New Approach to Building a Workforce Pipeline for Electro-mechanical Technician Education

在威斯康辛州东北部，对熟练的机电技术人员的需求继续超过合格申请人的供应。该项目建立了东北威斯康辛技术学院、东北威斯康辛制造联盟和当地工业之间的合作，以满足该地区对机电技术人员的需求。这些合作伙伴共同设计和实施战略，使当前的入门级工人对获得工业维护证书感兴趣。该证书是迈向机电副学士学位的第一步，但不需要课程中后续课程所需的数学水平。为了让获得证书的学生在副学士学位课程中取得成功，本项目旨在将数学课程融入证书课程的实验部分。通过这种方式，该项目希望学生在职业道路的开始就学习数学概念，并培养在副学士学位课程中取得成功所需的信心和数学理解能力。活动将包括课程和教育材料的开发，将数学和学生成功的技能融入到项目课程中。该项目将通过提供设备升级来支持农村学生的实验室需求。到三年后，预计该项目将使至少60名初级成人、5名大学教师和多个地区行业雇主受益。本项目将通过多个平台向其他地区传播项目的实践和知识。该项目将专门研究技术学院和行业合作伙伴如何共同努力，鼓励学生通过教育途径入学，从而创造就业渠道。这项研究将增加现有的知识体系，围绕行业参与教育和回归成人的障碍。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。

In Northeast Wisconsin, the demand for skilled electro-mechanical technicians continues to exceed the supply of qualified applicants. This project builds a collaboration between Northeast Wisconsin Technical College, the Northeast Wisconsin Manufacturing Alliance, and local industry to meet the regional need for electro-mechanical technicians. These partners work together to design and implement strategies that can interest current entry-level workers in pursuing an Industrial Maintenance Certificate. This certificate is the first step toward an Electro-Mechanical Associate Degree, but does not require the level of mathematics needed in later courses in the curriculum. To prepare certificate students for success in the associate degree courses, this project aims to interweave math lessons into the lab portion of the certificate courses. In this way, the project expects that students will learn math concepts at the beginning of the career pathway, and will develop the confidence and math comprehension needed to succeed in the associate degree program.Activities will include development of curriculum and educational materials to contextualize math and student success skills within the program courses. The project will support the laboratory needs of rural students by providing equipment upgrades. By the end of three years, it is expected that the project will benefit at least 60 entry-level adults, five college faculty, and multiple regional industry employers. This project will use multiple platforms to disseminate the practices and knowledge gained by the project to other regions. The project will specifically study how technical colleges and industry partners work together to encourage enrollment in an educational pathway to create a career pipeline. This research will add to the current body of knowledge surrounding industry engagement in education and barriers to returning adults.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.