Smart Advanced Manufacturing Education in the Silicon Valley

越来越多的美国公司正在寻找使用数字或“智能”技术实现产品制造自动化和控制的方法。这种制造业趋势导致加州硅谷地区对高素质技术人员的需求未得到满足。为了满足这一需求，奥隆学院将开发一个智能先进制造项目，提供新的课程、证书和副学士学位。该项目将包括为那些可能需要更多帮助来提高数学技能的学生提供途径和支持。这种结构也将用于帮助鼓励和留住更多的学生，特别是那些来自代表性不足的群体的学生。该项目将为学生群体创建学习社区，并提供实习机会，让学生将课堂学习与工作场所所需的技术技能联系起来。项目团队将与当地行业和组织密切合作，设计项目和课程，以确保包括必要的劳动力技能。该项目还将让高中生接触到先进的制造业项目和职业。预计这些努力将有助于增加智能先进制造劳动力的合格技术人员数量。该项目旨在开发和认证一个新项目，其中包括七门新课程、一个成就证书和一个智能先进制造副学士学位。副学士学位将专注于“物联网”、自动化和制造以及原型设计。该项目将与当地制造业合作设计，并将以高度支持的途径为特色，并根据即将入学的学生的准备水平定义匝道。学生将在一个以分组为基础的学习社区中学习课程和学位课程，并获得学术和社会支持。这种包络式的支持将强调诸如学习技能发展、实地考察行业地点、群组会议和团队建设活动等要素。体验式学习将通过学生在完成第一年的课程后参加的三学分的Work-Based Project课程实习，整合到学位课程中。提高高中学生对先进制造业职业的兴趣的拓展将包括动手项目、设计挑战、技术和新技术的演示。项目成果、课程材料和最佳实践将广泛传播，包括湾区社区学院联盟和增长型非营利部门STEM核心联盟的区域中心。该项目由先进技术教育计划资助，该计划侧重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。

A growing number of U.S. companies are finding ways to automate and control how they manufacture products using digital, or "smart," technologies. This manufacturing trend has created an unmet demand for well-qualified technicians in the Silicon Valley region of California. To help address this need, Ohlone College will develop a program in smart advanced manufacturing that offers new courses, certificates, and an associate degree. The program will include pathways and supports for students who might need more help building their math skills. This structure will also be used to help encourage and retain more students, particularly those from underrepresented groups. The program will create learning communities with student cohorts and include internships opportunities that allow students to connect their classroom learning to the technical skills needed for the workplace. The project team will work closely with local industries and organizations to design the program and courses to make sure the necessary workforce skills are included. The project will also expose high school students to advanced manufacturing projects and careers. It is expected that these efforts will help to increase the number of qualified technicians for the smart advanced manufacturing workforce.This project aims to develop and certify a new program that includes seven new courses, a Certificate of Achievement, and an associate degree in smart advanced manufacturing. The associate degree will have concentrations in the "Internet of Things," Automation & Fabrication, and Prototyping. The program will be designed in collaboration with local manufacturing industries and will feature highly-supported pathways with defined on-ramps aligned with the incoming students' level of preparation. Students will progress through the courses and degree pathways in a block-scheduled, cohort-based learning community that has wraparound academic and social support. This wraparound support will emphasize elements such as study skills development, field trips to industry sites, cohort meetings, and team-building activities. Experiential learning will be integrated into the degree program through internships in a three-credit Work-Based Project course that students will take after they complete their first year of coursework. Outreach to increase the interest of high school students in advanced manufacturing careers will include hands-on projects, design challenges, and demonstrations of techniques and new technologies. Project results, course materials, and best practices will be widely disseminated, including to the Bay Area Community College Consortium and regional hubs in the STEM Core Alliance of the Growth Sector non-profit. 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.