ADVANCED TECHNOLOGICAL EDUCATION · MARCH 2011

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 info@atecentral.net 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.

Upcoming Events

March 7-9 Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) National Policy Seminar Arlington, VA
March 7-9 The Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California (CENIC) 15th Annual Conference: Expanding Our Horizons Irvine, CA
March 9-12 2011 National Postsecondary Agricultural Student Organization Conference Springfield, IL
March 11 Center for System Security and Infromation Assurance (CSSIA): Cyber Defense and Disaster Recovery Conference Springfield, IL
March 12 Center for System Security and Infromation Assurance (CSSIA): Indiana / Wisconsin Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition Palos Hills, IL
March 13-19 2011 National Ag Week Online
March 16 Evaluation Resource Center for Advanced Technological Education (Evaluate) Claims + Evidence: Assessing the Impact of Your ATE Grant Online
March 22-25 AEA International Convention & Trade Show Reno, NV
March 23 Rockwell Automation Florida Systems Integrator Forum Tampa, FL
March 25 Center for System Security and Information (CSSIA): Women in Technology Palos Hills, IL
March 25 Center for System Security and Information Assurance (CSSIA): Cyber Defense and Disaster Recovery Conference Palos Hills, IL
March 25 Nanotech Works - Alumni Success Stories Online
March 26 SCME MEMS Innovators Workshop Albuquerque, NM
March 28-31 Innovations 2010 Conference Baltimore, MD
March 31 - April 2 Roots and Wings: Scenario Development for Problem-based Learning Practitioners Flat Rock, NC
April 1 8th Annual Boston-Area Advanced Technological Education Connections (BATEC) College Fair Boston, MA
April 1 Engineer Your Future Expo Norwalk, CT
April 2 ISEC 2011 - Integrated STEM Education Conference: Best Practices in Integrated STEM Instruction Ewing, NJ
April 5-8 Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) Preparation Workshop Asheville, NC
April 8 NetWorks Webinar: Robotics Now Online
April 14-16 North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture (NACTA) Judging Contest Modesto, CA
April 27-29 2011 Conference Call for Presenters Scottsdale, AZ
April 29 Nanotechnology Applications and Career Knowledge (NACK Center): Nanotechnology in Medicine Online

For more events please visit the ATE Central Events page or if you have any upcoming events that you would like posted on ATE Central or in the ATE Central Connection please send them to info@atecentral.net.

Featured ATE Project

Academy for College Excellence (ACE)

http://academyforcollegeexcellence.org/

The Academy for College Excellence (ACE), formerly the Digital Bridge Academy, was developed at Cabrillo College with support from the James Irvine Foundation, the David and Lucille Packard Foundation, and the National Science Foundation. ACE provides a new model for serving under-prepared (demographically, many are from low-income or minority groups) students that has shown success with a group of students considered unlikely to succeed in college. It is a curriculum-based persistence model, designed to help students develop a sense of self-efficacy and potential, and motivate them to engage in learning once again and claim a future they couldn't see before. These students are then accelerated to college level performance on several dimensions in an intensive, integrated 16 units semester-long program.

Featured ATE Resources

Here is a sample of the valuable resources in ATE Central that focus on Information Technology:

From the Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) Center:

Information and Communications Technologies Skill Standards

http://www.ictcenter.org/.../ict_skills.pdf

This resource, a part of the Information and Communications Technologies Center, an ATE Center, examines the technology skill standards in information and communications technology (ICT). This robust PDF contains one hundred and nine pages of almost every aspect within telecommunications. The document is broken up into two main sections. The first section focuses on skills and concentrations. The second addresses critical work functions and key activities. Each large section is also broken down into smaller subsets. This resource addresses everything from operating systems, servers, and databases to the professional research behind the profession. This document certainly lacks nothing in terms of its scope. The coverage is extensive and makes for a solid representation of the ICT field.

Frequently Asked Q

http://www.q-ontech.blogspot.com/

Mike Qaissaunee, an Associate Professor of Engineering and Technology at Brookdale Community College, is the author of this blog and "shares his experiences and perspectives on integrating new technologies in and approaches to teaching and learning." Qaissaunee's blog, titled "Frequently Asked Q," gives insight into everything from web design, Twitter, and Google, to how economic downturns can effect his profession. The author provides links to other related blogs that address, and sometimes further elaborate, his discussions. Links to helpful videos are also used to engage the reader. This is a nice collection of ideas and interactive media that present Qaissaunee's point of view towards the professional world of technology and engineering.

From the Boston-Area Advanced Technological Education Connections (BATEC):

The Gap Guide: A Resource for Educators Working with Industry

http://www.batec.org/download/The Gap Guide (Web).pdf

The Boston-Area Advanced Technological Education Connections (BATEC) is a regional partnership between business, industry, government and community that is a development system for information technology. This system is an attempt to attract a diverse workforce for the promotion of lifelong learning in this discipline. This specific resource "is designed as a practical resource and planning tool for educators embarking on the development" of information technology curriculum. The guide is broken down into these sections: an overview, collaboration, planning/preparation, gap analysis/action planning, feedback and references/resources. This study is a thorough introduction into professional development in the field of information technology.

News & Reminders

ATEEC seeks reviewers for eERL resources

ATEEC is looking for environmental and energy specialists to vet (review) materials for the electronic Environmental and Energy Resources Library. If you are interested in participating please contact Lora at lkaisler@eicc.edu.

Can CWIS Software Help Support Your Project Goals?

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 cwis@scout.wisc.edu to get started!

Find Out More About ATE Central

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.

To unsubscribe to the ATE Central Connection, please reply to this email with "unsubscribe" in the Subject field or body of the email. For any other subscription questions, please email info@atecentral.net