Mentor-Connect Forward: Leadership Development and Outreach for ATE

该项目将支持社区和技术学院及其教师提交提案，并通过先进技术教育（ATE）计划最大限度地受益于资金。ATE赠款提高教师能力和机构能力，以满足对熟练技术劳动力的需求。对高技能技术人员的持续需求是公认的，也是有据可查的，但教育计划已经被新冠肺炎等破坏者颠覆了。虚拟教学已经成为所有学科的必要条件，总体入学率下降，大学预算也有所下降。与此同时，先进技术行业对技术人员的需求仍然非常迫切，而且不断增长。虽然ATE计划是独特的定位，以帮助高校解决技术人员教育的挑战，高校必须制定和提交赠款建议，以获得这笔资金。对于ATE计划影响两年制高等教育机构（2年制IHE）并教育行业所需的熟练技术工人，必须减轻成为ATE受让人的障碍。之前的奖项在减少障碍，吸引更多两年制大学技术教育工作者，培养STEM教师领导，扩大指导能力以及增加ATE计划的影响方面取得了长足的进步。即便如此，仍有许多两年制学院尚未从ATE计划中受益。导师-连接前进：ATE的领导力发展和推广（M-C前进）将：1）通过扩大地理和人口统计学上多样化的两年制IHE和STEM教师与ATE计划的参与，以新的和经过验证的方式推进技术人员教育; 2）刺激使用ATE开发的资源; 3）鼓励和支持新的和以前的受赠机构提交提案; 4）在接受ATE资助的人中培养领导者和导师; 5）支持和指导新的主要研究者（PI），帮助他们成为成功的受赠者。该项目借鉴了以往项目的成功经验和教训，并利用了其他受资助的辅导项目的工作。同侪指导和技术援助将利用基于问题的学习，使学院团队参与可持续的、由教师领导的技术人员教育课程和计划的改进。ATE计划信息和赠款提案说明和发展战略将通过研讨会，网络研讨会，在线资源和帮助台提供。导师研究员实习计划将在ATE计划中建立导师能力。现有的资源库将通过一个新的接收、审查和用户支持系统得到加强，并将受益于其他由ATE资助的指导计划的贡献。新的教学资源和支持，以指导首次PI，PI 101，将促进领导力的发展，减少学习曲线，支持改善项目成果，并鼓励后续提案的发展。Mentor-Connect将对所有项目活动的严格评估做出反应，并通过这些评估不断改进。该项目由先进技术教育计划资助，该计划侧重于推动国家经济的先进技术领域的技术人员的教育。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力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 will support community and technical colleges and their faculty to submit proposals to, and maximize their benefit from, funding through the Advanced Technological Education (ATE) Program. ATE grants increase faculty ability and institutional capacity to address the need for a skilled technical workforce. The persistent need for highly skilled technicians is recognized and well-documented, but educational programs have been upended by disrupters like COVID. Virtual instruction has become essential across all disciplines, and overall enrollments have declined, as have college budgets. Meanwhile, the critical and growing need for technicians in advanced technology industries remains. Although the ATE Program is uniquely positioned to help colleges address technician education challenges, colleges must develop and submit grant proposals to access this funding. For the ATE Program to impact two-year institutions of higher education (2-yr IHEs) and educate the skilled technical workers needed by industry, barriers to becoming an ATE grantee must be mitigated. Prior awards have made strides toward reducing barriers, engaging more two-year college technician educators, developing STEM faculty leaders, expanding mentoring capacity, and increasing impacts of the ATE Program. Even so, there are still many two-year colleges that have not yet benefited from the ATE Program.Mentor-Connect Forward: Leadership Development and Outreach for ATE (M-C Forward) will: 1) advance technician education in new and proven ways by expanding engagement of geographically and demographically diverse 2-yr IHEs and STEM faculty with the ATE Program; 2) stimulate use of ATE-developed resources; 3) encourage and support the submission of proposals by new and previous grantee institutions; 4) develop leaders and mentors among those who receive ATE funding; and 5) support and guide new principal investigators (PIs) to help them become successful grantees. The project builds on successes and lessons learned from prior projects and leverages the work of other funded mentoring projects. Peer mentoring and technical assistance will leverage problem-based learning to engage college teams in sustainable, faculty-lead improvement of technician education courses and programs. ATE Program information and grant proposal instructions and development strategies will be provided via workshops, webinars, online resources, and a help desk. A Mentor Fellows internship program will build mentoring capacity in the ATE Program. An existing Resource Repository will be enhanced by a new intake, review, and user support system, and will benefit from contributions from other ATE-funded mentoring initiatives. New instructional resources and support to guide first-time PIs, PI 101, will promote leadership development, reduce the learning curve, support improved project outcomes, and encourage development of subsequent proposals. Mentor-Connect will be responsive to, and continuously improved by, rigorous evaluation of all project activities. 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.