Water and Environmental Technology Education for Rural Small Water Systems

获得清洁的水对所有人类社区的健康和经济繁荣都是至关重要的。有效地生产足够的饮用水以满足日益增长的人口需要具备专门知识和技能的技术人员。超过90%的美国公共供水系统服务于不到10,000人，并被环境保护局归类为农村小型供水系统。由于退休和新技术的使用，农村水务行业对掌握这些新技术的新技术人员的需求越来越大。向农村居民提供公平的教育和培训机会方面的长期挑战使满足这一需求变得更加复杂。该项目将通过提供一种服务于农村人口的教育模式来满足对农村小型供水系统技术人员的需求。具体地说，该项目计划开发在线教学模块，以教育拥有现代化行业所需知识和技能的农村水技术人员。通过远程学习战略，该项目还将使实践农村技术人员能够建立或更新他们的技能。农村小型供水系统课程将涵盖确保成功安装、检查、维护、维修、管理和运行小型公共供水系统所需的各种知识和技能。该项目将开发20个在线教学模块，解决现有水与环境技术课程目前尚未完全涵盖的高级知识和技能。这些单元将被纳入目前的六门水与环境课程，并将开发这些课程的完全在线版本。这些变化预计将更好地服务于通勤范围外生活和工作的学生，以及从农村地区寻求额外教育的在职技术人员。这些模块将包括视频演示、技术文档和虚拟现场体验。这项工作将与行业伙伴、先进技术环境教育中心和核教育和培训区域中心协商完成，从而利用包括在线和虚拟教育专业知识在内的现有知识和资源。所有模块将在全国范围内提供给其他教育项目和行业用于培训目的。该区域水务行业的代表已同意与项目人员合作，确保模块满足他们对技术知识和技能的需求。预计这个基于模块的在线培训平台可以作为其他有兴趣接触农村学生和满足农村需求的项目的典范。该项目由高级技术教育计划资助，该计划专注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NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Access to clean water is uniquely crucial for health and economic prosperity of all human communities. Efficient production of enough potable water for an increasing population requires technicians with specialized knowledge and skills. Well over 90% of US public water systems serve fewer than 10,000 people and are classified by the Environmental Protection Agency as Rural Small Water Systems. Because of retirements and use of new technologies, the rural water industry has a growing need for new technicians who are skilled in these new technologies. Filling this need is complicated by chronic challenges in providing equitable education and training opportunities to rural residents. This project will address the need for Rural Small Water Systems technicians by providing an educational model that is designed to serve a rural population. Specifically, this project plans to develop online instructional modules to educate rural water technicians who have the knowledge and skills required by a modernizing industry. Through distance learning strategies, the project will also enable practicing rural technicians to build or update their skills. The rural small water system curriculum will cover the spectrum of knowledge and skills needed to ensure the proper installation, inspection, maintenance, repair, management, and operation of successful small public water systems.The project will develop 20 online instructional modules that address advanced knowledge and skills not currently fully covered in the existing Water and Environmental Technology program. These modules will be integrated into six current Water and Environmental courses and fully online versions of the courses will be developed. These changes are expected to better serve students who live and work beyond commuting reach, as well as working technicians who seek additional education from rural locations. The modules will include video presentations, technical documents, and virtual field experiences. This work will be done in consultation with industry partners, the Advanced Technology Environmental Education Center, and the Regional Center for Nuclear Education and Training, thus leveraging existing knowledge and resources that include expertise in online and virtual education. All modules will be available nationwide to other educational programs and to industries for training purposes. Representatives of the region’s water industries have agreed to work with the project personnel to ensure that the modules address their needs for technical knowledge and skills. It is expected that this online module-based training platform can serve as a model for other programs interested in reaching rural students and meeting rural needs. 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.