Strengthening technical apprenticeships through regional coordination

The Community College of Allegheny County (CCAC) received a three-year, $649,971 Project Grant from the National Science Foundation's STEM Education program (CFDA 47.076) to strengthen regional coordination of mechatronics apprenticeships. CCAC will work with four local community colleges and industry partners to standardize a foundational mechatronics curriculum and align on-the-job training with classroom instruction based on models from Germany. This will allow apprentices to transfer credits and receive consistent training as they move between institutions. CCAC aims to establish the program as a regional engine for workforce growth in advanced manufacturing. Specific activities include adopting core skills and standards based on industry recommendations, standardizing lab equipment, coordinating apprentice progress, and hosting STEM camps to attract students to the field. The goal is to develop a scalable, dynamically updated model for technical apprenticeships that serves an entire region's manufacturing needs.

Abstract

Apprenticeships are one of the most effective tools for producing trained technicians to meet the needs of the local workforce, but some programs are too closely tied to the needs of a specific company or offerings of an education provider. This project aims to transform a successful mechatronics apprenticeship into a regional engine for growth by convening a business and industry leadership team to expand the apprenticeship opportunity to encompass community colleges and corporate partners in a four-county area. IT will result in a standardized, articulable mechatronics curriculum that will allow apprentices to enter the program in their home county, transfer credits between institutions, and receive on-the-job training that is closely tied to classroom instruction. This will serve as a model for dynamically changing technical apprenticeship programs that serve the needs of an entire region as manufacturing technologies continue to advance. Specifically, four local community colleges sill work together to adopt the knowledge, skills, and abilities recommended by the business and industry leadership team to create a foundational mechatronics program that serves as the basis of the technical instruction of the apprenticeship program, including standardizing a core set of lab equipment. Roving trainers will align the on-the-job training with classroom instruction using detailed technical lessons adapted from the german dual system of technical education, and a coordinator will align the progress of apprentices as they move between participating community colleges. Participating community colleges will host a series of stem summer camps to attract a continuous pipeline of students interested in advanced manufacturing to meet the increased demand of this regional apprenticeship program. This project is funded by the advanced technological education program that focuses on the education of technicians for the advanced technology fields that drive the nation's economy. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.