National STEM Consortium A Comprehensive Model for Boosting

Student Completion and Job Attainment

Kelly Koermer, NSC Principal InvestigatorSusan Gallagher, NSC Project Director

What is the National STEM Consortium?

Anne Arundel Community College in Maryland

College of Lake County in Illinois

Clover Park Technical College in Washington State

Cuyahoga Community College in Ohio

Florida State College at Jacksonville

Ivy Tech Community College in Indiana

Macomb Community College in Michigan

Northwest Arkansas Community College

Roane State Community College in Tennessee

South Seattle Community College in Washington State

What is the Role of the NSC?

Design and deliver Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics

(STEM) programs:

• Nationally portable

• High-quality certificate-level

• Responsive to labor market needs

• Embed contextualized remediation – “STEM Bridge”

• Build a national model for multi-college cooperation

One Year STEM Certificates

Mechatronics Technology

Cyber Technology

Composites Technology

Electric Vehicle Technology

Environmental Technology

Partners

• Public workforce agencies• Identify industry trends

• Refer candidates; placement

• Employers• Identify industry needs – learning

outcomes

• Provide input on curricula

• Hire our completers!

• Community colleges• Prepare curricula

• Identify “bridge” components

• OLI, CAST

What do Employers Need?

Need – Employers

• Pipeline of qualified new workers for immediate and future openings• Hands-on skills• Industry credentials• Essential core skills• Linked to industry-vetted KSAs

• Upskill incumbent workers to fill key positions• Fast, fluid and flexible

What do Students Need?

Need - Students

• A stable career pathway • Family-sustaining wages• Marketable skills• Industry certifications

• Academic Credential• Accelerated time to completion• Higher likelihood of successful completion• Affordable

What Do Community Colleges Need?

Need - Colleges

• Innovative approaches to teaching and learning in response to emerging academic challenges• Declining enrollments• Declining student retention and completion• Declining budgets and resource availability

• Proven methods to accelerate completion and meet immediate employer needs• Address developmental academic needs• Program and student success (completion, retention, job

placement)• Student and faculty support to promote student success

• Reputation for excellence and innovation

The Value Proposition

What if Community Colleges could quickly prepare students for high demand employment opportunities in programs with completion rates of 69% , and a 69% rate of employment?

Y CyberElectric Vehicle MechatronicsComposites Environmental

STEM Bridge

A Comprehensive Model

NSC Treatment Model

NSC Treatment Model

• Technical curricula• STEM Bridge curricula:

embedded, contextualized remediation• Cohort enrollment• Block scheduling• Embedded student supports:

navigation services

NSC Technical Curricula

• 30+ Credits per pathway

• All course materials available as an Open Educational Resource on Platform+ >

• Additional interactive “sticking points”

• Comprehensive Program Guides providing information on all aspects of program adoption

*Conversion to OER in progress: to be completed by 5/30/15

Curriculum Hosted on OLI

Employer Outcome Driven

Programs

Five STEM Certificate Programs

NSC Curriculum

Program Guides

STEM Bridge Courses

Comprehensive Program Materials

NSC OER Available On OLI Spring 2015

Program Guide

Course

Toolkit

Syllabus

Lesson Plans

Instructional Materials

Labs

For each program, the Guide Provides:• Overview of the Industry• Description of the Certificate

Program• Program Infrastructure• How to Adopt the Program• The Role of Employers• Student Success Strategies• Sustainability• Boosting Job Placement

Program Guides

For each course in every program:

• Instructor Toolkit• Syllabus• Lesson Plans• Labs• Quizzes/Assessments• Handouts• PowerPoints• Links to External Materials (including industry content)• Images• Videos

Course Materials

“Sticking Points”/Mini-Lessons

“Sticking Point”: Known troublesome concept for students, difficult concept to learn

Solution• Online mini-lesson (module) designed to reinforce and

remediate these topics • Self-paced• Completed as homework and/or instructor led

Two Modules/Mini-Lessons (Sticking Points) Per Course

STEM Bridge

STEM Bridge is a two-part strategy to provide support to learners in the STEM certificate programs.

Certificate Ready: “STEM Readiness” CourseEmbedded, contextualized, online course to quickly refreshes key skills in math, communications, critical thinking and professional skills.

Lower-Level Learners: “STEM Foundations” CourseModularized set of curriculum “bundles” that can be adapted and inserted as needed to support foundational skills in Math and Workplace Communication before entering the credit certificates

STEM Readiness Curriculum

Math

• Placement Test• Arithmetic• Measuring Systems• Charts and Graphs• Basic Algebra• Triangle Geometry• Cartesian Plane

• Summarizing• Oral & Written

Communication• After-Action

Reporting• Troubleshooting

Critical Thinking & Workplace

Communication• Customer Service• Confidentiality• Organizational

Skills• Time Management• Teamwork• Resume Writing• Cover Letters• Interviewing

ProfessionalSkills

15 hours 15 hours 15 hours

• Reading Strategies for Comprehension

• Writing Skills• Writing Structure• Listening and Speaking Skills• Time Management

STEM Foundations Curriculum

Math

• The Number Line and Integers• Multiplying and Dividing Integers• Order of Operations (MDAS)• Fractions • Conceptual Equality• Signed/Negative Values

Workplace Communications

12-15 Hours Total Instruction Time

OER Content

• STEM Bridge Content – Fully Available and Free:• Open Learning Initiative (OLI) website: http://oli.cmu.edu

• Sign Up on main page • STEM Readiness use Course Key: ALL-STEM4 • STEM Foundations use Course Key: STEMBASIC2

• Technical Content – available by 5/30/15• http://tinyurl.com/NationalSTEM

• Sign up to receive a notification when content is available

What are the Benefits To Employers?

Benefits: Employers

• Pipeline of qualified workers• decreased training costs• decreased job vacancy time

• Access to credentialed workers with relevant hands-on skills

• Enables employer to establish and support career ladders

• Well-prepared workers enhance revenue through increased quality, efficiency and volume

• Training available for employers to use for OJT

What are the Benefits To Students?

Benefits: Students

• Prepares students for higher paid jobs• Gets students to work more quickly• Increases students’ success mindset and confidence• Decreased frustration levels and drop-out rates• Allows students to work and/or handle other personal

responsibilities while quickly completing credentials• Enables student access to technical curricula without

delay of developmental prerequisites

A Student’s Perspective

• https://www.\youtube.com/watch?v=uMG34JCDsAA

What are the Benefits to Colleges?

Benefits: Colleges

• Increased revenues through tuition and fees• Increased state funding in performance/completion-based funding• Credibility with employers• Enhanced reputation and job outcomes result in increased

enrollments• High-quality, effective curricula, modifiable and customizable to

additional programs• Saves time and resources through use of NSC OER• Reduces time to completion• Increased number of academic certificates and industry credentials

earned in support of completion agenda• Content and approach can be adapted for entrepreneurial activities• Collaborative process can be replicated for other grants and projects• Successful project enhances competitive advantage• Collaboration reduces costs because tasks are shared among

institutions• Collaboration increases value, efficacy and richness of product

Retention ROI: 100 Students in a 30

Credit Program, College Earns

$167,289 MORE Using NSC Model

Return on Investment

Competition/Barriers

• Faculty resistance• Cost/resources to scale and sustain within our own institutions• Proprietary training institutions• Existing less-successful developmental curricula• Available virtual advising systems• Other institutions of higher education• Our own institutions - resistance against change• Employer in-house training• Block scheduling and cohort enrollment is inconvenient to

implement and manage alongside traditional scheduling and offerings

• NSC Website: www.NationalSTEM.org

• Facebook: • https://www.facebook.com/AACCMechatronics• https://www.facebook.com/MCCEVCert

• PBS Feature: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/economy/certifiably-employable/16901/

• Pathway videos:• Mechatronics: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBqkQ_pRm54&feature=youtu.be• Cyber: http://www.nwacc.edu/web/stem/cyber-technician-certificate• Composites: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KA9ZzcewX0• Electric Vehicle Development: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMO0unlzGCE • Electric Vehicle Repair: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UW2ZY94lO0w

National STEM ConsortiumResources

National STEM ConsortiumResources

• NSC Website: www.NationalSTEM.org

• NSC Policies and Sample NSC Curriculum Documents• Available via Dropbox:

• https://www.dropbox.com/sh/sru3t4iz8dyds04/rHfmhJunz4

• STEM Bridge Access: Open Learning Initiative (OLI) website: http://oli.cmu.edu • Sign Up on main page • STEM Readiness use Course Key: ALL-STEM4 • STEM Foundations use Course Key: STEMBASIC2

National STEM ConsortiumContent Availability

Complete this electronic form to be notified of National STEM Consortium curriculum content availability:http://tinyurl.com/NationalSTEM

AACC is an equal opportunity, affirmative action, Title IX, ADA Title 504 compliant institution. Call Disability Support Services, 410-777-2306 or Maryland Relay 711, 72 hours in advance to request most accommodations. Requests for sign language interpreters, alternative format books or assistive technology require 30 days’ notice. For information on AACC’s compliance and complaints concerning discrimination or harassment, contact Kelly Koermer, J.D., federal compliance officer, at 410-777-2607 or Maryland Relay 711.

This workforce solution was funded by a grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration. The solution was created by the grantee and does not necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Department of Labor. The Department of Labor makes no guarantees, warrantees, or assurances of any kind, express or implied, with respect to such information, including any information on linked sites and including, but not limited to, accuracy of the information or its completeness, timeliness, usefulness, adequacy, continued availability, or ownership.

Questions?Susan Gallagher Kim Law Kelly KoermerNSC Project Director NSC Cyber Technology Coordinator NSC Principal Investigatorsgallagher@aacc.edu kplaw@aacc.edu kkoermer@aacc.edu 410-777-2124 410-777-2387 410-777-7432

• Composite Materials Technology• Cyber Technology• Electric Vehicle Development and Repair

• Environmental Technology

• Mechatronics• STEM Bridge (math, communications and professional

skills)