Engaging Educators, Strengthening Practice: Creating & Sustaining Successful Industry-Education Partnerships

高级技术教育（ATE）计划通过发展和改进社区和技术学院的技术教育，努力满足国家对熟练技术人员的需求。随着技术劳动力需求的增加和技术工人越来越难找到，这一努力对我们国民经济的健康变得越来越重要。雇主对合适技能的毕业生的需求是有据可查的。例如，万宝盛华集团（Manpower Group）在其最近的调查中发现，近一半的雇主难以招到合适的美国职位。此外，他们报告说，连续第六年，熟练技工职位是最难填补的职位。当被问及为什么他们无法填补职位时，几乎一半的雇主指出缺乏申请人或缺乏具有必要硬技能或软技能的申请人。减轻劳动力需求和工人技能之间的差距是社区和技术学院的重要目标。牢固的行业伙伴关系是这项工作的基础。如果做得好，这些关系会促进机构和雇主之间的交流和对话，从而确保项目的流通，与劳动力需求保持一致，了解行业趋势，并培养出技能合适、准备工作的毕业生。加强这些有益的合作不仅对美国国家科学基金会ATE项目的受助人至关重要，而且对所有希望推进技术教育、为学生和他们所服务的社区扩大机会和途径的大学和项目也至关重要。参与教育工作者，加强实践项目团队调查了整个ATE社区的教育行业合作伙伴关系，发现78%的pi没有接受过建立或维持行业合作伙伴关系的培训或支持。此外，没有人提到指导或指导制定行业伙伴关系行动计划或支持执行此类计划。该项目将开发课程，支持教育工作者建立和维持行业伙伴关系。课程将在现场研讨会和网络研讨会上进行。研讨会参与者将根据研究和最佳实践，并与他们的具体组织目标保持一致，制定行业伙伴关系行动计划。该项目将：1)开发课程，支持教育工作者建立和维持行业伙伴关系；2)促进合伙企业评估/评价标准的使用；3)提供专业发展研讨会和网络研讨会，指导材料的使用，建立参与者社区；4)建立在线学习交流平台，实现工作坊后参与者的知识传递、支持和协作；5)调整研讨会材料，供参与者和其他人在线参考和使用；6)通过项目网站、会议演示、已发表的报告和网络研讨会传播这些努力的工具、发现和成果。项目网站和资源的设计将确保所有用户，包括残疾人士都能访问。所有适当的资源都将保存在ATE Central以确保可持续性。该项目由美国国家科学基金会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。

The Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program strives to meet the nation's demand for skilled technicians by developing and improving technology education in community and technical colleges. As technological workforce needs multiply and skilled workers become increasingly difficult to find, this effort becomes ever more critical to the health of our national economy. The employer needs for right-skilled graduates is well-documented. For example, in its most recent survey, the Manpower Group found that nearly half of employers are having difficulty filling US jobs. In addition, they report that, for the 6th consecutive year, skilled trades positions are the hardest positions to fill. When asked why they were unable to fill roles, almost half of employers point to a lack of applicants or a lack of applicants with the necessary hard or soft skills. Mitigating such disparities between workforce needs and worker skills are important goals of community and technical colleges. Strong industry partnerships are fundamental to this work. When done well, these relationships stimulate exchange and dialogue between institutions and employers that, in turn, ensure program currency, alignment with workforce needs, awareness of industry trends, and the production of graduates who are right-skilled and work-ready. Strengthening these beneficial collaborations is not only critical for the grantees of the National Science Foundation's ATE program, but for all colleges and programs that wish to advance technological education and expand opportunities and pathways for students and the communities in which they serve. The Engaging Educators, Strengthening Practice project team has investigated education-industry partnerships across the ATE community and has found that 78% of PIs have received no training or support for forming or maintaining industry partnerships. In addition, none mentioned instruction or guided development of an industry partnership action plan or support for the execution of such a plan. This project will develop curricula that supports educators in establishing and sustaining industry partnerships. The curriculum will be delivered during in-person workshops and webinars. Workshop participants will construct an industry partnership action plan based on research and best practices, as well as aligned with their specific organizational goals. The project will: 1) Develop curricula that supports educators in establishing and sustaining industry partnerships; 2) Facilitate the use of a rubric for partnership assessment/evaluation; 3) Provide professional development workshops and webinars to guide the use of the materials and to build participant community; 4) Establish online learning exchanges for post-workshop participant knowledge transfer, support, and collaboration; 5) Adapt workshop materials for online reference and use by participants and others; and 6) Disseminate the tools, findings, and outcomes of these efforts via the project website, conference presentations, published reports, and webinars. The project website and resources will be designed to ensure that they are accessible by all users, including those with disabilities. All appropriate resources will be archived with ATE Central to ensure sustainability. This project is funded by the NSF 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.