Best Practices for Education and Workforce Development ...ciec/Proceedings_2017/ETD/ETD415_FradyHartley... · Technological Education (FLATE) ... tools, courses, ... Numerous events

Session ETD 415

Proceedings of the 2017 Conference for Industry and Education CollaborationCopyright © 2017, American Society for Engineering Education

Best Practices for Education and Workforce Development Leaders Exploring Engagement with Federal Initiatives

Kris Fradya, Rebecca Hartleya, Marilyn Bargerb, Elaine Craftc, Karen Wosczyna-Birchd

aClemson University & NSF ATE Center CA2VES/ bFL Advanced Technological Education (FLATE)/cSC Advanced Technological

Education Center of Excellence (SCATE)/dRegional Center for Next Generation Manufacturing

Abstract The National Network for Manufacturing Innovation is a federal interagency effort supporting the development of National Network for Manufacturing Innovation Institutes (NNMIIs) (http://www.manufacturing.gov/welcome.html). Each NNMI has a unique area of concentration, but one common goal across the MIIs is building a workforce pipeline to support advanced manufacturing. A second interagency effort is the Investing in Manufacturing Communities Partnership (IMCP) initiative, which is part of a comprehensive economic development strategy that includes supporting or developing a qualified workforce for the industries. The National Science Foundation's (NSF) Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program is supporting the development of a highly qualified entry-level workforce for both the NNMI and IMCP initiatives through education, industry and government partnerships between both MIIs and IMCPs and ATE Centers and projects.

This paper highlights discussions of how educators, across all levels, are collaborating with NNMIIs and similar consortiums and institutes to develop and adapt curricula and educational tools, courses, modules and other activities for inclusion within NNMIIs; and, how these collaborations are emerging into best practices which will benefit all involved.

I. Introduction and OverviewThe National Network for Manufacturing Innovation is a federal interagency effort supportingthe development of Manufacturing Innovation Institutes (MIIs)(http://www.manufacturing.gov/welcome.html). Each NNMI has a unique area of concentration,but one common goal across the MIIs is building a workforce pipeline to support advancedmanufacturing. A second interagency effort is the Investing in Manufacturing CommunitiesPartnership (IMCP) initiative, which is part of a comprehensive economic development strategythat includes supporting or developing a qualified workforce for the industries. The NationalScience Foundation's (NSF) Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program is supportingthe development of a highly qualified entry-level workforce for both the NNMI and IMCPinitiatives through education, industry, and government partnerships between both MIIs andIMCPs and ATE Centers and projects.

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A. The National Network for Manufacturing Innovation: ManufacturingUSA According to White House communications on the www.manufacturing.gov website, the goal of the anticipated 40-plus National Network of Manufacturing Innovation Institutes (NNMIIs) to be created over the next ten years is to enable industry and academia to solve the "scale-up" challenges that are relevant to U.S. manufacturing. The institutes in this network will be working to create a competitive, effective, and sustainable ‘manufacturing research-to-manufacturing infrastructure’ with the goal of quickly moving promising research results to plant floors as new and innovative products and/or production processes. The first few NNMIIs, now called ManufacturingUSA, are now "open for business." They represent the beginning of a $1 billion initiative by federal and state governments, academic institutions, and industry to advance the commercial deployment of new manufacturing technologies to improve our economy and its global competitiveness. Nine manufacturing innovation institutes have been awarded through a highly competitive process requiring significant matching funds from their partners. The federal funds for the different institutes are coming from either the Federal Department of Defense or Energy, but the National Science Foundation and other federal agencies are also involved and contributing to the initiative. With an expected total of forty institutes, the technologies covered will be comprehensive and address most aspects of manufacturing. Table 1 below lists the name, technology focus and location for each of the existing institutes.

MII Name Emphasis Location America Makes: The National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute

Additive Manufacturing Youngstown,OH

Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute (DMDII)

Digital Manufacturing & Design Chicago, IL

Lightweight Innovations for Tomorrow (LIFT)

Light Weight Metal Manufacturing Detroit, MI

Power America Wide Band Gap Semiconductors Charlotte, NC Institute of Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI)

Advanced Composite Manufacturing Knoxville, TN

American Institute for Manufacturing Integrated Photonics (AIM Photonics)

Integrated Photonics Rochester, NY

NextFlex Flexible Hybrid Electronics San Jose, CA AFFOA Revolutionary Fibers and Textile

Manufacturing Innovation Cambridge, MA

Clean Energy Smart Manufacturing

Clean Energy Sensors Los Angeles, CA

TBA Bio fabrication Manufacturing

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TBA Robotics in Manufacturing Environments

TBA Process Intensification Table 1: Funded and Anticipated NNMIIs 1

B. Investing in Manufacturing Communities Partnership (IMCP) Manufacturing is a burgeoning industry in the United States; since 2010 nearly 900,000 new jobs have been added.2 Initiatives such as Investing in Manufacturing Communities Partnership (IMCP) are focusing on providing federal resources to manufacturing communities to improve the competitiveness of the domestic supply chain. IMCP is a government-wide initiative recognizing 24 communities across the United States who are engaging in innovative practices which foster environments supporting attraction and expansion of manufacturing industries (Figure 1). IMCP communities demonstrate best practices in system-wide partnerships incorporating educators, industry, governmental agencies and community members engaging in long-term planning and developing strategies for public-private investment across the community. Ten federal agencies have agreed to provide preference to designated communities during review of grants and supplemental awards. This and similar Economic Development Administration programs aim to foster innovation through strong, sustainable regional partnership.

Figure 1: IMCP Designations 3

C. National Science Foundation, Advanced Technological Education (NSF ATE) Advanced Technological Education (ATE) is a National Science Foundation program under the Division of Undergraduate Education. The emphasis of the ATE program is supporting

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development of innovative approaches in the education of technicians for high-technology fields. Educators at two-year colleges lead this effort in partnership with secondary schools, university educators and industry. The ATE program supports curriculum development; professional development of college faculty and secondary school teachers; career pathways to two-year colleges from secondary schools and from two-year colleges to four-year institutions; and other related technological education activities. Currently there are 40 ATE Centers (and many other projects) leading both national and regional initiatives in a variety of technological education fields including advanced manufacturing technologies, agriculture and bio technologies, energy and environmental technologies, engineering technologies, information technologies, micro and nano technologies, security technologies and even learning, evaluation and research. The result of this program, which has over 20 years of history, is the transformation of technician education through development of model programs, career pathways, development of technician education leaders and building capacity for innovation and increasing diversity at two-year colleges nationwide.

Figure 2: NSF ATE Centers

II. Previous Events and Discussions with Workforce Leaders of Funded NNMIIs Numerous events in the form of conference sessions, focus groups, brainstorming sessions and meetings have been conducted with the primary goal of continuing to refine interactions and collaborations between ATE, two-year college technological education programs and Manufacturing USA. Representatives from several institutes convened at the 2015 High Impact Technology Exchange (HI-TEC) conference to discuss the work of their institutes and provide a vision for how their

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resources can help educate the next generation of high-technology technicians. Dennis Thompson, Director of Workforce Development at the Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute, and Major General Nick Justice (center), Director of Power America, attended in person (Figure 3). Emily De Rocco (not shown), Director of Workforce for LIFT (Lightweight Innovations for Tomorrow) provided materials and information that were shared with the session attendees. After short overviews of their institutes, the panelists addressed the following questions:

1. What is your goal for “workforce” development, particularly your institute’s

emphasis on 2-year technicians? 2. How do you envision the institutes working

with workforce development organizations, especially 2-year college technical programs, to support new technologies?

3. What about “timelines” for anticipated technician needs? This Florida Advanced Technological Education Center (FLATE)-coordinated HI-TEC panel discussion provided NNMII background for the audience and an informative exchange among the NNMII Directors and the ATE community. Dr. Celeste Carter (far right in Figure 3), Lead Program Officer for the NSF Advanced Technological Education Program (ATE), shared NSF's vision for working with the NNMIIs for technician workforce development and emphasized the opportunity to build on the many best practices and proven strategies already in use in the NSF-ATE community. The answers to the questions posed to the panel and the response from the ATE community indicated that workforce preparation means a lot of different things depending on the technical level of their workforce that an organization is interested in. From the NNMII's perspective, initial attention will be on the development of workforce expertise in support of the specific technologies the NNMII's will bring to the manufacturing floor. Material provided by the LIFT suggested that they have begun workforce development activities at several levels from middle school through post-baccalaureate. Alternatively, the representatives of the Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute and Power America both reported that their organizations were developing timelines for rolling out their workforce strategies and initiatives. Both emphasized that the national Manufacturing Innovation Institutes initiative is expected to be a 10-year program hallmarking the development of innovative technologies that will impact American manufacturing. They also appreciated the importance and significance of the technician workforce that will be needed to install, operate, troubleshoot and repair the new manufacturing technologies and systems that are generated by the NMNIIs.

Figure 3: 2015 HI-TEC Session

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Given the enthusiastic contributions from the panel session audience, it was clear that the ATE community has the expertise and experience to build the new best practices, strategies, and innovations for technician education that the NNMIIs will need. It was also clear that the directors of the NNMII's on the panel were interested in partnering with the ATE community in the very near future to help all of us reach our goals of developing the next American workforce. FLATE and its manufacturing ATE Center partners are beginning to explore the avenues to move forward with new NNMII partnerships and we will keep the ATE community apprised of our activities. Our expectation is that our Community of Practice will drive us to better interactions with the nation's NNMIIs as they develop the future technologies that will strengthen America’s manufacturing global position. Interest and activity within the ATE community continued in 2016. In February 2016, seven ATE Centers with expertise in composites, manufacturing and curriculum development participated in a focus group, facilitated by the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE), in Washington, DC. This focus group was an opportunity for these centers, an invited NNMII, the ATE lead program director and a few others to engage in a conversation about how to work together to translate ATE success, best practices, resources and leadership into these emerging initiatives. The result of this conversation was the broadening of this initial group to include nearly double the number of ATE Centers and additional conversation of ongoing NNMII interactions at two separate summer meetings; the 2016 ASEE Annual Conference and at the 2016 HI-TEC conference. At these meetings ATE Centers and Projects and other NNMII representatives discussed how and what curriculum, courses, modules and other activities developed may be appropriate for inclusion within NNMIIs; and, how these collaborations will benefit all involved. A final summer session at the 2016 HI-TEC conference featuring leaders from PowerAmerica, NextFLEX, AIM Phototonics and LIFT was held for a wider audience to share the vision and mission of the education and workforce development components of these initiatives and to create a forum for open discussion of how technological education resources, many found in two-year colleges across the United States, may be developed and adapted to support a growing manufacturing industry. III. Best Practices and Lessons Learned The technological education community is working together with several NNMIIs to leverage best practices and resources. All NNMIIs have an education and workforce development component which is instrumental in real-world translation of their ongoing research and development and manufacturing industry advancement efforts. This community has held several meetings to develop a better mutual understanding of how these organizations can best work together. Additionally, many resources such as virtual reality, professional development and curriculum have been either custom developed or adapted to meet growing education and workforce development demands. A. Developing a Community of Practice - NSF-ATE Manufacturing Regional Centers of Excellence (AMEC) Developing a wider community of practice among successful NSF ATE Centers and community colleges helps to provide a focused manufacturing centric ATE entity sharpens and subsequently

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integrates all NSF-ATE project and center resources dedicated to manufacturing and its related technologies education with respect to the technician and technical workforce needs across the country. This concentration (not repetition) of ATE efforts that support manufacturing amplifies the impact of our Regional Centers of Excellence efforts, activities and products. Another benefit of the AMEC effort the long term impact on the broad spectra of community colleges and technical programs that support manufacturing frontline technician and advanced operator workforce needs. This increased awareness will help magnify and promulgate ongoing efforts, of multiple organizations, supporting manufacturing within first tier and technical support operations. Finally, AMEC provides a platform for community colleges across the country to work collaboratively to identify the skills and knowledge for manufacturing education and define national models for manufacturing career pathways to included industry nationally recognized credentials that will fortify our regional efforts. The synergistic effect sharpens the national interest in and intent of manufacturing technician education as well as increases the awareness of technician education pathways. It also helps coordinate national student engagement, outreach, and perception activities. In summary, the cooperative interaction among all of the ATE manufacturing centers is an excellent avenue to strengthen manufacturing technician education across the country. This group also helps to identify appropriate expertise for AMEC’s Technology Working Groups. B. Establishing Regional, System-wide Partnerships Indeed, regional and community-based workforce development initiatives are being recognized as increasingly appropriate in addressing workforce development challenges.4 Regional are better than local efforts at identifying and filling skills gaps and aligning workforce systems.5 The regional initiatives experiencing the greatest successes have created institutional collaborations, which focus on building greater public-private collaboration and cooperation.6 Workforce development programs must begin working together across county and state lines, create common visions and understanding, reduce redundancy of effort leverage resources from both private and public sources. A new national learning exchange model must emerge to facilitate leaders in the workforce development field in innovation of new approaches, implementation of an evidence-based approach to establish and disseminate effective practices and scaling or replicating promising models to meet more widespread adoption.7

Development of partnerships with economic development agencies, commerce groups, industry, governmental agencies (both regional and federal), nonprofit organizations, and educational organizations is vital to connecting resources and providing a holistic perspective. The successes of these organizations stems from their focus on identifying key partners critical to the success of academic and workforce development programs with particular focus on federal partnerships instrumental in supporting policy initiatives. C. Integration of Digital Learning Tools and Virtual Reality As virtual reality (VR) technology progresses it is increasingly being used by industry in various capacities ranging from job training to design to many other uses. Students in STEM disciplines

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will benefit from educational exposure to these technologies thus better preparing them for the workforce.8 As VR technologies and applications become more affordable they are being adopted at increasing rates in higher education. Initial research about the efficacy of VR and related technology innovations in education indicate positive impacts.9 VR offers a new opportunity to close pedagogical gaps that have appeared in 21st century educational practices.10 Further, the 2016 Horizon Report from the New Media Consortium projects that VR will likely have a sizable impact on higher education learning

environments over the next two to three years.11 The anticipated growth and impact VR will bring the possibility of powerful new worlds to learning environments. The demand for Next Generation engineers and technicians in today’s manufacturing marketplace is great however; addressing the many challenges inherent in preparing the new workforce will require an innovative approach. Through use of online learning and VR, educational programs can focus on addressing several key challenges. First, addressing a skills gap between the available workforce and manufacturing employers; as manufacturing in the United States becomes a more innovative and highly skilled industry, companies are struggling to find workers with the skills and education meeting their job requirements.12 Next, the need for post-secondary education in STEM fields is growing with research suggesting that the fastest-growing, highest-paying jobs will require education beyond high school yet the percentage of working-age adults in the United States who hold a two- or four-year college degree is less than 40%.13 Finally, the model seeks to address students in marginalized populations through incorporation of virtual tools in a systems-wide approach (P-20) to address equity gaps for students who are located in rural areas, from low-income families, English learners, and have learning or physical disabilities. Through use of online learning curriculum and components, open educational resources, virtual classrooms, and VR this model is creating regionally focused, vocational curriculum which is aimed to improve education, capacity and access for Next Generation engineers and technicians.

Figure 4: VR of a manufacturing environment

Figure 5: VR of simulated experiences for students

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C. Professional Development FLATE and its AMEC partners are working with PowerAmerica to expand their professional development for communities. In July 2016, FLATE supported faculty from AMEC partners to join North Carolina Community College educators at PowerAmerica’s summer institute for educators. Faculty, one from CARCAM Center (Alabama) and one from FLATE (Florida), participated in the two-day workshop focused on wide band gap semiconductor technologies, their evolution and anticipated growth and development. The attendees were very excited to see where this technology was headed along with the implications for packaging and manufacturability. All attendees got resources that they could take back to their classrooms. Next steps for this project is to adapt the workshop held at PowerAmerica in North Carolina for a workshop in Florida in conjunction with one of Power America’s key industry partners. Logistics and planning are currently underway for this effort. Faculty from AMEC partners will be invited to participate in this upcoming workshop. It cannot be stressed enough how important it is to engage faculty in the emerging technologies and provide them with resources for classroom implementation and starting the introductory and exploratory level of the future. This helps them deepen their own knowledge and comfort with the new technologies as they become more important in industry and, thus more important in the two-year technical degree programs. The PowerAmerica technician workforce effort is iconic for the work that can and will be done with partnerships between the NSF ATE Centers, two-year technical manufacturing programs and Manufacturing USA institutes. D. Leadership Leaders within the ATE community, many with twenty or more years of experience in technological workforce education, are devoting time and resources to continuing to support the growing ManufacturingUSA efforts. More than seven positions on NNMII advisory boards are filled with NSF ATE Center Directors, which strengthens collaboration for the development of highly skilled technicians in fields of advanced technology. Additionally, many are presenting on workforce development on behalf of ATE Centers at the 2016 IMCP Summit in Washington D.C.; and, in collaboration with the American Society for Engineering Education, relevant ATE Center resources are being cataloged in a way that will help guide NNMIIs and IMCPs to the best ATE Center resource provider(s) to meet their needs. E. Curriculum Assessment of workforce needs, technician education and industry alignment are areas of expertise that ATE Centers and projects can provide. Several centers are currently engaging with funded NNMIIs to develop discipline-specific curriculum. IV. Conclusion Partnerships, program improvement, curriculum, professional development, dissemination, outreach, recruitment and educational technology are all hallmarks of ATE experience and

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success. Harnessing over twenty years of collaborative networks and resources to the benefit of these newly funded and designated federal initiatives is an important way to link to a nationwide dissemination platform and existing capability. As new institutes are being named these highlighted initiatives provide a model and guidance for how educators, across all levels, can collaborate with similar consortiums and institutes to develop and adapt curricula and educational tools, courses, modules and other activities for inclusion within federal initiatives; and, how these collaborations are emerging into best practices which will benefit all involved. Bibliography 1. Manufacturing USA – the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation, Retrieved from https://www.manufacturing.gov/nnmi/. 2. Convening Manufacturing Leaders to Strengthen the Innovative Capabilities of the U.S. Supply Chain, including Small Manufacturers. (2015). Retrieved from https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/07/09/fact-sheet-convening-manufacturing-leaders-strengthen-innovative 3. IMCP Designations. Retrieved from https://www.eda.gov/img/pages/challenges/imcp/MadRep-Map-full.png. 4. Pitcoff, W. (1998). Developing Workers Community-Based Job Training Brings Families Out of Poverty. Shelterforce Magazine (Issue 102). Retrieved from http://www.nhi.org/online/issues/102/jobs.html

5. Urban Institute. (2013). Innovations and Future Directions for Workforce Development in the Post-Recession Era. Washington, DC: Eyster, L., Anderson, T., & Durham, C. Retrieved from http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/412884-Innovations-and-Future-Directions-for-Workforce-Development.pdf

6. Jacobs, R., & Hawley, J. (2009). Emergence of Workforce Development: Definition, Conceptual Boundaries, and Implications. In R. MacLean & D. Wilson (eds.), International Handbook of Technical and Vocational Education and Training, Amsterdam: Kluwer. Retrieved from http://www.economicmodeling.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/jacobs_hawley-emergenceofworkforcedevelopment.pdf

7. Annie E. Casey Foundation. (2009). Lessons for a New Context Workforce Development in an Era of Economic Challenge. Baltimore, MD: Giloth, R.P. Retrieved from http://www.frbsf.org/community-development/files/Giloth_Robert.pdf

8. Isiadinso, C. (nd). Forget MOOCs- Is Virtual Reality the Next Big Thing? Retrieved from http://www.expartus.com/forget-moocs-virtual-reality-next-big-thing/. 9. Bannan, K.J. (2015). Is virtual reality for everyone? Retrieved from http://www.edtechmagazine.com/higher/article/2015/08/virtual-reality-everyone. 10. Sapp, C. (2015). How Virtual Reality Can Close Learning Gaps in Your Classroom. Retrieved from https://www.edsurge.com/news/2015-09-07-how-virtual-reality-can-close-learning-gaps-in-your-classroom. 11. New Horizon Report on Higher Education. (2016). Retrieved from https://www.nmc.org/publication/nmc-horizon-report-2016-higher-education-edition/

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12.The Manufacturing Institute. (2015). The skills gap in US manufacturing 2015 and beyond. Retrieved from http://www.themanufacturinginstitute.org/~/media/827DBC76533942679A15EF7067A704CD.ashx. 13. The Lumina Foundation. (2013). Strategic plan 2013-2016. Retrieved from https://www.luminafoundation.org/files/file/2013-lumina-strategic-plan.pdf. Authors KRIS FRADY ED.D. is an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Educational and Organizational Leadership and Development and Engineering and Science Education at Clemson University and Faculty Director for Clemson University Center for Workforce Development and the NSF ATE Center for CA2VES. Kris’ research focuses on digital learning solutions, career pathways, educator professional development, and factors impacting workforce development. REBECCA HARTLEY, PH.D. earned a Bachelor of Science from Western Carolina University, a Master of Public Administration and a Ph.D. in Public Administration and Public Policy also from Auburn University. Prior to joining the Clemson University Center for Workforce Development and CA2VES, she served as Director of Graduate Admissions & Records at the University of Montevallo in Alabama. MARILYN BARGER, PH.D. is the Principal Investigator and Executive Director of FLATE, the Florida Regional Center of Advanced Technological Education. Dr. Barger earned a Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from the University of South Florida, which focused on design of membrane separation systems for water purification. She has a licensed patent and is a registered professional engineering in Florida. Dr. Barger has over 20 years of experience in developing and delivering K-20 engineering and technology curriculum. ELAINE CRAFT holds a baccalaureate degree in chemical engineering from the University of Mississippi and a MBA from the University of South Carolina with additional graduate studies in mathematics. Since 1994, she has served as Executive Director of the South Carolina Advanced Technological (SC ATE) Center of Excellence. Craft currently serves as Principal Investigator (PI), Mentor-Connect: Leadership Development and Outreach for ATE; PI, SC ATE; Co-PI, ATE Regional Center for Aviation and Automotive Technology Education Using Virtual E-Schools (CA2VES); and Co-PI, Centers Collaborative for Technical Assistance (CCTA). KAREN WOSCZYNA-BIRCH, PH.D. is the state director of the CT College of Technology where through her leadership she has been instrumental in creating a nationally recognized seamless pathway in engineering and technology programs between all 12 public community colleges in CT with eight universities and technical and comprehensive high schools. She is also the Executive Director of the Regional Center for Next Generation Manufacturing, a National Science Foundation Center of Excellence and a Professor at Tunxis Community College.

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Best Practices for Education and Workforce Development ...ciec/Proceedings_2017/ETD/ETD415_FradyHartley... · Technological Education (FLATE) ... tools, courses, ... Numerous events