It’s been six months since our NSF ATE funding ended and we “packed our bags and moved” to join the FloridaMakes Network with funding support from the Florida Department of Education (FDOE). Our mission to support manufacturing education across the state has not changed but will be expanding in the coming years to include some segments of the pathways that were not covered by the NSF ATE program. We will be integrating the manufacturing programs in the technical colleges and ultimately, adult education pathways as well as apprenticeships.  At FloridaMakes, we are enjoying the support of our manufacturing industry partners and working closely with the Advanced Manufacturing Workforce Leadership Council and the Regional Manufacturers Associations as a starting point to bring more educators and industry together from all over the state in an effort to enhance Florida’s pipeline to manufacturing careers. We have a lot to learn and a lot of help to make manufacturing education a more integral part of the manufacturing ecosystem in Florida. And we appreciate your continued support in this endeavor! Stay safe and enjoy the holiday break. We look forward to continue working with you in 2021 to improve manufacturing in Florida!

News

Future of Work Caucus Project Update Last spring, FloridaMakes, in partnership with the University of South Florida and the College of Central Florida was funded to conduct a small, Florida-focused Caucus event to explore the future skills anticipated for manufacturing technicians. The proposed 1-day event for educators and industry evolved with the pandemic issues to 2 surveys (one for manufacturers and one for educators); data analysis; followed by a 2-hour virtual Caucus for the 2 stakeholder groups. The virtual event shared the aggregated data from the surveys and facilitated a discussion about the outcomes to resolve differences between the 2 stakeholder groups. Click here to learn more about the results of these conversations.

Are you Teaching Robotics in Spring 2021? Clemson University Rolls Out Associate Level Robotic Curriculum Clemson University Center for Workforce Development has been developing a 4-track robotics curriculum to deploy to high school, 2-year and 4-year partners and the Associate level track is now ready for piloting by educators! If you are interested in a free pilot of this course with your students, contact Rebecca Hartley, Director of Operations at the Clemson University Center for Workforce Development College of Engineering, Computing and Applied Sciences.

Upcoming Events

EDUCATOR WEBINAR SERIES:

January 21 Tools and Tips for Virtual STEM Summer Camps 4:00 - 4:30 p.m. In this webinar, tips and resources will be provided to help you better outreach students interested in STEM/manufacturing careers and will help educators get started with learning how to prepare for virtual STEM summer camps.  Key takeaways: Online resources: what they are, where they are located, how to use them Tools for summer camps Online platforms & technology Register here

February 18 Tools and Tips for Funding Technology Summer Camps  4:00 - 4:30 p.m. This webinar will provide tools and tips to help educators to search for funding options for Technology Summer Camps.  Key takeaways: Learn about available resources  Funding options Tools and Tips for a fun Summer Camp free of charge Register here

Learn about important emerging technologies that should be included in manufacturing 2-year technician programs. Industry experts will present the technical side of emerging Industry 4.0 technologies and provide techniques and tools for technician educators to use them in their classrooms.  We are excited to provide these opportunities to educators to hear directly from industry experts at a practical level, offering resources and tools for them and their students and to provide opportunities for members of the ET forum to share “between” the fall and spring ET Forums.

The Technical Talks series will be co-hosted in partnership with the Florida Department of Education by Dr. Marilyn Barger, Director of FLATE, and Ms. Lara Sharp, Program Director of Engineering, Manufacturing, and Building Arts at St. Petersburg College.

TECH TALKS Session 1: The Ins and out of Coordinate Measurement Machines Friday Jan 22, 9-10 AM EST Featuring Mr. Pete Cirak, Director of Quality at Seal Dynamics. Register

TECH TALKS Session 2: Tools to Better Implement Root Cause Analyses Friday February 26, 9-10 AM EST  Featuring Bill Mazurek, President and Managing Director of Maz-Tech & Associates, LLC. Register

TECH TALKS SESSION 3: Exploring Occupational Safety and Health Administration for Manufacturing Friday April 23, 9-10 am EST Featuring Mr. Mike Ennis, FloridaMakes Business Advisor at the Manufacturers Association of Florida's Space Coast. Register

All sessions are free. If you have any questions or suggestions for additional topics or presenters, please contact Dr. Marilyn Barger.

Resources

FLATE’s 2021 Events Calendar Now available on our website, view our live calendar to stay up-to-date on upcoming events and activities. Visit our Website

FLATE’s Fall Conference Presentations If you missed our Manufacturing Month activities, you can now view them on-demand for free. Find resources such as educator series, virtual plant tours, events and more! Visit the MFG Hub

Broward College Hosts Virtual Panel on Rapid Credentials Recording now available: If you missed the RAPID CREDENTIAL PANEL (Florida Department of Education funded grants) session that was presented live on Monday December 7 at 9-10 am. Learn More

Online Learning and Bloom’s Taxonomy In this webinar, hosted by CA2VES at Clemson University, Dr. Vanessa Dennen, from Florida State University, provides listeners with tips on how to best engage students at different levels of Bloom’s taxonomy. Learn More

FLATE Presentation Now Available On-Demand: FACTE Conference  FLATE recently partnered with FAITE (Florida Association of Industrial and Technology Education) and FCPN (Florida Career Pathways Network) on 3 presentations to share best practices for manufacturing education: Summer Camps Ignite Students’ Passion for Robotics and STEM Careers- Best Practices Award Winners Best Practices Panel (FLATE Manufacturing Education Winners share their Secrets to Success.) Manufacturing and Supply Chain Credentials and Apprenticeship Updates for Remote Learning View FLATE's FACTE Presentation

Free Resources for Technical Education Educators  Google Drive - Engineering Technology Shared Folder (presentations, sessions’ recordings, handouts, materials). Take the survey: The Impact of COVID-19 on Technician Education at Two-Year Colleges. FLDOE’s “Get There Florida”, aimed at raising awareness of short-term technical education programs, available here.

Additional Resources: Other National Science Foundation Advanced Technological Education (NSF-ATE) projects and other programs, develop new, free resources for a variety of technical education program. The NSF Problem-Based Learning in Advanced Photonics Manufacturing (APM-PBL) project offers a webinar series. Each one-hour live webinar (45 minutes of material, 15 minutes for questions) will include links to additional material such as applications and hands-on activities... Learn more. Interested in getting help with a proposal for the NSF ATE program? The Mentor Up program is now taking applications for its 2021 cohort of mentees. Each mentee team accepted is assigned a mentor for about six months prior to the proposal submission deadline in early October and is also eligible for a stipend... Learn more. Please feel free to use the hybrid text using both Allen-Bradley and Siemens PLCs from the Professor Evens at the University of Toledo... Learn more. Jim Pytel reminds the Engineering Technology community about the free online electro-mechanical resources that can be found here. Edge Factor just announced an early 2021 FREE series (January through March 2021) called “Future Skills Experiences”... Register here.

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