HI-TEC 2020: Transforming to a Virtual Event and Dissemination Opportunity

新冠肺炎带来的挑战迫使美国各地的会议和研讨会被取消。原定于今年举行的高影响技术大会(HI-TEC)面对面活动已被取消。在取消面对面会议之前，已经做出了重大努力，创建了一个有92个接受的演示文稿、16个研讨会、20个海报演示文稿和6个特别兴趣小组会议的项目，以及一个展览厅。这项前期工作将被用来支持HI-TEC向虚拟活动的转变。Hi-TEC自2009年以来一直由一个由先进技术教育(ATE)计划资助的中心和项目组成的财团生产。这次会议为解决高级技术教育中的关键问题提供了一个全国性的论坛。尖端技术的应用、互动研讨会和聚焦于广泛相关主题的会议，如招募不同和服务不足的学生群体、将研究纳入课堂、教师发展技术以及教育与行业伙伴关系的最佳做法一直是会议的特点。这项提案支持将会议转变为主题为“准备美国熟练技术劳动力”的虚拟活动。虚拟会议将支持两个主要目标：1)参与并继续建设技术教育和劳动力发展社区；2)深化分享并扩大循证模式和最佳做法的实施，以培养熟练的技术劳动力，包括强调后新冠肺炎战略。会议执行委员会将通过数字媒体在全国范围内接触技术教育界。制作NSF ATE的中心和项目将通过将会议信息传播到自己的网络来参与外联工作。被确定为面对面会议的主旨发言人已同意在虚拟活动上发言。一个行业小组和一个教育小组的小组成员已经确定。将向注册者提供支持，将其演示文稿转换为虚拟格式，并将使用在线平台举行活动。将提供观众互动的机会，并回答参与者的问题。会议将被记录下来，并在活动结束后提供。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。

The challenges brought on by COVID-19 have forced the cancellation of conferences and workshops across the U.S. The High Impact Technology Conference (HI-TEC) face-to-face event scheduled for this year has been cancelled. Prior to canceling the in-person conference, significant efforts had gone into creating a program with 92 accepted presentations, 16 workshops, 20 poster presentations and six special interest group meetings, as well as an exhibit hall. This prior work will be leveraged to support the transformation of HI-TEC to a virtual event. HI-TEC has been produced since 2009 by a consortium of centers and projects funded through the Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program. This conference has provided a national forum for addressing critical issues in advanced technological education. Applications of cutting-edge technology, interactive workshops ,and sessions focusing on a broad range of related topics such as recruitment of diverse and underserved student populations, integration of research into the classroom, faculty development techniques, and best practices in education-industry partnerships have been hallmarks of the conference. This proposal supports transitioning the conference to a virtual event with the theme “Preparing America’s Skilled Technical Workforce.” The virtual conference will support two main goals: 1) Engage and continue to build the technical education and workforce development community; and 2) Deepen sharing and broaden the implementation of evidence-based models and best practices for preparing the skilled technical workforce including an emphasis on post-COVID-19 strategies. The conference executive committee will reach out nationally to the technical education community through digital media. The producing NSF ATE centers and projects will participate in the outreach effort by disseminating conference information to their own networks. Keynote speakers who were identified for the face-to-face conference have agreed to speak at the virtual event. Panelists for an industry panel and an educator panel have been identified. Support will be provided to registrants to convert their presentations to a virtual format, and the event will be held using an online platform. Opportunities for audience interaction will be provided and participant questions will be fielded. Sessions will be recorded and made available after the event. 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.