33rd ET Forum Looks at Advancing Technology through Curriculum, Certification & Strategic Recruitment

The Forum on Engineering Technology (ET Forum) has served as an important vehicle for bringing together Florida’s diverse and geographically dispersed community. FLATE works with the Forum to strengthen the consortium, share its administrative activities and projects, provide professional development, bring industry and academia together, and engage in statewide curriculum reform. Over the years, it has become a true community of practice. The Forum meets twice a year; and since 1996 has convened thirty-one times at over 19 different Florida colleges.

The most recent, 33^rd ET Forum was held at the Advanced Technology Center at Gulf Coast State 

College (GCSC). In keeping with the theme of the Forum, Advancing Technology, the Forum included discussion about curriculum and industry certifications, economic development, and FL DOE updates. Thirty-eight attendees from 15 colleges convened at GCSC for a two-day meeting on Sept. 25 and 26. Topics included new technical trends in education, curriculum issues, accelerated credit articulations, articulations with the military, and tracking graduating ET students into the workforce.

At the Forum, FLATE held a professional development workshop addressing successful working models for recruiting high school students (especially girls). Among the several working models for secondary student connection, the most effective were: Tallahassee Community College’s dual enrollment program, Polk State College’s high school advisory committee, St. Petersburg College’s Lab Share with local high schools, and FLATE’s “Engineering Technology Experience” at Hillsborough Community College. “These programs generate ET interest among secondary students which supplies the enrollment pipeline for college programs” said Dr. Marie Boyette, associate director of FLATE who was attending the Forum.

The brainstorming “think-pair-share” activity encouraged participants to think outside-the-box and identify an ideal collaboration/recruitment process for secondary students which could potentially lead to increased enrollment and include a focus on girls. Core themes included more traditional approaches such as outreach to girls by female mentors employed in the advanced manufacturing industry, and a focus on engineering and technology as helping professions. Other novel ideas included fabrication projects for girls in collaboration with industry partners, and the idea of recruitment of girls by teams of male students! Consensus was reached on the importance of seeding programs with scholarships. Participants returning surveys at the end of the workshop indicated they would be sharing what they learned in the workshop with colleagues, and/or use an activity or strategy from the workshop in their work.

As is the case with all ET Forums, participants are surveyed for effectiveness to ensure that the

Forum continues to meet attendee needs. Two events at this Forum ranked highest with overall ratings of 4.9 out of a possible 5 (Excellent). Those included updates provided by  Richard “Ted” Norman who serves as Florida's Career and Adult Education State Supervisor for Manufacturing, Transportation, Distribution & Logistics at FL DOE. The other was the tour of GCSC’s new Advanced Technology Center “where innovation, business, and education thrive.” 100% of survey responders reported they intended to use information presented at the ET Forum. Attendees walked away with ideas for “development and modification of manufacturing programs specific to industry needs” and reported that “the networking resulted in partnerships with various colleges.”

 The Florida Engineering Technology Leadership Council and the Engineering Technology Forum was established in April 1997 at Seminole Community College (now Seminole State College). Membership includes department heads and the leaders of the Technology programs in the State of Florida.  Since 2009, the ET Forum has served over 400 participants at this bi-annual statewide meeting where Engineering Technology college faculty, program managers, workforce and economic development personnel, the Florida Department of Education (FL DOE) and related college technology educators and administrators can bring common issues to the table for discussion, share resources, and learn.

Half of Florida’s community and state colleges (14 out of 28) regularly attend these meetings, making them a nexus not only for raising awareness, but for mobilizing discussions into actions. The ET Forum also provides a venue for collecting information about ET students. FLATE conducts survey, collects data and compiles information that it shares with Forum members who are interested in recruiting new students and/or capture how ET students have used their degree to augment professional aspirations.

The next ET Forum will be traveling for the first time to the Florida Keys and hosted at Florida Keys Community College on April 9^th and 10^th. For more information on the Forum and/or A.S.E.T degree visit http://fl-ate.org/projects/et-forum.html.

NEW FLATE Best Practices Guides Now Available

FLATE is excited to announce the publication of two new Best Practices Guides: Recruiting and Retaining Girls in STEM and Professional Development. FLATE’s Best Practices Guides are developed to share methods, techniques and resources that have consistently shown excellent results and outcomes. Of course, “best practices” continuously evolve as more research is done and more discoveries are made. We acknowledge this fact and strive to stay current with the research.

The new Professional Development Best Practices Guide allows us to share some of the things we’ve learned along the way from providing professional development workshops in statewide, national, and international venues. This guide offers an overview and outline which includes ideas and examples for effective logistics management, developing content, marketing, measuring impact, and provides samples to help with startup.

The Recruiting and Retaining Girls in STEM Guide is the most recent addition to our library. It

provides general guidelines to best practices that we at FLATE and others have found to be effective in engaging and retaining girls in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). In this guide, the focus is on girls, but these practices work just as well for

boys, minorities, special needs students, at risk populations, ESOL students … just

about any student who will benefit from extra support and engagement to help them learn about and explore the exciting world of STEM.

Both guides are available for download at www.fl-ate.org/Best_Practices and hard copies can be requested by email.

International Internship Program Updates

The International Technician Training for students is a FLATE-led initiative to support high quality,

international educational experience for Florida’s community college students and educators. This National Science Foundation (NSF) Office of International Science and Engineering (OISE)-supported project, is one of eight pilot projects awarded to NSF Advanced Technological Education (ATE) Centers, and seeks to create an outstanding educational experience for educators and students enrolled in the FLATE-created two year, statewide A.S. degree in engineering technology. As part of the Iberian Partnership for technician excellence the objective of the internship program is to establish a strategic cooperation between FLATE and HETEL-Global Training Networks, in the Basque region of Spain, to support high quality international educational experience in engineering technology and manufacturing in Florida.  

This six-month Iberian program is fully financed by the Basque government and has the potential to be extended to 12 months. It offers Basque vocational educational training graduates work placement internships in Florida. Expenses and compensation cover salary, travel expenses, accommodation, as well as health insurance. Participants who take part in the program will work in a Florida manufacturing company for six months. All participants’ expenses will be paid by the Basque Department of Industry.

Currently, there are five, Florida-based companies and three candidates who will be offering and/or starting their internship in 2014. As part of this process, host companies completed forms for the “Global Training” internships in April 2014. Prior to their assignment, candidates were interviewed and were closely evaluated by FLATE to match their skillset and training needs with those offered by each host company. After careful review and evaluation, Igor Balza will be interning at Southern Manufacturing Technologies, Mario Fernandez at SHAW Industries, and Olga Carrero at HeatPipe/MiTech in Tampa. All candidates are expected to complete their paperwork by October 2014, and are expected to start their global internships program in November 2014. Stay tuned to track their progress and see what they learn during their internship.

   

For more information about the international global internship program, or to serve as a host company for future interns visit the FLATE website, or contact Danielly Orozco, FLATE’s curriculum coordinator at 813.259.6575, or orozco@fl-ate.org. 

Tis the Season for Regional Robotics Competitions

With school back in session, football may be on everyone’s mind. But there’s another kind of sport brewing in the pipeline for those interested in local and regional robotics competitions.  Career & Technical Student organizations like FIRST Robotics, FLL, SkillsUSA and BizBot are preparing to compete in various regional, state and national competitions. As members, teams develop technical skills, leadership qualities, professionalism and teamwork skills that are a core part of robotics competitions that are supported by FLATE.

The 2014-2015, FIRST Robotics Competition, season kick off is scheduled for Jan. 3, 2015. The

South Florida Regional competition is from Feb. 25-28, at the Great Ft. Lauderdale & Broward County Convention Center. The Championships will be held in St. Louis, MO, from April 22-25, 2015, For more information visit http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/frc/regional-events.

Locally FLATE has supported the FRC robotics teams from Middleton and Robinson high schools at various events that included FLATE robotics open house when the Middleton and Robinson teams showcased their robots used during the FRC competition. Both schools were also among the 300 students in Hillsborough County that toured Southern Manufacturing Technologies and Heat Pipe, as part of National Manufacturing Day in Florida last week.

FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) is a mid-level robotics competition for high school students that is

geared to help them learn how to design and build robots. FTC robots are operated by LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT robots and has the option of using either the ROBOTC or Labview software. FIRST Tech challenge season runs from September to February, and helps develop problem-solving skills using a fun and competitive setting. For more information on FTC challenges visit http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/ftc 

The FIRST LEGO League (FLL) is a robotics program for 9 to 16 year olds and designed to get 

students excited about science and technology. The Florida FLL kickoff event was on Oct. 4 at Middleton High School. Team registrations are currently underway with many events scheduled between now and the end of the year. For a full listing of upcoming tournaments visit http://www.flrobotics.org/ 

SkillsUSA competition theme for 2013-2014 is “Champions at Work Educated and Skilled to Lead

America”. The Florida SkillsUSA regional competition is on Feb 3-4, 2015 at the South Tech Educational Center. Deadline to register for regionals is Dec. 5, 2014. For more information, or to register visit http://www.flskillsregion5.info/regional-contest-information.html. The BizBots project is a new team-based business and robotics competition designed by the Florida Robotics Alliance. This year’s BizBots emphasizes both business acumen and engineering principles by having students design a robotic Pick & Place system for the purpose of fulfilling commercial processing tasks.

The BizBot Competition model comprises of a three-part competition that includes a: Robotics

business plan, engineering note book and a robotic game component. Ken Fiallos, president of the FRA and Chair of the Tampa Bay Chapter for IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) Robotics and Automation, will guide students with the engineering notebook; Desh Bagley, outreach manager for FLATE will teach students about 3D printing.

There are several local/regional BizBot events scheduled for Fall, with the BizBot kick off at Hillsborough Community College in Brandon on Sep. 27, 2014. A BizBot Jamboree is also scheduled for Nov. 15 at HCC in Plant City. The final BizBot competition will take place Dec. 13 at McLane Middle School, in Tampa.

The BizBot program provides students with a foundation of knowledge and technically oriented experiences in the principles and applications of robotics engineering and its effect upon our lives and the choosing of an occupation. For more information, or to register a team visit http://floridaroboticsalliance.org.