Charting the Course: Career Advancement Strategies & Planning for Two-Year Technical Educators

人们通常认为，受过技术培训的劳动力需要四年的学位。然而，劳动力对受过两年制大学教育的熟练技术人员有很大的需求。最近的雇员调查和政府报告都指出，人们担心美国面临着越来越缺乏受过技术培训的工人的问题，而这些工人是维持美国竞争力和实现经济增长目标所必需的。对于这些工作，社区和技术学院的教育和培训项目已被证明是有效和高效的，可以培养出合适的技能毕业生，为劳动力做好准备。教育这类学生的理想教师是那些不仅仅拥有适当技术技能的人。他们还需要额外的知识、技能和人脉。例如，了解如何更新课程内容以适应新兴趋势，与将雇用其学生的行业联系，了解和获得课程和职业发展资金的能力，以及与志同道合的教育者建立专业网络。该项目的目标是使两年制社区和技术学院的教师能够获得这些额外的知识、技能和联系。为此目的，本项目将发展和举办两个讲习班，以协助高等技术教育领域的教师成为更好的教育者，提高他们对新的职业发展机会的认识，并发展职业建设技能。该项目旨在通过提高两年制大学教师培训、指导和培养学生适应当前和未来劳动力需求的能力，促进他们的专业成长。该项目将开发和提供两个研讨会，总共将有大约60名ATE教师参与。这些研讨会将帮助教师制定和实施职业发展计划，以促进职业发展，多样化兴趣，提供进一步的工作满意度，并提高他们的教学和教育质量。这项工作是一个合作项目，双方是在指导和指导两年制大学技术教师方面拥有丰富经验的现任ATE首席研究员，以及俄勒冈大学的COACh项目，该项目在为各级学术界的数千名科学家和工程师开发和提供职业建设研讨会方面拥有丰富经验。这些研讨会也有可能吸引新的教师和新的机构加入ATE社区。这些研讨会将提供有关教师在其学科中保持最新的机会的信息。主题的例子将包括行业互动和参与，美国国家标准协会认证，认证发展，专业协会领导机会，董事会机会，通过教师研究探索旅行，合作拨款写作，以及获得参加专业会议的资金。研讨会还将帮助教师制定进一步专业发展的计划，包括利用新的领导机会并取得成功的技能。从讲习班收集的评价数据将用于为未来的职业发展提供信息和满足ATE社区需要的相关工作提供信息。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。

It is often assumed that a technologically trained workforce requires a four-year degree. However, the workforce has a significant need for skilled technicians educated at two-year colleges. Recent employee surveys and government reports have noted concerns that the U.S. faces an increasing shortage for the technically trained workers needed to maintain the country's competitiveness and economic growth objectives. For these jobs, education and training programs at community and technical colleges have proven to be effective and efficient in producing right-skilled graduates who are ready for the workforce. The ideal faculty members to educate such students are those who have more than just the appropriate technical skills. They also need additional knowledge, skills, and connections. Examples include knowledge about how to update course content to match emerging trends, contacts with industries that will employ their students, knowledge about and capabilities for obtaining funding for course and career advancement, and access to professional networks with like-minded educators. The goal of this project is to empower faculty at two-year community and technical colleges to acquire such additional knowledge, skills, and connections. To that end, this project will develop and deliver two workshops that will assist faculty in Advanced Technical Education fields to become better educators, to increase their awareness of new career growth opportunities, and to develop career-building skills. This project aims to advance the professional growth of two-year college faculty by enhancing their ability to train, mentor, and prepare students for current and emerging workforce needs. The project will develop and deliver two workshops that, together, will engage ~60 ATE faculty. The workshops will assist the faculty with developing and implementing career advancement plans that increase career progress, diversify interests, provide further job satisfaction, and boost the quality of their teaching and educational efforts. This effort is a collaborative project between current ATE Principal Investigators who have extensive experience in mentoring and guiding two-year college technical faculty, and the COACh program at the University of Oregon that has extensive experience in developing and providing career building workshops to thousands of scientists and engineers at all levels of academia. The workshops also have the potential to draw new faculty and new institutions into the ATE community. The workshops will provide information about the opportunities for faculty to remain current in their disciplines. Examples of topics will include industry interaction and involvement, American National Standards Institute Certification, certification development, professional society leadership opportunities, board of director opportunities, travel through faculty study exploration, collaborative grant writing, and obtaining funds to attend professional meetings. Workshops will also help faculty develop develop a plan for further professional development, including skills to take advantage of and succeed in new leadership opportunities. Evaluation data collected from the workshops will be used to inform future career development offerings and related efforts to meet the needs of the ATE community. 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.