Process Technology: Flexible Entry/Flexible Exit Curriculum Adaptation

海狸县社区学院（CCBC）旨在通过将传统的讲座/实验室结构转换为灵活的进入/灵活的退出交付格式来增强区域特色的过程技术（PTEC）计划。 预计这些变化将增加学生的可及性和三州地区（宾夕法尼亚州、俄亥俄州和西弗吉尼亚州）有资格的工艺技术人员的数量。 美国化学学会的一份经济报告预测，到2025年，该地区天然气资源的开发将为该地区的能源和先进制造业创造25,000个新的就业机会。 拟议的灵活进入/灵活退出格式将建立在波尔克州立学院开发的成功模式与先前的NSF奖。 这种课程形式允许学生在学年的几乎任何时候报名参加PTEC技术课程，以自己的速度完成课程，并增加花在实践技术教育上的时间。通过适应个人和专业的时间表，这种方法也可以使现有的工人和非传统的学生报名参加该计划。 因此，该计划的形式可以扩大毕业生的多样性，他们为该地区迅速发展的能源和先进制造业的职业生涯做好了准备。 过程技术：灵活进入/灵活退出课程适应项目的目标是：1）建立CCBC过程技术计划的能力，以教育三州地区所需的技术人员; 2）增加来自阿巴拉契亚地区的非传统学生和在职工人对过程技术副学士学位感兴趣的课程可及性;三是加强三州地区教育与产业的合作。该项目计划使用翻转混合，基于能力的交付模式，是从传统的学期框架分离。 预计这种灵活的模式将使学院能够采取“每天都是新的课程开始”的做法，增加不同学生群体对该方案的可及性。 每个当前的PTEC技术课程将被模块化为多个一学分课程。 每个一个学分的课程将包括一个在线组件，相应的动手要求，以及一个或多个动手评估。 每个一个学分的课程将是自定进度，教师将支持学习者作为成功的教练作为学生完成在线和动手的要求。 学习者将与教师一起安排每门课程的最终实践评估，当学习者准备好并且符合他们的时间表时。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

The Community College of Beaver County (CCBC) aims to enhance a regionally-distinctive Process Technology (PTEC) program by converting a traditional lecture/lab structure to a Flexible Entry/Flexible Exit delivery format. The expectation is that these changes will increase student accessibility and the number of credentialed process technicians in the tristate region (Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia). An economic report from the American Chemical Society predicts that, by 2025, development of the region's natural gas resources will create 25,000 new job in the region's energy and advanced manufacturing sectors. The proposed Flexible Entry/Flexible Exit format will build upon the successful model developed by Polk State College with a prior NSF award. This program format permits students to enroll in PTEC technical courses at virtually any point in the academic year, complete the courses at their own pace, and increase the amount of time spent on hands-on technical education. By accommodating personal and professional schedules, this approach could also enable existing workers and non-traditional students to enroll in the program. Thus, the program format can broaden the diversity of graduates who are prepared for careers in the region's rapidly expanding energy and advanced manufacturing sectors. The goals of the Process Technology: Flexible Entry/Flexible Exit Curriculum Adaptation project are to: 1) build capacity of CCBC's Process Technology program to educate the technician workforce needed in the tristate region; 2) increase program accessibility for non-traditional students and incumbent workers from the Appalachian Region interested in an associate degree in process technology; and 3) increase collaboration between education and industry within the tristate region. The project plans to use a flipped-hybrid, competency-based delivery model that is detached from the traditional semester framework. It is expected that this flexible model will permit the College to institute an "every day is a new class start" approach that will increase accessibility of the program to diverse groups of students. Each current PTEC technical course will be modularized into multiple one-credit courses. Each one-credit course will consist of an online component, corresponding hands-on requirements, and one or more hands-on assessments. Each one-credit course will be self-paced, and faculty will support learners by serving as success coaches as the students complete the online and hands-on requirements. Learners will schedule the final hands-on assessment of each course with faculty, when the learners are ready and it fits in their schedules.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.