ADVANCED TECHNOLOGICAL EDUCATION ·
OCTOBER 2009
Welcome to the ATE Central Connection! Published the first Monday of each month, the ATE Central Connection is meant to disseminate information to and about ATE centers and projects, providing you with up-to-date ATE news, events, reminders, as well as highlighting new centers, projects, and resources. In addition, we will also highlight an educational topic with complementary resources found within ATE Central to help illustrate how ATE resources can be used in the classroom.
We want the ATE Central Connection to be a valuable tool; please e-mail [email protected] with any suggestions about how to make the ATE Central Connection more useful for you or to suggest any information you would like to see in an upcoming issue.
If you have any upcoming events that you would like posted on ATE Central or in the ATE Central Connection please send them to [email protected]
The Advanced Technological Education Television (ATETV.org) project is a web-based video series and interactive network designed to connect students and professionals with careers in advanced technology. Created under the guidance of a National Advisory Board with resources from the AACC, ATE National Centers, ATE projects and industry, ATETV aims to show how ATE is relevant to the modern workplace and to attract students to this growing field. ATETV features 48 video episodes that air weekly and highlight ATE success stories from community colleges and ATE programs nationwide. Its outreach efforts -- at ATETV.org and on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter -- aim to connect employers in industry and government with the high-tech workforce of tomorrow. ATETV extends student learning beyond the classroom walls and provides a window into careers and workplace skills.
Here is a small sample of the valuable resources in ATE Central that focus on Forestry:
From the Northwest Center for Sustainable Resources (NCSR):
This long-term project requires students to apply skills that are commonly used in forest management as part of a reforestation project. As a long-term study, each class has the opportunity to contribute new information and the benefit of evaluating accumulated data. The activity also incorporates an understanding of basic ecological principles such as ecological succession, range of tolerance, nutrient cycling and competition and engages students in an authentic data interpretation activity.
NCSR Special Topics I is a compilation of forestry-related topics and exercises. The materials focus on forest surveying and silvicultural methods. The materials in the manual are adaptable to technical courses in forest resource programs. They include field experiences as well as exercises to demonstrate basic and advanced concepts relevant to developing the knowledge and skills of the forest technician.
From the Tropical Forest Ecosystem and Agroforestry Management (Forest TEAM) project:
The Forest TEAM project seeks to reverse the decline of native forests and plants in Hawaii due to the introduction of alien plant species and other encroachments. They hope to reverse this trend by educating technicians in the management and regeneration of native ecosystems on the Hawaiian Islands. In order to accomplish this goal, Forest TEAM developed an associate of science degree program with 14 new courses. The curriculum includes the most current geographic information system and geographic positioning system technologies. Internships and service learning projects give students hands-on experience with potential employers, who serve on the project's advisory board. The college students also interact with high school students who take summer courses, participate in junior Forest TEAM club activities, and participate in field trips to help with reforestation projects. The site includes course requirements, a nice set of conservation links, an excellent set of web resources related to ecology (especially tropical and Hawaiian), information about program sponsors and the advisory board, as well as information on upcoming events and the Forest TEAM Club.
For more ATE resources about Forestry please visit: http://atecentral.net/s=forest
We are extremely pleased to announce that ATE Central has been awarded a second grant from the National Science Foundation which expands the scope of the project and will allow us to continue supporting the ATE community for the next four years. We look forward to working with all our partners within ATE as well as WGBH Boston and others as ATE Central moves forward into this second phase! For more information please e-mail Rachael Bower ([email protected]).
ATE Central will be at the ATE National Principal Investigators Conference October 21-23, 2009 in Washington D.C. Our Showcase session is on Thursday, October 22, 2009 from 12:00 to 2:30 p.m. and we are also having a breakfast Roundtable on Friday, October 23, 2009 from 7:45 - 8:45 a.m. in the Regency room, Table #6. Please stop by for a visit while you are at the conference.
CWIS is open source software, created with NSF funding, that can help your project or center showcase resources online. It's free and very easy to use -- click here to check out a few of the sites running CWIS. We'd be happy to provide you with more information about CWIS and give you a quick tour of its features -- please e-mail Edward Almasy ([email protected]) to get started!
For information about ATE Central and how your project or center can take part and benefit from ATE Central's portal and services you may want to download the ATE Central Handbook at http://atecentral.net/handbook.
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ATE Central Connection is published by Internet Scout via support from the National Science Foundation under grant number 0435310. |  |