NextGen Technicians: Addressing Industry Demand for Robotics

北爱荷华州社区学院的这个项目旨在增加劳动力中熟练掌握机器人技术的工业技术人员的数量。制造业是北爱荷华州最大的劳动力部门。2018年春季对30家地区制造商的调查证实，普遍需要更多的工业技术人员。此外，受访者表示，对受过机器人教育的技术人员的需求很大。由于工人太少，以及对受过机器人教育的技术人员的需求，雇主们难以满足生产需求。该项目将使用策略来拓宽进入课程的管道，这些课程将最好地支持对精通机器人技术的技术人员的迅速增长的需求。该地区和该学院的第一代低收入学生比例很高。因此，这个项目对机器人技术的关注可能会帮助许多有经济需求的人更快地进入高薪工作。该项目旨在开发教育途径，为包括退伍军人、高中双重招生学生、大学校园学生和在岗工人在内的人群扩大获得机器人教育的机会。该项目可能会为其他社区大学及其行业合作伙伴提供一个如何将先进机器人融入制造技术员培养的模式。因此，该项目有可能为提高国家STEM劳动力做出贡献。机器人技术的加入将使该学院能够提供更先进的工业技术水平的教学。为工业机械和维护以及工业系统技术专业的学生开设的机器人入门课程将满足行业需求，并支持大学招聘，这是为地区雇主提供更多工业技术员毕业生的关键。该课程将嵌入国家认证中心联盟(NC3)新开发的可堆叠证书，该学院将通过增加以最先进的机器人为特色的实验室课程来独特地增强证书。该项目将使该学院能够招聘和培养更多的工业技术人员，并计划将工业机械与维护和工业系统技术专业的毕业生人数增加一倍，并为这些学生引入新的机器人培训。为此，该项目的重点是：1)增加最先进的机器人设备和培训新的机器人技术教师；2)使用新的机器人入门课程培训所有机械与维护和工业系统技术专业的学生并授予证书，该课程将包括动手机器人实验室和NC3级别1：机器人基础课程和机器人证书；3)创建和实施示范项目，用于教育和招生目的，以扩大进入大学机械与维护和工业系统技术课程的途径；以及4)使用具有NC3机器人证书的机器人入门课程培训现有工人并授予证书。这一课程模式的使用是基于之前的研究结果，并借鉴了与之密切相关的国家科学基金会资助项目的经验。该项目由高级技术教育计划资助，该计划专注于为推动国家经济的先进技术领域培养技术人员。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。

This project at North Iowa Area Community College is designed to increase the number of industrial technicians in the workforce who are skilled in robotics. Manufacturing is the largest workforce sector in North Iowa. A spring 2018 survey of 30 regional manufacturers confirmed the general need for more industrial technicians. In addition, respondents indicated a strong need for technicians with robotics education. Because of the combined issues of too few workers and the need for technicians with robotics education, employers are struggling to meet production demands. This project will use strategies to broaden the pipeline into the courses that will best support the burgeoning need for robotics-savvy technicians. The region and the college have a high proportion of first-generation low-income students. Thus, this project's focus on robotics may help many individuals with financial need move more quickly into high paying jobs. The project aims to develop educational pathways to broaden access to robotics education for populations including veterans, high school dual enrollment students, students on the college campus, and incumbent workers. This project may provide a model for other community colleges and their industry partners about how to incorporate advanced robots into manufacturing technician preparation. As a result, the project has the potential to contribute to improving the national STEM workforce.The inclusion of robotics will allow the college to offer instruction in more advanced levels of industrial technology. An introductory robotics class for Industrial Mechanics and Maintenance and Industrial Systems Technology students will address industry need and also support college recruiting, which is key to providing more industrial technician graduates to regional employers. The course will embed a newly-developed stackable credential from the National Coalition of Certification Centers (NC3) and the college will uniquely enhance the credential by adding lab courses that feature state-of-the-art robots. This project will enable the college to recruit and educate more industrial technicians, with a plan to double the number of graduates in the Industrial Mechanics and Maintenance and Industrial Systems Technology programs and introduce new robotics training to these students. To these ends, the project focuses on: 1) adding state-of-the-art robotics equipment and training faculty in the new robotics technology; 2) training and credentialing all Mechanics and Maintenance and Industrial Systems Technology students using a new Introduction to Robotics course that will include hands-on robotics labs and NC3 Level 1: Fundamentals Robotics coursework and robotics credentialing; 3) creating and implementing demonstration projects for both educational and recruiting purposes to expand the pathway into the college Mechanics and Maintenance and Industrial Systems Technology programs; and 4) training and credentialing incumbent workers using the Introduction to Robotics course with the NC3 robotics credential. The use of this curricular model is based on results of previous research and draws on the experience of closely-related NSF-funded projects. This project is funded by the Advanced Technological Education program that focuses on the education of technicians for the advanced-technology fields that drive the nation's economy.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.