Dale Toney, Marion County Manufacturing Teacher wins the Henry Ford's Innovation Nation Teacher Innovator Awards

In July, The Henry Ford and Litton Entertainment announced the winners for The Henry Ford's Innovation Nation Teacher Innovator Awards. The awards recognize the educators who are using the classroom to inspire innovation, creativity, the problem-solving and critical thinking among their students.

Ten teachers were named Grand Prize winners another ten were first place winners. Bruce (Dale) Toney, Advanced Manufacturing teacher in Ocala was a Grand Prize Winner and the only Florida teacher among the 20 awardees.  In 2017, Dale Toney was also named the FLATE’s Secondary Manufacturing Educator of the Year.  Congratulations to Dale.

The winners were selected by judges, including Innovation Nation co-host Albert Lawrence, who chose teachers who demonstrated the habits of an innovator. Teachers who inspired their students to challenge the rules and take risks, who demonstrated how to be collaborative and empathetic, and taught the value of learning from failure and staying curious.

Grand prize winners attended a week-long "Innovation Immersion Experience" at The Henry Ford in Dearborn, Mich., July 29th – August 2, 2018. The experience included roundtrip airfare, accommodations, behind-the-scenes tours with curators and archivists, a teaching innovation workshop and a special recognition ceremony. First place winners will receive an innovation teaching kit that includes The Henry Ford’s Innovation Nation Season Two DVD set, merchandise from The Henry Ford and more.

Dale Toney’s journey in education began 33 years ago in North Carolina in a vocational program in a small middle school. In Florida, he focused his career working in high school technology education programs. Currently, Dale works at Belleview High School as Instructor for the Robotics, Automation and Design program and is the immediate past president of the Florida Association for Industrial and Technical Educators (FAITE), a non-profit professional organization that works collectively toward the advancement and enhancement of technical and industrial education throughout Florida. Dale, together with the Florida Association for Career and Technical Education (FACTE) and FLATE, have worked hard in multiple conferences and workshops to facilitate professional development to career and technical educators, counselors, and administrators in Florida. As an educator, Dale continues his effort to create high school programs that help secondary students pass the Manufacturing Skills Standards Council CPT certification test and CSWA Solidworks certification. He also works with the Skills USA as an advisor preparing students for leadership and skills competitions.

Dale hard work and dedication has been also recognized by FLATE by receiving the Manufacturing Secondary Educator-of-the-Year 2013.

You can read more about The Henry Ford and Henry Ford’s Innovation Nation, on their website thehenryford.org and the more about Litton Entertainment at http://www.litton.tv.  To learn more about the FLATE Manufacturing Educator Awards visit http://fl-ate.org/programs/flate-awards/ or contact Dr. Marilyn Barger (barger@fl-ate.org).

Bayside HS Machining lab provides students with new opportunities

Machining Technology students and staff recently celebrated the grand opening of their renovated 4,000 square foot Machining Technology Lab at Bayside High in Palm Bay. In attendance at the Ribbon Cutting event on September 7^th were State Senator Debbie Mayfield, Palm Bay Mayor Capote, School Board members and Superintendent, Assistant Superintendents, Career & Technical Education staff, Advisory Team members, and students.

The space houses four large machines in the production lab, two computer-controlled lathes and two milling machines. The school also is home to a welding lab, four 3D printers and a 72” smart board.

Dennis Soboleski, Career and Technical Education resource teacher, said: “Until now, students only had limited access to a professional production area. Students were able to design, model and simulate machining, but had no consistent opportunities for hands-on experiences. This space will allow machining students to receive firsthand training.”

The only program of its kind in Brevard County, the Machining Technology program covers a broad series of topics in advanced manufacturing with an emphasis on fundamentals and advanced machining knowledge, skills and techniques. Welding and soldering manufacturing techniques and skill development are also being built into the program.

The program offers two industry certifications:

·         Certified Solid Works Associate—Students earning this certification are awarded three postsecondary credits in the engineering technology program at any state college in Florida.

·         Certified Production Technician—Students earning this certification are awarded 15 postsecondary credits, which is equivalent to one semester.

Machining Technology is a Career and Technical Education program of choice. It is located at Bayside High, but any high school student can apply to participate in the course of study.

Celebrate Deaf Awareness Week with the NSF ATE DeafTEC Center!

The last week of September is Deaf Awareness Week (also known as the International Week of the Deaf). The NSF-ATE community’s go-to resource for working with deaf and hard of hearing students is DeafTEC.  DeafTEC: Technological Education Center for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Students is a National Science Foundation Advanced Technological Education National Center of Excellence. Its goal is to successfully integrate more deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals into the workplace in highly-skilled technician jobs in which these individuals are currently underrepresented and underutilized.  Check out these deaf and hard-of-hearing (deaf/hh) STEM professionals in manufacturing careers on our website at http://www.deaftec.org/stem/professionals.

For information on the best practices for teaching deaf/hh students, visit the DeafTEC website at www.deaftec.org/resources. If you are interested in hiring or are working with a deaf/hh individual­­­, you might be interested in the Working Together: Deaf & Hearing online course available at  http://workingtogether.deaftec.org/. This online course is designed to help employers develop the sensitivity and skills to communicate effectively with deaf and hard-of-hearing employees, enable deaf and hearing colleagues to work together more productively and assist in fostering a workplace culture of diversity and inclusion.

DeafTEC is housed at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID), one of the nine colleges of the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in Rochester, NY. The NTID was established in 1965 to reverse the long history of under-employment and unemployment among our nation’s deaf and hard-of-hearing citizens. Over 1,300 deaf and hard-of-hearing students are fully mainstreamed on RIT’s campus with 17,000 hearing students.

FREE!!! Online electromechanical lectures and lessons!

There are a lot of very good online resources for manufacturing and technology educators. on Big Bad Tech site,  there over 500 free online lectures and illustrated example problems for electro-mechanical (and related) technology courses.  https://www.youtube.com/user/bigbadtech.

Use these free materials to supplement face to face classroom instruction or textbook assignments. For one, Columbia Gorge Community College’s Electro-Mechanical Technology program has adopted a flipped classroom approach to teaching using this material. The online lectures are intended to accompany a regular hands-on workshop or lab where students work in a collaborative environment with the guidance of an instructor. Students using online lectures are able to rewind, revisit, and review any material they might have missed. Additionally, online lectures allow a degree of flexibility for non-traditional students with work or family obligations, or incumbent workers wishing to expand their skill set. The collection includes content for DC circuit analysis, hydraulics, single phase AC circuit analysis, motor control, motor drives, PLCs, and more. Lessons on 3 phase AC circuit analysis will be uploaded in the very near future.

There are also short learning animated online modules and learning objects on the same topics available at WISC-online: https://www.wisc-online.com/ .  Enhance your courses and provide reinforcing resources in the multimedia formats your students love!