Developing Students' Troubleshooting Skills in Energy Programs

伙伴机构：北方俄克拉荷马学院、索维拉技术社区学院、休斯顿社区学院、俾斯麦州立学院和阿拉斯加大学项目描述北方俄克拉荷马州学院和五个州的合作伙伴正在为各种能源学位课程开发基于问题的设备、过程和系统故障排除教学模块。该团队的目标是增加学生的知识和提高他们在故障排除方面的技能，以提高安全性，对环境的影响和能源行业的效率。不幸的是，在过去的几年里，已经有一些事故，由美国化学品安全和危害调查委员会（CSB）进行的调查研究证明。最近对更广泛的能源行业进行的一次扫描显示，石油和天然气、发电、乙醇生产和生物柴油生产部门都发生了事故。因此，国家需要提高故障排除技能，以培养一支高素质的能源劳动力，保持能源的持续生产，减少对外国能源的依赖，并促进能源设施的安全和保障。 为了满足这一需求，该合作伙伴关系正在为能源技术人员设计、开发和实施18种通用设备场景和16种过程/系统特定故障排除教学模块，这些模块可以：1）作为独立模块使用，或2）集成到大学生的顶级课程中。这些模块为学生提供了获得相关故障排除知识和技能的机会，使他们能够在能源行业工作时处理过程干扰。更广泛的意义这一努力通过以下方面产生了重大影响：（1）为来自大学和行业的主题专家提供专业发展，以确保设计/开发教学材料和教学故障排除模块的能力;（2）通过提供高技能和受过良好教育的能源技术人员队伍，促进国家安全和能源独立;以及（3）向教育界传播关于学生批判性思维和故障排除技能的见解。该项目的影响涵盖了很大的地理区域;而开发的模块可以很容易地用于社区大学设置以及工业内部培训计划。

PARTNERING INSTITUTIONS: Northern Oklahoma College, Sowela Technical Community College, Houston Community College, Bismarck State College, and the University of AlaskaPROJECT DESCRIPTION The Northern Oklahoma College and partners across five states are developing problem-based equipment, process, and systems troubleshooting instructional modules for various energy degree programs. The goal of the team is increasing students' knowledge and enhancing their demonstrated skills in troubleshooting; with the objective of improving safety, impact on the environment, and efficiency in the energy industry.Unfortunately, there have been a number of accidents during the past few years as evidenced by the investigative studies conducted by the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB). A recent scan within the broader energy industry revealed incidents in the oil and gas, power generation, ethanol production, and biodiesel production sectors. Thus, the ability to enhance troubleshooting skills is needed for the nation to develop a highly competent energy workforce, maintain the consistent production of energy, lessen the dependence on foreign energy sources and contribute to the security and safety of the energy facilities. In response to this need, the partnership is designing, developing and implementing 18 generic equipment scenarios and 16 process/system-specific troubleshooting instructional modules for energy technicians that can either be: 1) used as stand-alone modules or 2) integrated into a capstone course for college students. The modules are providing students with an opportunity to acquire relevant troubleshooting knowledge and skills that prepare them to handle process upsets while working in the energy industry. Furthermore, students are able to showcase their acquired troubleshooting skills during a simulator competition.BROADER SIGNIFICANCE This effort is having a significant impact by: (1) providing professional development for subject matter experts from colleges and industry to ensure competency in designing/developing instructional materials and teaching troubleshooting modules; (2) promoting national security and energy independence by providing a highly skilled and educated energy technician workforce; and (3) disseminating insights on students' critical thinking and troubleshooting skills to the education community. The project's influence covers a large geographical area; while the developed modules can be easily used in community college settings as well as industrial in-house training programs.