Water Advanced Technological Education Resource for Individuals (WATER-I)

对节水技术方面的熟练劳动力的需要对区域和国家经济以及对未来面临水费上升的日益增长的人口至关重要。行业伙伴关系将有助于推动一种新型的共享节水技术教育。在这种新模式下，大学和工业界将共同承担教育美国技术人员的责任。目前，美国很少有完整的节水技术人员项目。莱恩社区学院（LCC）的个人水资源先进技术教育资源（Water - i）计划旨在解决对水资源保护技术员劳动力的需求。该计划旨在为更多不同的社区大学人口增加接受节水技术员教育的机会。Water - i模式将采用混合学习的交付方式，向美国西部的学生推广节水技术员教育，并有可能在全国推广。学生将在线学习LCC的课程，并在当地公用事业公司与LCC培训过的公用事业导师一起完成课程实地考察。地区公用事业和公用事业专业协会已同意为该项目提供员工导师。Water - i利用在线内容交付方式，比LCC目前的节水技术人员项目覆盖的学生范围更广。WATER-I将在线课程扩展到农村地区的学生和其他非传统学生。该计划的动机是：1)工业和消费者对节水技术人员的高需求；2)需要一种教育方法来覆盖更广泛的学生群体，3)LCC在节水技术员项目和在传统课堂环境之外提供高质量项目方面的专业知识。为了扩大water - i的地理重点，water - i的工作人员将把教学元素转移到在线环境中，并通过区域水务公司开发实地工作经验；这些实地工作经历类似于实习或合作教育。通过这种高等教育/行业合作模式，学生可以接受节水技术人员培训，而不受地理位置或其他限制，只能参加面对面的课程。多个高等院校、水务公司和水务专业协会与LCC合作开发water - i。该项目有可能为全国各地的学生建立一种机制，使他们能够参加高质量的节水项目和职业。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The need for a skilled workforce in water conservation technology is vital to regional and national economies and to a growing population facing rising water rates in the future. Industry partnerships will help advance a new type of shared technical education in water conservation. In this new model, colleges and industry will share the responsibility of educating America's technician workforce. Currently, few complete Water Conservation Technician programs exist in the United States. Lane Community College's (LCC) Water Advanced Technological Education Resource for Individuals (WATER-I) Program aims to address this need for a Water Conservation Technician workforce. The program will be designed to increase access to Water Conservation Technician education for more diverse community-college populations. The WATER-I model will use a blended-learning delivery method to expand Water Conservation Technician education to students across the western US, with the potential to expand across the nation. Students will take LCC's coursework online and complete their course fieldwork with an LCC-trained utility mentor at their local utility. Regional utilities and utility professional associations have agreed to provide employee-mentors for this project.WATER-I leverages an on-line content delivery approach to reach a broader range of students than currently served by LCC's Water Conservation Technician program. WATER-I expands online curriculum to students in rural areas and to other nontraditional students. The program is motivated by 1) the high demand for a Water Conservation Technician workforce by industry and consumers; 2) the need for an education method to reach broader student populations, and 3) LCC's expertise in both Water Conservation Technician programs and in delivering quality programs outside traditional classroom settings. To widen WATER-I's geographic focus, WATER-I staff will transfer the didactic elements into an online environment and develop fieldwork experiences through regional water utilities; these fieldwork experiences are similar to internships or cooperative education. With this model of higher education/ industry partnership, students can receive Water Conservation Technicians training, regardless of geography or other limitations to participating in a solely face-to-face program. Multiple postsecondary institutions, water utilities, and water professional associations have partnered with LCC to develop WATER-I. The project has the potential to develop a mechanism for students across the country to access a high-quality water conservation program and career.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.