The National Science Foundation (NSF) Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program focuses on the education of technicians for the high-technology fields that drive our nation's economy. The program involves partnerships between academic institutions and industry to promote improvement in the education of STEM technicians at the undergraduate and secondary school levels. The ATE program supports curriculum development; professional development of college faculty and secondary school teachers; career pathways to two-year colleges from secondary schools and from two-year colleges to four-year institutions; and other activities though competitive grant awards.
Published in Chapter:
Polk State College's Engineering Technology OEEE Associate's Degree
Naomi Boyer (Polk State College, USA), Eric A. Roe (University of Texas at Austin, USA), Kenneth Ross (Polk State College, USA), Patricia Jones (Spartanburg Community College, USA), Kathleen Bucklew (Polk State College, USA), and Marcia Conliffe (Polk State College, USA)
Copyright: © 2017
|Pages: 32
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-0932-5.ch016
Abstract
This case study describes an Open Entry Early Exit (OEEE) program focused on untangling the web of systems, assumptions, roles, relationships, and interagency processes to address the national emphasis on affordable, compressed and flexible degree attainment, particularly in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) talent gap areas. To this end, Polk State College has empowered non-traditional students with an affordable, accessible option that was initiated as a result of a National Science Foundation's Advanced Technological Education (NSF-ATE) project award. The project was designed to transition a traditional Engineering Technology Associate in Science degree program to a hybrid competency-based, modular, non-term, self-paced, learner-centered, faculty-mentored format. As a work in progress, the OEEE program team has undertaken and resolved numerous challenges, many of which are still emergent, and identified significant breakthroughs to provide a catalyst to the reconceptualization of higher education.