A Regional Partnership to Improve Access to and Academic Quality of Technician Education for the Incumbent Worker

This project addresses two persistent issues in higher education: maintaining academic rigor in online technical coursework and improving cooperation between colleges' academic and workforce development units to make continued technical education accessible to incumbent (currently employed) workers. Research shows that concerns about loss of rigor are a significant factor in preventing the adoption of accessible delivery models such as online learning. Demonstrating effective methods of preserving rigor while making technical education more accessible will spur their adoption and make for-credit technical education a viable option for the incumbent workforce. Further, the project eliminates the competition between colleges' academic and workforce development units by offering workforce development a superior, for-credit product to sell to employers in lieu of non-credit offerings.

Madisonville Community College (MCC) will provide technical assistance to partner colleges in three states to adapt and disseminate its Advanced Integrated Technology (AIT) curriculum and delivery model. Each partner college is part of a statewide system of community and technical colleges that provides a natural outlet for project dissemination. The project extends work developed with prior NSF support, during which a hybrid online competency based, college credit curriculum was developed to make technical education more accessible to employers and incumbent workers for skills upgrades. Courses are broken into competency-based, college-credit modules that allow students to target specific skills in four core areas - Mechanical, Electrical, Fluid Power, and Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs). Modules will be customized to target specific employer and employee training needs, and skills demonstrations are being delivered in a flexibly scheduled laboratory setting enabling students to schedule application exercises without sacrificing work time. The work of this project focuses on adapting the MCC curriculum and delivery model to conform to a variety of organizational cultures, policy and procedure frameworks, and employer and employee needs. Educating the incumbent workforce also presents special student support and advising challenges. MCC will make effective use of a career coach position who assists incumbent workers with the admission and registration process and monitors each worker's course performance and credential progress. MCC is working with partner colleges to identify their incumbent work advising and academic support needs and assisting them in adapting the position accordingly. In addition, partner colleges are conducting post-enrollment research to identify incumbent workers' challenges and unmet needs in order to create a documented tool kit of strategies and local support services.