Certificate. This certificate is the first step toward an Electro-Mechanical Associate Degree, but does not require the level of mathematics needed in later courses in the curriculum. To prepare certificate students for success in the associate degree courses, this project aims to interweave math lessons into the lab portion of the certificate courses. In this way, the project expects that students will learn math concepts at the beginning of the career pathway, and will develop the confidence and math comprehension needed to succeed in the associate degree program.Activities will include development of curriculum and educational materials to contextualize math and student success skills within the program courses. The project will support the laboratory needs of rural students by providing equipment upgrades. By the end of three years, it is expected that the project will benefit at least 60 entry-level adults, five college faculty, and multiple regional industry employers. This project will use multiple platforms to disseminate the practices and knowledge gained by the project to other regions. The project will specifically study how technical colleges and industry partners work together to encourage enrollment in an educational pathway to create a career pipeline. This research will add to the current body of knowledge surrounding industry engagement in education and barriers to returning adults.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.