Gear up for SkillsUSA 2019

Gear up for SkillsUSA 2019

The SkillsUSA registration site is officially open for the new school year. Chapter advisors who need assistance with SkillsUSA membership or registration, hotline operators are ready to answer questions about starting a new chapter, ways to engage chapter members or strategies to strengthen an existing chapter. Operators are on call 8 a.m.-5 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday and Friday; and 11 a.m.-7 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday (Eastern time). To reach the hotline, call 844-875-4557 or email operators@skillsusa.org. You can also chat online on the membership registration site.

Professional members receive these great benefits:

• 2018-19 SkillsUSA Championships Technical Standards. The latest edition will be available by Oct. 1. The official competition guide for the SkillsUSA Championships contains rules for all national competitive events, including an overview, lists of technical skills and knowledge required, clothing requirements, eligibility and equipment lists. The official SkillsUSA Championships scorecards are located online here: skillsusa.org/competitions/skillsusa-championships/contest-updates/.
• Jump into STEM!Curriculum includes middle-school and elementary-school STEM career exploration activities that can be taught by high-school members. This is a great opportunity to expose students to STEM careers and recruit for career and technical education programs as well as SkillsUSA.
• SkillsUSA Career Essentials: Foundations. This complete curriculum includes 29 lesson plans that support the SkillsUSA Framework and prepare students for workplace success.

Becoming a professional member of SkillsUSA is one of the best ways to demonstrate to students the importance of joining a professional organization and the opportunities that membership will provide. Details can be found online as well as for the 2018 State Leadership Training Workshop for students at Lake Yale Conference Center, October 22-24, 2018.  To register, go to skillsusa-register.org/.

And it is not too late for students to enter the SkillsUSA Florida State Branding Contest. Each year, student members from across the state have the chance to submit a design package that represents our theme and will be used in all marketing materials for the State Leadership and Skills Conference. The deadline for submission is October 1, 2018! More information and design standard online.

Work to do for Future Technician Preparation ( Nine Fields of Technology)

Two interesting audio events occurred in my life this past month.  The first was a radio story about the only surviving American car manufacturer in an Ohio city that use to have all brands of American cars made in that city.  During the broadcast, the host explained that this manufacturing facility was still going strong but that there was a restructured pay and work assignment plan in place. 

The discussion about hourly pay rates adjusted to today's skilled labor marketplace was interesting but the part that really caught my ear was an interview with a new to the plant but an experienced electrician.  The interview proceeded with some discussion about how that electrician felt about the new job and pay scale. The ear catcher was when the radio show host ended the story with the comment that this electrician now spends most of his time "working on robots".  The second audio event of interest to me happened this month at different meetings that involved industry and business groups.  Several times during conversations with these groups, the idea that workers, including technicians, will be replaced by robots was expressed. 

So why are these interesting audio events?  I suggest that most, if not all, faculty involved with the preparation of tomorrow's technical workforce do not agree with those comments about robots replacing technicians.  Faculty preparing industrial maintenance, mechatronics, and troubleshooting technicians know that an electrician's future "job description" is going to include in-depth technical responsibility for robot operation.  However, these 2 events raise a question about what exactly will be the expected skills of our technical workers that are not currently included in education and training pathways?

The National Science Foundation is extremely interested in answers to this technician future of work education issue.   The National Science Foundation Advanced Technological Education (NSF-ATE) program involves partnerships between academic institutions and industry to promote improvement in the education of technicians.  Fields of technology supported by the ATE program include, but are not limited to, advanced manufacturing technologies, agricultural and bio-technologies, energy and environmental technologies, engineering technologies, information technologies, micro- and nanotechnologies, security technologies, geospatial technologies, and applied research on technician education.  Improved and focused knowledge of technician focused future of work issues within and across these technologies will guide ATE project proposals in the coming years in efforts to support their regional industries as well as the NSF ATE mission.

Returning to our current focus, " Work to do for Future Technician Preparation", we realize that there is a lot of work ahead.  This “work to do”, starts with each of you.  What are the future of work issues you recognize that need to be blended into technician education?  How and where should we introduce these emerging and crosscutting technologies? To allow a progression of thought that permits blending and refinement of ideas and comments we will cycle through all nine NSF-ATE supported technologies starting next month with advanced manufacturing technologies.  So "back to work" and please send us what you are doing, as well as your thoughts and perceptions.      

MSSC RELEASES "CPT+ SKILL BOSS" NEW HANDS-ON TRAINING AND CERTIFICATION PROGRAM

The MSSC has recently announced the release of its complete hands-on advanced manufacturing CPT+ Skill Boss Training and Certification program. Built upon MSSC's well-established Certified Production Technician (CPT), this new program is designed to prepare certificants with the next generation skills to work in a computer-driven, data-intensive advanced manufacturing workplace.

The centerpiece of this new program is a transformational training device, invented by Amatrol, that enables MSSC to offer hands-on training and assessment as an enhancement to its signature CPT training and certification system.  "Skill Boss" is a computer-controlled machine that performs a wide variety of functions aligned with 55+ skills drawn from the MSSC's National Production Standards.  

The "Skill Boss" device is portable, compact, and "classroom friendly." Additionally, it is designed to cover many of the core technical competencies related to advanced manufacturing discrete parts and process manufacturing.  Skill Boss will enable many more schools, including most high schools, to offer hands-on CPT training and testing.

The current MSSC CPT Program remains in full force as a highly successful program for training and certifying individuals with the core technical competencies needed to enter front-line production jobs in all manufacturing sectors. There is no requirement that education and training institutions offering CPT will need to purchase a Skill Boss trainer.  Nor will there be any change in the credentialing documentation that MSSC provides for successful completion of CPT Modules. CPT+ is a "stackable" credential.  Individuals seeking a CPT+ credential must pass the current multiple-choice assessments for all four CPT Modules: Safety, Quality Practices & Measurement, Manufacturing Processes & Production, and Maintenance Awareness.

MSSC CPT+ Skill Boss trained Instructors will issue a "MSSC Transcript" to students who satisfactorily complete hands-on training for each of the four CPT Modules. MSSC will also offer a final, hands-on CPT+ Assessment after students pass all four CPT modules. The CPT+ certification will be on diploma-style parchment, suitable for framing, and include two CPT+ arm patches. Assessment related questions and orders will be done through the MSSC Headquarter office.

For more information, contact our office by email at info@msscusa.org or 703-739-9000.

2018 HI-TECH "Partnering with Industry for the New American Workforce" was a great success

In 2009, several Centers funded through the Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program worked collaboratively to develop a conference that would broaden the impact across ATE supported industry areas. This annual High-Impact Technology (HI-TEC) conference has drawn participants mainly from the ATE program's community of centers and projects. Since them, every year people from around the nation get together during this magnificent event to open new opportunities and develop new partnerships and focuses on the preparation needed by the existing and future workforce for companies in the high-tech sectors that drive our nation’s economy. HI-TEC has served as the bridge to broadening and increase the impact of ATE centers and projects across the nation.

With no doubt, the theme of the 2018 HI-TEC conference "Partnering with Industry for the New American Workforce" was a great success. The conference was held in Miami Beach on July 23 to 26 and provided opportunities for participant engagement and professional development. The event included approximately 15 pre-conference workshops and industry site tours during the first 2 days, followed by the 2-day main conference featuring keynote speakers and 60+ breakout sessions.

Over 500 Educators and industry personnel learned from each other and collaborated to address issues facing advanced technological education and celebrated HI-TEC's 10th Anniversary. The conference's design, which stresses pedagogy, technology, program building, and workforce development, provides a unique professional development opportunity that enables educators to acquire new knowledge and skills. The evaluation activities focused on both short-term outcomes and medium-term performance-based outcomes.

FLATE at HI-TEC

Every year Dr. Marilyn Barger, Executive Director and PI of The Florida Advanced Technological Center-FLATE, support the conference by coordinating and planning numerous sessions and workshops, this year sessions are summarized below.  Additionally, this year for the conference being in Miami, FLATE was happy to support over 20 Florida Educators to attend the conference held in our region.

Infusing Vital Employability Skills into Technical Programs- During this workshop, participants joined team members of the Necessary Skills Now project to learn how to integrate employability skills into technical programs and shared classroom-ready projects in advanced manufacturing and cybersecurity that infuse employability topics into existing courses. This interactive workshop engaged participants in identifying intersections of technical and employability skills, developing workplace scenarios, constructing activities that strengthen students’ employability skills and exploring assessment strategies and tools.
Presenters: Hope Cotner and John Chamberlain, CORD, Waco, TX; Marilyn Barger, Florida Advanced Technological Education Center of Excellence (FLATE), Tampa, FL

Introduction to Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC) with Industry Applications-This workshop provided hands-on experiences for faculty interested in integrating PLCs into their courses. PLCs represent the control and communications vehicle for industrial mechatronics systems found in many applications. Working in groups of two, participants reviewed PLC hardware and practiced basic PLC ladder logic programming for a workshop project. Presenters: Marilyn Barger, Richard Gilbert, Florida Advanced Technological Education Center of Excellence (FLATE), Tampa, FL; Dan Horine, Virginia Western Community College, Roanoke, VA; Doug Laven, South Central College, North Mankato, MN.

 

Mechatronics Moments VI Reception-During this fun reception, FLATE partners had the opportunity to congratulate our dear colleague Ernie Friend of the Florida State College-Jacksonville for his very well deserved Educator of the Year Award. Special Thanks to MSSC, SMC International training, and AG, Inc for sponsoring the reception.

 ATE Working Technicians Fishbowl-This session provided an opportunity for working technician to share their experiences about attending community and technical college programs that prepared them for their position.  FLATE was proud to bring Chris Car, an HCC recent graduate, to participate in this important session.

Industry 4.0 Panel had an outstanding participation of 140 people, this international panel included industry partners sharing how industry 4.0 IoT, and Big Data have impacted their companies and their work, their vision of the future of work for the technical workforce in their industry sectors and what educators should be brining to classrooms now. The lively discussions on this topic continued throughout the conference.

Ernie Friend Award-With more than 500 participants to the 2018 HiTEC Awards luncheon, 50 of them Floridians, celebrated the well-deserved Educator of the Year Award given to Ernie Friend with Florida State College, Jacksonville, FL.

Outreach Strategies for Broadening Impact & Participation Roundtables-Approximately 40 participants joined FLATE and a group ATE community experts during this session to learn about resources, tools, pathways, and strategies that will help their programs broadening their impact.

PathTech LIFE-This session presented the latest findings that reveal how student pathways, career goals, and school-work-life balance influence program recruitment and retention. 24 participants discussed during this session how findings can inform institutional efforts to support student success and will recommend the next steps to improve research. 

Save the date for HI-TEC 2019:  July 22-25 in St. Louis, MO. Find out more at http://highimpact-tec.org/