Process Technology: Flexible Entry/Flexible Exit Curriculum Adaptation

比佛县社区学院(CCBC)旨在通过将传统的讲座/实验室结构转变为灵活的进入/退出授课形式，来增强具有地区特色的过程技术(PTEC)项目。预计这些变化将增加学生的可及性，并增加三州地区(宾夕法尼亚州、俄亥俄州和西弗吉尼亚州)持有证书的流程技术员的数量。美国化学学会的一份经济报告预测，到2025年，该地区天然气资源的开发将为该地区的能源和先进制造业创造2.5万个新的就业机会。拟议的灵活入境/灵活离境形式将建立在波尔克州立学院开发的成功模式的基础上，该学院之前获得了国家科学基金会奖。这种课程形式允许学生在学年的几乎任何时候报名参加PTEC技术课程，按照自己的进度完成课程，并增加用于实践技术教育的时间。通过适应个人和专业的时间表，这种方法还可以使现有的工人和非传统学生注册参加该项目。因此，该计划的形式可以扩大毕业生的多样性，这些毕业生为在该地区迅速扩张的能源和先进制造业领域的职业生涯做好准备。过程技术：灵活进入/灵活退出课程调整项目的目标是：1)建设CCBC过程技术课程的能力，以培养三州地区所需的技术人员劳动力；2)提高来自阿巴拉契亚地区对过程技术副学位感兴趣的非传统学生和在职工人的课程可及性；以及3)加强三州地区教育与行业之间的合作。该项目计划使用一种与传统学期框架分离的翻转混合、基于能力的交付模式。预计这一灵活的模式将使学院能够实行“每天都是新的课程开始”的方法，这将增加不同学生群体对该计划的可及性。目前的每个PTEC技术课程将被模块化为多个一学分的课程。每门一学分的课程将包括一个在线部分、相应的实践要求以及一个或多个实践评估。每门一学分的课程都将自行安排进度，教师将在学生完成在线和实践要求时，作为成功的教练为学习者提供支持。学员将与教师一起安排每门课程的最终实践评估，当学员准备好并符合他们的时间表时。该奖项反映了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。

The Community College of Beaver County (CCBC) aims to enhance a regionally-distinctive Process Technology (PTEC) program by converting a traditional lecture/lab structure to a Flexible Entry/Flexible Exit delivery format. The expectation is that these changes will increase student accessibility and the number of credentialed process technicians in the tristate region (Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia). An economic report from the American Chemical Society predicts that, by 2025, development of the region's natural gas resources will create 25,000 new job in the region's energy and advanced manufacturing sectors. The proposed Flexible Entry/Flexible Exit format will build upon the successful model developed by Polk State College with a prior NSF award. This program format permits students to enroll in PTEC technical courses at virtually any point in the academic year, complete the courses at their own pace, and increase the amount of time spent on hands-on technical education. By accommodating personal and professional schedules, this approach could also enable existing workers and non-traditional students to enroll in the program. Thus, the program format can broaden the diversity of graduates who are prepared for careers in the region's rapidly expanding energy and advanced manufacturing sectors. The goals of the Process Technology: Flexible Entry/Flexible Exit Curriculum Adaptation project are to: 1) build capacity of CCBC's Process Technology program to educate the technician workforce needed in the tristate region; 2) increase program accessibility for non-traditional students and incumbent workers from the Appalachian Region interested in an associate degree in process technology; and 3) increase collaboration between education and industry within the tristate region. The project plans to use a flipped-hybrid, competency-based delivery model that is detached from the traditional semester framework. It is expected that this flexible model will permit the College to institute an "every day is a new class start" approach that will increase accessibility of the program to diverse groups of students. Each current PTEC technical course will be modularized into multiple one-credit courses. Each one-credit course will consist of an online component, corresponding hands-on requirements, and one or more hands-on assessments. Each one-credit course will be self-paced, and faculty will support learners by serving as success coaches as the students complete the online and hands-on requirements. Learners will schedule the final hands-on assessment of each course with faculty, when the learners are ready and it fits in their schedules.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.