FLATE’s Upcoming Spring 2019 Professional Development Events

Here at FLATE, we have many Professional Development events and workshops that we carry on all throughout the year and this spring we are excited to announce our three new PD opportunities.

Our first workshop this spring is the Manufacturing Skills Standards Council Certified Production Technician (MSSC-CPT) credential. This workshop is designed for Florida educators interested in manufacturing education. Last year, a packed agenda was centered around the updated standards from the MSSC Panel of Experts for the CPT as well as a new hands-on tool to support MSSC student learning, “Skills Boss”. The integrated small trainer was designed to provide hands-on activities that support the MSSC workplace standards. The Skills Boss will be especially helpful for those who have little or no experience in the manufacturing workplace, including high school students. Neil Reddy, MSSC CEO, will be at the workshop to address the educators and answer any MSSC questions. Also, a panel of educators and industry representatives who have been using the MSSC CPT will discuss how they have integrated the CPT into their program of study and into their work environments and culture. 

The second opportunity, FANUC Certified Education Robot Training Cart (CERT) is a hands-on learning course that will get you up to speed with your FANUC CERT system by providing training with an actual robot that uses the same Roboguide programming software and curriculum you will be using in your classroom. Join us for this free 4.5-day training at the Central Florida College, Ocala that will get you up to speed on basic robotics programming and prepare you for the FANUC certification.  

Click here to register!

Our third opportunity is to attend STEM – CTE educator workshops in which the attendees will be enriched with knowledge and relevant tools for STEM educators interested and pursuing additional growth in their classes. These workshops are led by one of our very best in the Hillsborough County Schools, Libby Simpson. For more information, download the flyer on FLATE's Wiki Professional Development page.  There are 2 2-day sessions May 9-10 (Robotics and 3D Printing) and May 16-17 (Integrated Technology Projects) at HCC Brandon. 

Professional development opportunities are always posted on our FLATE wiki site.  You can always check there for additional updates by clicking on the Professional development icon as well as explore any previous workshops and PD events offered by FLATE and its partners.  Speaking of partners, we cannot do all of this alone and want to thank the many organizations that support these efforts in many ways from providing travel stipends (FACTE), meals (MSSC, Jaeger Education and others); Central Florida College (CCF) and Hillsborough Community College for hosting the events on their campuses and providing supporting infrastructure; and the Hillsborough School District, CCF, HCC, FANUC, Jaeger Education and Amatrol for providing an instructors and subject matter experts.

We continue to look forward to being a part of the growth of many Florida educators at these 2019 spring events!  For more information, please visit the FLATE wiki or contact Dr. Marilyn Barger at (barger@fl-ate.org).  See you there!

Florida Engineering Technology (ET) Education Continues Growing Strong - Ten Years of Success!

Florida Engineering Technology (ET) education continues growing strong! Back in 2007, there were three Florida colleges offering the ET AS degree. By the end of the 2017-18 academic year, the ET Degree community in Florida had grown to 21 out of 28 state and community colleges that could offer the FLATE-developed ET AS degree program. This represents an outstanding 75% of all Florida colleges. Table 1 illustrates ten years of hard effort building a strong AS ET degree program in Florida.

Table 1 - Ten Years - ET AS Degree Program Adoption by Academic Year

Year	07-08	08-09	09-10	10-11	11-12	12-13	13-14	14-15	15-16	16-17	17-18
# Colleges	3	5	10	11	13	13	15	19	19	19	21

FLATE AS ET Degree College Network: Table 2 shows the ET Education College Network in Florida and the specializations currently offered. The AS ET degree program has 3 major components: (I) general education; (II) an ET technical core; and, (III) specialization tracts that address regional industry needs. The ET Core aligns with the MSSC Certified Production Technician (CPT) national certification. A statewide articulation agreement provides 15 credit hours of the ET technical c0re for anyone holding a current MSSC CPT credential. The ET degree is also the core of the ET Community that gathers semi-annually at the ET Forum at various colleges around the state. This regular forum provides professional development, networking, and collaborations that now supports a strong community of practice focused on Engineering Technology education in Florida.  

Florida ET and Related Program Student Enrollments and Completions: Since year 2007, the Florida Advanced Technologic Education Center (FLATE), a National Science Foundation Regional Center of Excellence, annually compiles enrollment and completion data for the Engineering Technology (ET) and related degree and college credit certificate (CCC) programs for Florida colleges, and for related programs at the PSAV and secondary level.  These data, provided by the Florida Department of Education, are reliable, but they do not include enrollment for undeclared majors or enrollment in duplicate programs (such as certificates under degree programs). College Registrar reporting/cut dates also result in some reported enrollment discrepancies. Minor anomalies may occur as older program titles are collapsed and added program titles are added. FLATE’s report contains five sections and an appendix with individual ET adopting college performance and presents a 5-year trend study ending with the most current data provided from FLDOE. 

New data has been added to this year’s report to track AS ET Degree Female and minority enrollment per college and the total MSSC CPT (Manufacturing Skills Standards Council - Certified Production Technician) industry certification assessments delivered and certification attained by anyone in the state. but most of these new CPT credentials are students in Florida secondary, post-secondary and college programs. The large number of CPT's earned each year have kept Florida at the number two slot for numbers of these credentials earned in a state annually for the past several years.

Sections of FLATE’s Annual Enrollment Report include: engineering technology and related programs AA/AAS enrollments; engineering technology and related program AA/AAS completions; engineering technology and related program CCC (college credit certificate) enrollments; engineering technology and related program CCC completions; secondary manufacturing-related program enrollment and graduates; and post-secondary adult vocational (PSAV) enrollments and completions. Related programs are defined as the AS degree programs in the state that also support manufacturing and engineering technology but might be in specific industry sectors.  For example, Electronics Engineering Technology, Drafting and Design, and Aerospace Technology are considered "related" programs. 

Figure 1 shows the five-years Florida ET and Related AS Degree Program Student Enrollment. Student enrollment has been growing steadily during the years. Academic year 2017-18 shows 1,939 students enrolled in the AS ET degree program and 3,198 for the related AS technology. This steady growth trend, shown in Figure 1, demonstrates the program's broad acceptance within the Florida college system. That acceptance trend, indicated by the FLDOE enrollment data in Figure 1, is a key factor for its viability and sustainability. In 2017-18 ET AS Degree program represented 38% of total Florida technology AS degree program enrollment (n = 5,137).

Female and Minority Tends: In spite of all the recruitment efforts and outreach campaigns, women representation in STEM fields continues to be low in Florida and the USA. Table 2 shows the 5-years trend for selected demographic profiles of ET and Related Technology AS Degree Program Completion. Academic year 2017-18 shows that only 14% (n = 23) and 21% (n = 62) of females completed the ET and related AS technology programs respectively. Additionally, 37% and 38% of minorities completed the ET and related AS technology programs respectively. FLATE continuously invests significant effort in outreach campaigns and educational materials encouraging female and minorities’ participation in the enrollment pipeline. These efforts include All-Girls Robotics Camps, girl camp scholarships, strategic professional development sessions, workshops and webinars about recruiting and retaining females.

Table 2 - Selected demographic profile for ET and Related Technology AS Degree Program Completion

ET and related technology college credit certificate enrollment (CCC): The 5-years trend for the ET and related technology college credit certificate enrollment (CCC), Figure 2, denotes a continuous growth in Florida. The most recent academic year (2017-18) showed 49% (n = 457) ET & related CCC female completion and 48% (n = 450) for minorities registered in the ET and related technology AS degree program.

For the convenience of FLATE’s college partners, the Florida ET and Related Program Student Enrollment and Completion Report Appendix includes the five-year Engineering Technology enrollment and completion data trends for each individual college. These individual college reports also include data for any related AS technology programs (enrollment and completions for both degrees and CCCs). All data reported is extracted from reports annually provided by the Florida Department of Education (FLDOE).

For more details about the Florida AS ET Degree program visit FL-ate.org/Engineering Technology Education and madeinflorida.org/engineering-technology-degree/e-t-overview/ 

2019 Synapse Innovation Summit

On January 23^rd and 24^th, 2019 the third annual Synapse Innovation Summit was held at the Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida. This event is designed to bring together organizations, funders, entrepreneurs, their innovating ideas, and advanced high-technologies from a wide range of industries and organizations to support regionally-based innovation in the technology, education, and entrepreneurial ecosystems throughout Florida. Synapse was produced by the nonprofit Synapse, named for the link between nerve cells in the body. Innovation Summit included workshops and seminars about learning, exploring and celebrating the possibilities in advanced high-technology and innovation, to help connect and establish relationships among those who can contribute to the growth of the Tampa Bay entrepreneurial ecosystem.  There were 334 exhibitors, 111 breakout sessions, 415 speakers, and 5,542 attendees who flooded into downtown Tampa’s Amalie Arena to participate in the high energy event. 

Highlights included “spotlight” sessions devoted to Augmented and Virtual Reality, robotics with the latest on humanoid robots, health and wellness centers with medical advances that restored muscle memory, cyber defense technologies, and top STEM high- technology education programs that are transforming our world and more. In addition, ConnectWise and Synapse teamed up to fund approximately $20,000 worth of scholarships to winners of their Crowdsourcing Innovation Challenges. For more information on Crowdsourcing Challenges, click here.

Augmented & Virtual Reality in Classrooms

The Synapse Innovation Summit had several growing companies that focused on improving the educational experience in classrooms. One company, SproutXR intends to create a learning portal where teachers can download educational games for their students on their smartphones. SproutXR offered a session to try out one of their latest games, where the user plays as a knight that is ordered to defend a gate from upcoming monsters while having to solve simple math problems. SproutXR is hoping teachers will use their games as homework, ice-breakers, and practice problems. Click here to visit their website.

Synapse STEM Pavilion

The Florida Advanced Technological Center-FLATE and at least 15 educational programs and non-profit organizations from around the greater Bay area participated in this great event with booths located in the Synapse STEM Pavilion. In addition to FLATE, other educational booths’ included University of Florida’s Brain-Drone eRacing League, Tampa Bay STEM Network, St. Petersburg College, and more.  The STEM Pavillion provided a great opportunity for educational programs to learn more about cutting edge technologies as well as network with colleagues to build a stronger, more connected STEM Education Ecosystem in our area.

FLATE Continuous Support with the Tampa Bay STEM Network 

Through a strong network of academic, business, and community partnerships, FLATE continues supporting the Tampa Bay STEM Network which goal is to provide time, talent, and treasure to create a well-connected portfolio of experiences that result in the academic success of and multiple opportunities for citizens of all ages to explore and enjoy STEM, thus strengthening our talent base and STEM pipeline, contributing to the vitality of our community.

STEM Ecosystem - Building a Better Tampa Bay

The STEM Ecosystems Initiative is built on over a decade of research into successful STEM collaborations, and seeks to nurture and scale effective science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) learning opportunities for all young people. The 56 communities selected from across the United States compose a national Community of Practice and have demonstrated cross-sector collaborations to deliver rigorous, effective preK-16 instruction in STEM learning. These collaborations happen in schools and beyond the classroom—in afterschool and summer programs, at home, in science centers, libraries and other places both virtual and physical. Strong STEM Learning Ecosystems feature dynamic collaborations among schools, out-of-school time programs, STEM expert institutions (such as museums, science centers, and institutions of higher education and STEM professional associations), the private sector, community-based organizations, youth and families.

The Tampa Bay STEM Network was created in January 2016 and is funded through a generous grant from the STEM Funders Network and Samueli Foundation, with local support from Mr. Jeff Vinik, the Tampa Bay Lightning and Moffitt Cancer Center. Partners of the Tampa Bay STEM Network include Hillsborough County Public Schools, Museum of Science and Industry-MOSI, The Florida Aquarium, Glazer Children’s Museum, The Florida Advanced Technological Education Center-FLATE, Lowry Park Zoo, University of South Florida, Alliance for Public Schools, and Hillsborough Education foundation.

Strengthening our local talent base and STEM pipeline, will contribute to the vitality of our community and Building a Better Tampa Bay.

For more information contact Larry R. Plank (larry.plank@sdh.k12.fl.us), Director, K-12 STEM Education, Hillsborough County Public Schools, Tampa Bay STEM Network.

FLATE Supporting Code.org® Computer Science Fundamentals

Code.org is a nonprofit dedicated to expanding access to computer science in schools and increasing participation by women and underrepresented minorities. Every student in every school should have the opportunity to learn for FREE computer science. Code.org organizes the annual Hour of Code campaign which has engaged 10% of all students in the world and provides the leading curriculum for K-12 computer science in the largest school districts in the United States.

Some FREE Courses from Code.org

Elementary School – Computer Science Fundamentals

Courses from Code.org for students in grades K-12 and professional learning for teacher. Designed to be fun and engaging, Code.org’s progression of CS Fundamentals courses blend online and "unplugged" non-computer activities to teach students computational thinking, problem solving, programming concepts and digital citizenship.

Middle School – Computer Science Discoveries

Broader introduction to computer science topics, appropriate for 6-10th grade students. The course takes a wide lens on computer science by covering topics such as programming, physical computing, HTML/CSS, and data. The course inspires students as they build their own websites, apps, games, and physical computing devices.

High School - Computer Science Principles

Designed to prepare students, appropriate for 9-12 grade students (and teachers) who are new to computer science for the AP CS Principles exam. The course covers many topics including the Internet, Big Data and Privacy, and Programming and Algorithms.

For more information about Code.org, visit https://studio.code.org/courses

Supply Chain Automation Symposium at Pro-Mat unveils new MSSC Credential

MSSC Chair, Leo Reddy, and Amatrol President, Paul Perkins, will lead a workshop in Chicago on April 8 to announce a new "CAT" education and certification program. The workshop will take place as part of a Symposium organized by the NSF-supported National Center for Supply Chain Automation in connection with the April 8-11 ProMat Trade Show and Conference organized by the Material Handling Industry (MHI) at McCormick Place.  Developed in partnership with MHI, the National Center for Supply Chain Automation, MSSC, and Amatrol, the CAT program will train and certify technicians who install, support, operate, maintain or upgrade the automated material handling equipment that supports the supply chain. 

The 3-day (April 8-11) SCA Education Symposium at ProMat will also include tours, best practice sessions, and an NSF ATE Grant Writing session featuring NSF ATE Program Managers, in partnership with FLATE for educators who attend.

Follow this link  for full details about ProMat and registration information.  To attend the Supply Chain Automation Education Symposium at Pro-Mat, please contact  elaine@supplychainautomation.com.

CTE Month: Data Bytes about CTE in Florida

Its appropriate in the middle of CTE Month to review current data about Career and Technical Education in Florida we stand in CTE in Florida. Much information can be found at the Federal Department of Education website, and you see many references to that site below.  Not only is individual state data available for enrollment, graduates, programs, etc., but also national data and trends over the past years. CTE is an important part of our education system that begins to prepare students for employment in all career clusters.  CTE programs blend academics with technical skills in problem- and project-based programs where students cannot only study about careers but practice the hands-on skills that various career clusters require.

CTE DELIVERY:  In the middle of CTE month, is a good time. At the secondary level, CTE programs in Florida are offered through comprehensive high schools, many of which include (1) career academies.  (Career academies are small, personalized learning communities within a high school that provides students with exposure to a career field.); (2) technical colleges/centers, which are CTE schools that serve an entire school district and provide high school students and adult learners with supplementary career training; and (3) University Developmental Research Schools.

At the postsecondary level, CTE is offered through (1) Florida’s technical colleges/centers, which prepare students for industry certification and licensure, award career certificates and articulated college credit, and support a majority of Florida’s registered apprentices; (2) state and community colleges; and (3) public and private state universities.

STUDENTS: In the school year 2015-2016, according to the U.S. Department of Education, Florida served 324,750 CTE high school students, 106,993 CTE postsecondary students, and 46,489 CTE adult students.

More data on the state’s CTE enrollment is available at http://cte.ed.gov/profiles/florida.

FUNDING: Estimated funding for Florida (and all states) FY 2017 and FY 2018 can be found at https://cte.ed.gov/grants/state-allocations. In Fiscal Year 2016, according to the U.S. Department of Education, Florida received $63,202,141 in federal Perkins funding—almost $800,000 more than in 2015 and $1 million less than in 2010. More detailed data on the state’s Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act funding allocations are available at http://cte.ed.gov/profiles/florida.

OUTCOMES: According to the U.S. Department of Education, in the 2015-2016 academic year:

·     96 % of Florida CTE high school students graduated

·     86 % met performance goals for technical skills

·     91 % met performance goals for mathematics skills

·     84 % met performance goals for reading/language arts skills

·     77 % of Florida CTE postsecondary students remained enrolled or transferred to another postsecondary institution

·     86% of Florida CTE adult students met performance goals for technical skills

MORE DATA: More information and data about the state’s performance on Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act accountability indicators can be found here (http://cte.ed.gov/profiles/florida). Florida has also produced the following data report: Data, reports and quick facts on CTE performance