In
mid-December, the new “Preparing Technicians for the Future of Work” project
hosted its advisory committee and Principal Investigators from ATE centers,
coordination networks and projects in Alexandria, Virginia to explore
anticipated impacts on the “future of work” on the advanced technicians graduating
from our programs. This event kick-started
the four-year ATE special project focused identifying what skills and knowledge
the technician workforce will need in the coming decades and how we can best
deploy them. The project advisory committee met the day prior to the Caucus and
those 10 industry representatives joined the ATE Caucus to share their industry
perspectives. The funded “Preparing
Technicians” project is providing an important opportunity for the ATE
community to come together and look toward the future of technician education
and what we will want and need to change in our educational systems to best
prepare students for the jobs of the future.
Several
NSF program officers from programs focused on the NSF’s “Big Idea” focusing on
the Future
of Work at the Human Technology Interface. This program spans the
breadth of the National Science Foundation’s programs including the Advanced
Technological Education (ATE) program. And,
it is one of ten “Big Ideas” (see the Big Ideas webpage) that
the National Science Foundation is promoting to prompt scientists and
engineering researchers to investigate interdisciplinary and cross disciplinary
topics and applications of emerging technologies. The ATE
Impacts Blog has a recent post from the Caucus
event that highlights the presentations from these NSF program officers at the
Caucus.
You can
join the Preparing Technician’s community by signing up on its website, PreparingTechnians.org,
and/or read the posted article from the December Caucus, which summarizes the
amazing presentation by Mehran Gul, Lead for Digital Transformation Initiative at the World Economic Forum
(Geneva, Switzerland). This presentation
gives a thought-provoking historic and global perspective of work and
anticipates the future. You can also find the project’s monthly podcasts as
well as other resources.
The fast
pace of technological change, the power of artificial intelligence, G5
communication platforms, flexible manufacturing and virtual / augmented reality
will affect how many workers do their work every day. We must do our best to
anticipate what industry will look like for working technicians. FLATE looks forward to sharing news from the
Preparing Technicians for the Future of Work project as it explores the
technology workforce and workplace of the near future. For more information about the Preparing
Technicians projects, contact the project P.I., Ann-Clair Anderson (anderson@cord.org)
or Marilyn Barger, Executive Director, FLATE (barger@fl-ate.org).