ADVANCED TECHNOLOGICAL EDUCATION · OCTOBER 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 [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.

Upcoming Events

October 1-3 Bio-Link: Learn and Earn Convening Round Rock, TX
October 2-5 2011 STEMtech Indianapolis, IN
October 3 Bio-Link Learn and Earn Convening Austin, TX
October 3-6 Nanotechnology Course Resources II: Patterning, Characterization, and Applications University Park, PA
October 6 2011 UMUC Cybersecurity Breakfast Symposium Hyattsville, MD
October 10-12 NBAA Annual Convention Las Vegas, NV
October 12-14 National Career Pathways Network Annual National Conference Orlando, FL
October 12-15 Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL) 4 Day Public Presentation Anaheim, CA
October 13-14 National WomenTech Educators Training: More Female Students in Just One Year San Francisco, CA
October 14 Center for Systems Security and Information Assurance (CSSIA): VMware VSphere Pensacola, FL
October 14 NetWorks Webinar: 10 Shots 2 Caffeinate Your Presentations Online
October 15 2011 Fall Gold Coast CUE Event Camarillo, CA
October 15 Invent It Build It for Middle School Girls Chicago, IL
October 15 Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL): Tufts University 1 Day Private Workshop Boston, MA
October 16-18 National Educators Workshop Greensboro, NC
October 18 CyberWatch: Cool Careers in CyberSecurity Workshop Columbia, MD
October 18 National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network (NNIN): Short Course on Advanced Methods in Atomic Force Microscopy Ann Arbor, MI
October 21-27 CyberWatch: 2011 Hacker Halted Conference Miami, FL
October 22 Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL): 1 Day Private Workshop - KSTF Clyde Hill, WA
October 22-23 Wine and Must Analysis Workshop Ashtabula, OH
October 26 ATE PI Meeting Pre Conference Workshop: 21st Century Learning Redux - Technology Washington D.C.
October 26 ATE PI Meeting Pre Conference Workshop: ATE Evaluation Challenges & Solutions: A Peer-to-Peer Dialogue Washington D.C.
October 26 ATE PI Meeting Pre Conference Workshop: Concepts, Processes, and Tools for Successful Scaling Washington D.C.
October 26 ATE PI Meeting Pre Conference Workshop: Getting Started Washington D.C.
October 26 ATE PI Meeting Pre Conference Workshop: Shout It from the Rooftops! How to Design a Successful Dissemination and Marketing Plan Washington D.C.
October 26-28 ATE National Principal Investigators Conference Washington D.C.
October 31 National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network (NNIN): Modeling and Simulation of Nano/Microsystems Contest Ann Arbor, MI

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 [email protected].

Featured ATE Event

ATE National Principal Investigators Conference October 26-28, 2011

http://www.aacc.nche.edu/Resources/aaccprograms/ate/conf2011

The American Association of Community Colleges with the support of the National Science Foundation will hold the 18th national ATE Principal Investigators Conference, at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, DC. The conference brings together approximately 800 people to focus on the critical issues related to advanced technological education. Key people working on ATE projects across the country participate in the conference. Conference attendees represent community colleges, business and industry, secondary school systems, four-year colleges, and research and development centers covering projects in a wide variety of areas such as: information technology, engineering technology, micro- and nanotechnologies, chemical technology, biotechnology, and others.

Featured ATE Resources

Here is a sample of the valuable resources in ATE Central that focus on Engineering Technologies:

From OP-TEC:

OP-TEC Career Videos

http://www.op-tec.org/careervideos.php

This page from OP-TEC, the National Center for Optics and Photonics Education, contains videos of successful two-year college technical program students and graduates. The audience for these videos are teachers, counselors, students and parents. The video subjects explain who they worked for, what they do, how they became interested in photonics and who helped or encouraged them. The videos range from two to five minutes and are hosted on YouTube.

The National Precision Optics Skill Standards for Technicians

http://www.op-tec.org/potskillstandards.php

This page from OP-TEC, the National Center for Optics and Photonics Education, features the National Precision Optics Skill Standards for Technicians. This document "represents the consensus of a broad cross-section of U.S. employers regarding the technical and workplace skills required of precision optics technicians." These skills include critical work functions and tasks, technical skills, and employability skills and the list will be used in curriculum design. Visitors can view the standards as a pdf or request a complimentary bound copy.

From NetWorks:

Hands-On Optics: Making an Impact with Light

http://www.hands-on-optics.org/resources/

Hands-On Optics: Making an Impact with Light is a comprehensive, ready-to-use collection of six classroom modules on optics. The kit comes packaged with a How to Manual and everything you need to use with 20 to 30 students for all six modules. All materials are reusable. The manual is full of activities and teaching ideas. In addition, a companion resource, Scope It Out! An Optics Activity and Resource Notebook, is available to all program leaders. Designed for educators, optics professionals, and others who want to expand the optics they teach, the resource notebook also contains a host of resource lists on a wide range of optics topics and optics background materials.

News & Reminders

Want to get more out of your 2011 ATE PI Conference experience? Coming Soon ATE Central will have an app for that!

ATE Central, in conjunction with AACC, is happy to announce the upcoming release of the 2011 ATE PI Conference mobile app.

The 2011 ATE PI Conference app is designed for iPhone/iPad, Android, and Blackberry mobile devices. A browser-based version will also be available and can be accessed via laptop, desktop, tablet, or smartphone. The purpose of the 2011 ATE PI Meeting app is to help meeting attendees streamline access to conference information, allowing them to easily create a personal agenda for the meeting and keep track of the sessions and showcases they wish to attend. In addition, the app will help attendees make the most out of their time among ATE colleagues by organizing the valuable contacts they make at the conference conveniently on their mobile device. For up-to-date information on the 2011 PI Conference app, including release date, check back on ATE Central, or follow @ATECentral, @Comm_College, and #2011ATEPI on Twitter.

Digitally Enhancing America's Community Colleges: Strategic Opportunities for Computing Education

The National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) recently released a report that addresses a fundamental question about community colleges: why are so many of them unable to successfully secure federal funding for computing programs? The report, Digitally Enhancing America's Community Colleges, offers recommendations designed to spur new grant proposals, inventive initiatives, and dynamic partnerships that infuse innovation into community college computing courses and programs. The full 24-page report is available online here: http://www.acmccecc.org/.... NSF's release about the summit, ACM, and the report is available here: http://www.nsf.gov/news/.... Printed copies of the report along with a strategic planning template are available for free via an online request form at http://www.acmccecc.org/contactus/.

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 [email protected].

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 [email protected] 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.

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