Advanced Technological Education ·

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.

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In This Issue

Lasers and Photonics Screenshot

Featured Resources in Lasers and Photonics

From Midwest Photonics Education Center:

Industrial Lasers and their use in the Manufacturing of Medical Devices

nebula.wsimg.com/867798bf2796b9294d9eee6c87c9a189?AccessKeyId=6F0F373AAA518D141EBF&disposition=0

These slides were presented by K. Erickson at the Lasers in Manufacturing Symposium hosted by the Midwest Photonics Education Center and industrial laser company Trumpf Inc. Symposium speakers "highlighted topics such as laser sources, applications and integration, design considerations for laser welding, laser use in manufacturing medical devices, and advances in 3D metal printing." This presentation discusses industrial lasers and the use of lasers in manufacturing medical devices. Information is included on batteries and capacitors, seam welding, electrical connections, coating ablation, laser micromachining, and more. This PDF is available free for download. Other Symposium presentations are available to view and download separately.

From National Center for Optics and Photonics Education (OP-TEC):

OP-TEC Photonics Career Videos

www.op-tec.org/career-videos

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.

From Laser and Fiber Optics Regional Center Manufacturing (Laser-Tec):

Laser and Fiber Optics Professional Development Opportunities

www.laser-tec.org/professional-development.html

This page from Laser-Tec, the Laser and Fiber Optics Regional Center, details professional development opportunities for educators to incorporate lasers and fiber optics into their curricula. The page explains how "a course in lasers can be added to revive any electronics, engineering technology, manufacturing, or industrial technology program" and "a course in fiber optics can modernize your program and increase your enrollment." The professional development opportunities include a laser and fiber optics workshop for high school educators, a free online course on the Fundamentals of Light and Lasers, and a free workshop on Corning Cable Systems.

Even One Semester Screenshot

Community Connection

The Difference One Semester Can Make

Based at The University of Texas' College of Education, the Center for Community College Student Engagement (CCSSE) focuses on research related to student engagement at community and technical colleges. Their deep commitment to improving educational quality and student success produces research data and reports that can and should inform the work being done by those of us in the ATE community. These include a number of initiatives that focus on qualitative research as well as various national reports, which are disseminated broadly to a wide variety of audiences including educators, education researchers and organizations, and the media.

A good example of the excellent work being done by the Center is a recent report titled Even One Semester: Full-Time Enrollment and Student Success. This report explores data and correlations between levels of attendance, student experiences, and related issues like completion. The report is a pleasure to read and is filled with graphics, quotes, and photos that help contextualize the data and ground the research in the reality of today's community college environment.

The report encourages readers to consider redefining the various types of attendance and posits that many of us tend to think about students as being either full-time or part-time. Their redefinition expands to include a third type of attendance pattern that, according to their data, is actually the dominant type – this is what they call a "fluid attendance pattern." From the data they collected, almost 55% of students who have attended college for at least three terms fall into this attendance category. This means that they are full-time for some semesters and part-time for others. According to the report, less than 20% of students are always full-time and about 30% are always part-time.

The benefits of full-time attendance, even for one semester, were surprisingly broad with students gaining access to more support on campus (better orientations, more time to connect with others, better access to faculty) as well as consistently higher levels of engagement and a higher likelihood of completing both important gateway courses as well as ultimately earning credentials.

At a practical level, the report also provides advice for educators and administrators, including the rather simple step of asking each student, "Is there any way you could attend college full-time, even for one semester?" They also encourage conversations around issues related to completion time and work/school/life balance. The report highlights a number of initiatives around the country that have been put in place that encourage full-time attendance, providing salient details and some impact data.

For those in the ATE community the report could prove useful at a number of levels. Here are a few ideas that come to mind:

  • Use the report data to help support the needs section in a grant proposal
  • Use data from the report as a benchmark when looking at your own student's attendance patterns
  • When considering program improvement, share the report with colleagues, industry partners or others to brainstorm ways to increase full-time attendance
  • As applicable, use data or quotes from the report in annual reporting
  • Use the report as the basis for professional development trainings – helping faculty and administrators develop strategies for upping full-time attendance
Outreach Screenshot

ATE Success Tips: Outreach

Knowing Your Audience

When developing an outreach strategy, focusing on a target audience is essential to success, according to research evaluating effectiveness of outreach programs and campaigns. Once you have identified the goals and objectives central to your outreach efforts, brainstorm who, specifically, could benefit from making them happen. For ATE projects and centers, primary and secondary audiences vary and may include students, faculty, industry partners, campus administrators, and select policy/decision makers on and off campus. The key thing to remember is that there is no such thing as the "general public." In other words, outreach materials aimed at the "general public" are usually considered too broad to be effective. And don't forget your funders - the National Science Foundation and other philanthropic and federal agencies are important secondary audiences for all grantees to consider.

Newspaper

Did You Know?

According to U.S. Department of Education's IPEDs data, 5.8 million students took at least one online course in the fall of 2014.

ATE Events

Upcoming Events
– Info GeoEd Exploratoriums and Conference Louisville, KY
– Info Summer Working Connections - North Lansing, Michigan
– Mfg Weld-Ed Educator's Training: Module 2, Joining and Cutting Processes East Peoria, Illinois
– Bio/Chem 2017 Bio-Link Summer Fellows Forum Berkeley, California
Gen How to Access Imagery and Carry Out Remote Sensing Analysis Using Landsat Data Louisville, KY
Gen Integrating ArcGIS and Pictometry in the Classroom Louisville, KY
Gen Open Educational Forum Louisville, KY
– Info National Cyber Summit Huntsville, AL
– Eng TU-Automotive Detroit 2017 Novi, Michigan
Gen GeoEd 2017 Conference Louisville, Kentucky
– Eng LASER-TEC NVC Meeting Fort Pierce, FL
– Eng Technology in Marine Science Dauphin Island, Alabama
– Info Colloquium for Information Systems Security Education Conference Las Vegas, Nevada
– Gen 2017 STEM Guitar Summer Institute Dayton, OH
– Mfg Weld-Ed Educator's Training: Module 7, Non Distructive Testing Ogden, Utah
– Bio/Chem Protein is Cash Workshop at Delgado Community College New Orleans, Louisiana
– Gen AACC Advocates in Action Washington, DC
– Eng Lasers and Fiber Optics Bootcamp Fort Pierce, FL
Info AAPA Communications & Economic Development Seminar Portland, OR
– Info International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems Miami, FL
– Mfg Digital Fabrication Camp and Engineering Lab for Girls White Bear Lake, Minnesota
– Mfg 2017 Advanced Manufacturing Summer Institute for Educators Ocala, Florida
Info Webinar: Using Prior Learning Assessments for Recruitment and Retention of Special Adult Populations Online
– Eng Coding with Arduino Bootcamp Fort Pierce, FL
– Bio/Chem NSF ATE Stem Cell Teacher Academy I: Madison College Madison, Wisconsin
– Info Summer Working Connections - South Jacksonville, Florida
– Info International Collegiate Cyber Defense Invitational Des Moines, WA
– Bio/Chem Summer ComGen Summit Leavenworth, WA
– Mfg Digital Fabrication Camp and Engineering Lab White Bear Lake, Minnesota
– Info California Cyber Innovation Challenge (CCIC) San Luis Obispo, CA
– Eng ASEE 124th Annual Conference 2017 Columbus, Ohio
– Gen Summer Maritime and Transportation Institute Norfolk, Virginia
– Bio/Chem BIOMAN Academy Blue Bell, Pennsylvania
– Gen 2017 STEM Guitar Summer Institute Marcola, Oregon
– Ag/Env CREATE Summer Energy Educator Series Eugene, Oregon
– Bio/Chem NSF ATE Stem Cell Teacher Academy II: Madison College Madison, Wisconsin
– Mfg Weld-Ed Educator's Training: Module 1, Welding Metallurgy Wahpeton, North Dakota
Eng NRGY 195: Renewable Energy Technology Practicum Browning, MT
Info 3CS Pre-Summit Job Fair Largo, Maryland
– Info Community College Cyber Summit (3CS) Largo, Maryland
– Eng Diving into Underwater Sensors and Arduino Online
– Bio/Chem NSF ATE Stem Cell Teacher Academy III: City College of San Francisco San Francisco, California
Info Esri Education GIS Conference San Diego, CA
– Gen Summer Maritime and Transportation Institute Baltimore, Maryland
– Eng MATE Underwater Robotics and Engineering Design: Intermediate Level Monterey, California
– Eng Engineering Technology Challenge's Summer Teacher Workshop Farmington, CT
– Eng CTE Educators Summit 2017 Charlotte, North Carolina
– Eng Electronics Maker Bootcamp Fort Pierce, Florida
– Ag/Env NREL Renewable Energy Institute for Teachers Golden, Colorado
– Info Summer Working Connections - Texas Frisco, Texas
– Info NYSCSS Summer Institute: Making it Real in the Social Studies Classroom Fairport, New York
– Info Esri International Users Conference San Diego, CA
– Mfg Summer Engineering and Manufacturing (SEAM) Camp Staples, Minnesota
– Eng Electronics Maker Bootcamp Fort Pierce, FL
– Bio/Chem NBC2 mini-BIOMAN 2017 Conference - Manufacture of a Drug Product Valparaiso, Indiana
– Bio/Chem NBC2 mini-BIOMAN 2017 Conference - Upstream Processing; Mab Production in CHO Cells Blue Bell, Pennsylvania
– Gen Pathways to Invasion - A Geographic Conference a at Fort Ticonderoga Ticonderoga, New York
– Bio/Chem RCNET Workshop & Professional Development Fort Pierce, FL
– Bio/Chem BIOMAN Academy Newton, Pennsylvania
– Eng High Impact Technology Exchange Conference Salt Lake City, Utah
– Eng NACAT Conference 2017 Warren, Michigan
– Gen The 2017 STEM Guitar Summer Institute Smithfield, NC
– Gen The 2017 STEM Guitar Summer Institute Wilmington, DE
– Mfg Weld-Ed Educator's Training: Module 6, Instructional Design and Teaching Strategies Elyria, Ohio
– Gen 2017 High Impact Technology Exchange Conference (HI-TEC) Salt Lake City, UT
Mfg Teaching STEM through Guitar Building Las Vegas, NV
– Mfg Camp Explore STEM Career Camp Winona, Minnesota
– Mfg Weld-Ed Educator's Training: Module 3, Design, Assembly and Robotics Elyria, Ohio
– Ag/Env CREATE STEM Educator Solar Institutes Madison, Wisconsin
– Bio/Chem NBC2 mini-BIOMAN 2017 Conference - Single Use Tech in Manufacturing Quincy, Massachusetts
Mfg Intro Lego Mindstorms Teachers Workshop Tampa, Florida
Mfg Intermediate Lego Mindstorms Teachers Workshop Tampa, Florida
– Eng CAR Management Briefing Seminars Acme, Michigan
– Info CSSIA/USCC Cyber Challenge Cyber Camp Palos Hills, Illinois
– Gen The 2017 STEM Guitar Summer Institute Lincoln, RI
– Mfg Weld-Ed Educator's Training: Module 2, Joining and Cutting Processes Marysville, California
– Eng 2017 SAE Battelle CyberAuto Challenge Warren, Michigan
– Ag/Env CREATE STEM Educator Solar Institutes Shoreline, Washington
Info The Chemung Celebration Elmira, New York

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 submit them online.

To add a continuously-updated list of ATE and STEM education events to your website, use the ATE Event Widget.

News & Reminders

Registration for the 2017 High-Impact Technology Exchange Conference (HI-TEC) is still open!

Registration details can be found on the HI-TEC website. ATE Central will be at Booth #104 this year – stop by and say hello!

Would you like more copies of the ATE@20 book?

We are sending out one more round of ATE@20: Two Decades of Advancing Technological Education. Book orders and general inquiries can be emailed to info@atecentral.net.

Archiving your deliverables with ATE Central is now easier than ever!

Upload your curriculum, professional development materials, or other deliverables created with ATE funding directly to the ATE Central resource portal via the new archive submission form.

Is your project/center on Facebook, Twitter, or another social media site?

If so, please make sure we've found that site and added it to the ATE Social Media Directory. Having your social media presence linked through the directory will help ensure that interested parties can find you online. In addition, if you currently publish a newsletter, please let us know, as we will be adding links to newsletters to the information available on ATE Central.

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. The latest version (CWIS 4.0.0) was released on and is available for download on the Scout site. Please email cwis@scout.wisc.edu if you have any questions or would like a quick tour of its features!

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