Creation and Modernization of Technological Education in Electronics and Welding through Open Educational Resources that are Free to Share, Use, and Revise

该项目旨在通过开发和共享公开许可的课程材料，实现电子和焊接技术教育的现代化。这些材料被称为开放教育资源（OER），可以保留、重复使用、重新分发、修改或重新混合，而无需获得创建者的许可。因此，他们的内容是动态的和免费的。虽然OER在普通教育中很常见，但制造技术等高技术领域还没有广泛过渡到使用OER。这个项目计划为焊接技术和电子技术的教育创建OER。OER通过降低成本和确保课程材料立即可用来减少教育障碍。此外，教师可以很容易地调整材料，使其与不同的学生经验和兴趣有意义的联系。预计该项目将扩大制造业技术项目的参与范围，包括更多的女性、退伍军人、残疾人、成人学习者以及在STEM技术领域代表性不足的社区的人们。在这样做的过程中，该项目将直接服务于发展和维持多样化的熟练技术劳动力的国家利益。该项目的目标是：1)创建或调整并纳入数字可访问的OER，包括六门课程的学生学习评估，允许混合和在线交付；2)对教师进行OER、可访问性、在线环境和教学设计方面的培训；3)让行业合作伙伴与教师合作，审查和修改课程材料的内容和可访问性，并通过实习为学生提供行业经验。外部评价人员将不断审查各项活动并作出总结性评价。项目可交付成果将通过OER存储库传播，供全世界使用。教学改革、教师专业发展以及与行业合作伙伴的合作旨在培养一支更加多样化、训练有素的技术人员队伍，以满足关键的区域需求。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。

This project is designed to modernize technical education in Electronics and Welding by developing and sharing openly licensed course materials. These materials, known as Open Educational Resources (OER), can be retained, reused, redistributed, revised, or remixed without permission from their creator. As a result, their content is dynamic and free of cost. Although OER are common for general education, the highly technical fields of manufacturing technology have not widely transitioned to use of OER. This project plans to create OER for education in Welding Technology and Electronics Technology. OER reduces barriers to education by reducing costs and ensuring course materials are available immediately. In addition, instructors can easily adapt materials to make meaningful connections to diverse student experiences and interests. It is expected that the project will broaden participation in manufacturing technology programs by including more women, veterans, people with disabilities, adult learners, and people from communities that are underrepresented in STEM technical fields. In doing so, the project will directly serve the national interest in developing and maintaining a diverse skilled technical workforce.The project objectives are to: 1) create or adapt and incorporate digitally accessible OER, including student learning assessments, for six courses, allowing hybrid and online delivery; 2) train faculty in OER, accessibility, the online environment, and instructional design; and 3) engage industry partners to collaborate with faculty in reviewing and modifying course materials for content and accessibility and to provide industry experience for students through internships. External evaluators will provide ongoing review of activities and a summative evaluation. Project deliverables will be disseminated through OER repositories for use worldwide. The instructional changes, faculty professional development, and collaboration with industry partners are designed to prepare a more diverse, better trained technician workforce ready to meet critical regional 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.