A New Persona for Manufacturing

As I sit on the plane flying back from the inaugural Close It Summit 2013, I find myself inspired by the

number of people trying to make a difference for the common good in this country. There is such a dramatic need for the next generation of manufacturing employees and managers. It will take an army to create the excitement and a buzz, for not only young people to pursue engineering and manufacturing related career paths, but also the parents, mentors, influencers and guidance counselors to encourage and allow them to do such. I see several ways to accomplish this goal.

One is a comprehensive marketing program FOR manufacturing. A concise perception game changer as you

may. I founded ChampionNow! for that exact purpose. Change How Advanced Manufacturing's Perceived In Our Nation -- NOW! We need to put a positive spin on what people think to be a dark, dingy and depressing career sector. Instead there lies a world full of high technology, computerization and automation—one that desperately requires decision makers, problem solvers, and the most innovative minds. Manufacturing prominence needs a whole new persona. The general public needs to view it as the valuable asset, i.e., rather than the liability that people perceive it to be.

Two would be an expansion of not only internship programs but also externship programs. Employers need to become engaged at several levels. Everyone needs to do their part. Too many influencers are not informed as to what manufacturing careers offer. The supply and demand factor is allowing for higher wages and more opportunities. We need to educate and inform the guidance counselors, teachers, and parents.

Three would be a rebirth of programs that would be called apprenticeships and/or creative school models. I have seen programs around the country that have unique methodologies to accomplish a goal.

One is GPS in Wisconsin and another is YearUp down south. These programs create school models directly in the workplace. Students go to school in the morning, and go to a manufacturing company in the afternoon where they meet as a collective group for engineering and hands on instruction. Whether these are private or public programs they ALL need to be supported and to succeed! In addition there are MANY high schools that are embracing STEM and Project Lead the Way curriculum.

There needs to be more. The single minded "go to a four year university" and AP class track to success

needs to be just one of many chants in the hallways of high schools. We need AP Engineering and AP Manufacturing tracks for young people to pursue. Manufacturing today is not what it was long ago. Computerization and automation is becoming more the norm, rather than a theory. These are highly challenging positions that need innovative thinkers and problem solvers. Those that excel in math and science and are good with their hands will lead.

Four is the need for the opening of our manufacturing doors to show the country's next generation what the reality is. With the re-shoring initiative bring production back to the USA, we need more of the best and brightest to be ready to design and make products. We just completed our second National Manufacturing Day. We need to expand this to unprecedented levels of participation by manufacturing companies across the USA.

If we can somehow ALL get on the same bandwagon what an impact we could have! I offer a suggestion that ChampionNow! be that chant. This is the message for the country to bring manufacturing skilled workers back to the table. Each and every time I think that I need to step away from the ChampionNow! table, some organization -- manufacturing leader or workforce board tells me this is THE marketing message and solution for the USA. If I have my way the general public would know and see this message in every possible venue from USA Today,WSJ, New York Times, People magazine, to Sports Illustrated and more.

What a positive message to tell those whom are not aware of the reality of what manufacturing careers have to offer. Let's all Champion the cause. Let's all become a ChampionNow!

This article was written by Terry Iverson, president & CEO of Iverson & Company. It was published in the Huffington Post . 

2014 Science, STEM, Engineering Fairs in Greater Tampa Bay

Right after the winter break, students across the state are busy conducting their final experiments, collecting final data, drawing conclusions and preparing their written and poster reports for the 2014 Science, STEM, or Engineering fairs. Across the country, as well as in Florida, the traditional “science fair” has diversified by adding engineering, and/or integrated STEM to be more inclusive. This long time tradition is a great vehicle for students to nurture their curiosity, express themselves, exercise critical thinking and practice their verbal and written communication skills. Thousands of students participate and the fairs are great family events.

If you are interested in participating in your local or regional event, contact your local school district for

details. There are several ways to participate. The most obvious is to volunteer to be a judge. Each fair has its own judging templates and scoring rubrics, and provide excellent instructions for all judges. You will be surprised to see how many in your community participate at this level. Additionally, companies and organizations can sponsor the event, or even have a named competition. The Bay Area Manufacturers Association (BAMA) sponsors a “manufacturing” related prize in both Pinellas and Hillsborough County fairs. BAMA recruits judges for the special prizes, gives each winner a certificate and small cash award, and hosts the winners and their families at their annual scholarship dinner meeting every June.

County or regional fairs around Florida are generally scheduled between mid-January and mid-February, and may involve elementary, middle and/or high school student competitions. Below is a table with information for those in the greater Tampa Bay area. If you need help finding the science/STEM/Engineering fair near you, don't hesitate to contact FLATE by emailing Dr. Marilyn Barger at 813.259.6578, or barger@fl-ate.org.  We’d be happy to help connect you.

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Have a Holly Jolly Christmas in a Fab Lab Near You!

A number of years ago Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Center for Bits and Atoms launched the first “Fab Lab” or fabrication laboratory. A worldwide network of “Fab Labs are connected with each other and the MIT Center by having a defined set of tools and equipment, shared resources for training, managing, organizing, and projects. Envisioned as a place to seed and expand product-based, small businesses across the U.S., Fab Labs began to grow in numbers across the country in libraries, community organizations, museums, and educational institutions.

               

Typically, a Fab Lab has a large (4'x8') numerically-controlled milling machine, a precision (micron

resolution) milling machine, modeling software with stations for product design, a 3D printer, laser etcher, a computer controlled laser cutter, and a sign cutter. Many have added additional (optional) tools. A generic business model suggests charging a user fee for use of the lab and its equipment, that there is a full time lab tech/manager, and offer a number of services to the community of users (some for pay, others for free). They attract the independent inventor, craft makers, educators, students and the curious. Furthermore, the very “21^st century, digitally-connected community” relies on modern social media tools and the individuals in the connected network to keep it going.   

Many anticipated that Fab Labs would be one vehicle to help pull us out of the recession, invigorate STEM learning in schools, catalyze innovation, and seed the personal digital fabrication movement. I am not sure if anyone knows yet what contribution Fab Labs individually, or collectively have made to any, or all of these. They have spawned other more grassroots “maker movements” in communities across the country. Typically these organizations support various community events to share technology-supported “crafts” and homemade products.  At maker events, everyone who wants to share, teach, sell, or learn gathers at the maker events for a small fee.  Certainly, these organizations provide similar opportunities to network. 

You can learn about Fab Labs, in a couple of upcoming events. On Dec 13, 2013 at 1 p.m. EST, MATEC, the Maricopa Advanced Technological Education Center of Excellence, will host a free webinar “Collab and Fab” sponsored by the Digital Fabrication Learning Community (www.dflc.org). The webinar’s theme highlights the collaborative nature of the Fab Lab network for product design and prototyping. This digital collaboration approach is already an industry standard for companies that have engineering, design and production facilities around the globe. You can register for the webinar at www.matecnetworks.org, or directly here.  

Locally in Florida, from January 8-10, 2014, FLATE and Collaborative Center for Emerging Technologies

(CCET) at St. Petersburg College together with the DFLC are hosting a workshop that will delve into product design and prototyping with a hands-on approach. Community college educators from around the county will be gathering at the CCET at SPC’s Clearwater campus to engage not only in the technologies, but also in their place in community college technical programs like our Engineering Technology A.S. Degree, Electronics Engineering Technology, Drafting and Design, etc. If you live and work in Florida, you can find out more and register by contacting me at barger@fl-ate.org. If you do not live in Florida you can contact Jim Jannise at janisse@fvtc.edu.  

We wrap-up our last edition of the 2013 newsletter with many exciting stories that highlight our curriculum, professional development and outreach initiatives. Continuing our line-up of reports on engaging women in STEM we underline key themes that emerged from the recruiting girls in STEM workshop. Given the surge in demand for skilled machinists we step aside to define the nuts & bolts of machining education in Florida. Venturing out west, we take you to Nevada where a nascent NSF project is working on cultivating problem-based learning. Last but not the least, as you wind down for the holidays check your answer to last month’s sTEm puzzle, and don’t forget to sign up for the 2014 FESC Community College Workshop coming up in January.

I am sending warmest wishes for a safe holiday to all of our FLATE stakeholders, partners, families and friends from the FLATE staff and working team. Have a holly, jolly Christmas and a very happy new year ahead!

Nevada-based NSF Project Focuses on Cultivating Problem Based Learning

Education and the way we learn is rapidly changing. Today the emphasis is not so much on “bookish knowledge” rather the emphasis lies in innovative/creative thinking that leads to problem solving. Against this backdrop, problem-based learning (PBL) is soon emerging as the preferred path, and is in many ways what defines a scholar in the 21^st century.

So what is Problem-based learning? Jane Ostrander, principal investigator and project director for the

National Science Foundation funded project Destination: Problem-Based Learning (DPBL) says, PBL is about creating self-directed, self-managing, adaptive learners who will be successful in the ever-changing, globally competitive workplace. PBL challenges students to solve real-world problems, create deliverables, and present reports, or results that match what they will face in their professional careers. “The world of work--the pace of technical change, relationship of employers and employees, the very jobs that are out there now and will be out there 10 years from now are different. The competition is global” says Ostrander.  PBL arms students with capabilities/soft skills needed to succeed in the rapidly changing workplace.

Now that we’ve addressed the definition, the debate over PBL as an in-born, or a skill that can be learned

and cultivated remains. For the naysayers, this is probably where the DPBL project takes over. The Destination: Problem-Based Learning (DPBL) project is a large-scale materials development project funded by the NSF ATE program and located at Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno, NV. The Destination PBL project advocates for the scaling up of PBL though (a) deepening its understanding of PBL in practice through faculty action research; (b) sustaining work by building a knowledge network that supports efforts to expand the adoption of PBL in workforce education and builds a shared knowledge base, and (c) spreading research-based knowledge of how to create PBL materials, facilitate PBL workshops, guide PBL classrooms, and build PBL community. “These actions support our goals to develop resources, knowledge, and processes to support faculty in their efforts to change their professional practices, and to develop and implement PBL that aligns with industry requirements for technicians and increases student engagement and learning” Ostrander said.

To set its goals and vision into motion, DPBL has engineered several tools and resources. The DPBL project

has created an online Scenario Building model, process, and tool based on Google Sites. The companion Assessment Builder and Assessment Guide lead faculty through the process of creating an authentic assessment plan and items for their classes. Scenarios and Tasks created with the scenario builder by project faculty and workshop participants are available online at learnpbl.com.

The DPBL project has fostered four knowledge building communities supporting faculty and administrators adopting PBL. These include: PBL-Bio/Biotech that grew out of the online Faculty Action Research workshops; PBL-Hawaii, led by faculty and administrators within the University of Hawaii system to create a knowledge building community for PBL in Hawaii; PBL-West includes faculty from Colorado to California to deliver workshops and conference session in implementing and developing PBL, managing students teams, and facilitating PBL workshops for faculty, and PBL-East which includes faculty east of Colorado to the Carolinas. This community, co-created with the SC ATE Center at Florence-Darlington Tech, hosts the Roots and Wings (RnW) Instructional Leadership Institute.

Indeed these tools have a wide scope and offer vast resources, but how are they being applied, or more

importantly how are educators using DPBL’s resources to integrate PBL into every day curriculum? Co-PI and Training Director, Judy Fredrickson, Ph.D.’s intro to programming course is entirely PBL. Students are new programmer trainees in an alternative energy company. The first day students are handed documentation like new employees in a company would get, assigned to a team, and asked to install and test a compiler. As the term progresses, the students produce programs, test cases, documentation, presentations, and other products common to the professional world of programming. Likewise instructors at other partner colleges have collaborated on scenarios and tasks whereby students can develop and analyze products or software.

Being NSF ATE funded, partnerships with other NSF ATE Centers becomes a part of its operational

structure. DPBL hopes to offer workshops with new partners in May/June 2014. The goal of the workshop is for faculty to create a scenario, tasks, and assessments they will use in their classrooms, and have the skills to successfully implement the tasks in their classrooms when they leave the workshop. DPBL is also currently working with AMTEC in Kentucky to support their efforts to convert the curriculum they’ve developed for advanced manufacturing technicians into PBL. DPBL also looks forward to working with FLATE in offering similar workshops in the future, or collaborating with FLATE to add PBL to the Center’s toolkit.

For more information on the DPBL project and upcoming PBL based workshops contact Dr. Jane Ostrander at jostrander@tmcc.edu, or visit http://www.learnpbl.com. For information on FLATE and its STEM based resources contact Dr. Marilyn Barger at barger@fl-ate.org, or visit www.madeinflorida.org and www.fl-ate.org.