Empowering rural communities: leveraging artificial intelligence in higher education and workforce development

Federal Grant Award Summary

Marion Technical College received a $601.8K Project Grant awarded on July 15, 2025, by the National Science Foundation's Division of Undergraduate Education under the STEM Education program (CFDA 47.076). The three-year project, extending through June 30, 2028, delivers artificial intelligence (AI) education products and services designed to build workforce capacity in rural communities. Key deliverables include a 30-credit hour AI certificate program, a micro-certificate in AI, educator training curriculum to prepare secondary and community college faculty to teach AI courses, and upskilling curriculum for incumbent workers. The project emphasizes practical, scalable solutions through the development of open educational resources and implementation of a train-the-trainer professional development model to facilitate adoption by other rural institutions.

The initiative addresses critical national workforce needs by establishing a collaborative learning community comprising secondary teachers, four-year institution faculty, community college instructors, local industry partners, and community organizations. Project activities are designed to provide early exposure to AI for students, increase community engagement, and create a replicable model for rural community colleges. Evaluation mechanisms incorporate logic models and theory of change frameworks to assess program effectiveness and measure contributions to AI education and workforce development. The project's broader impact centers on building a sustainable talent pipeline in artificial intelligence and fostering economic growth in underserved rural communities.

Abstract

This project aims to serve the national interest by preparing technicians skilled in artificial intelligence to meet the growing needs of the industry. Through collaborations with education and industry partners, the project intends to develop a 30-credit hour certificate and a micro-certificate in artificial intelligence, a training program for educators to prepare them to teach the courses, and curriculum to upskill incumbent workers. The project's broader impact lies in building a pipeline of artificial intelligence talent and fostering economic growth. The intellectual merit is grounded in alignment with workforce needs and its contribution to artificial intelligence education. Important goals of the project are to provide early exposure to artificial intelligence for students, increase community engagement, and develop a replicable model for rural community colleges. Outcomes include fostering an understanding of artificial intelligence and its potential applications to improve workforce readiness and educational opportunities. To accomplish these, project activities feature building a learning community of secondary teachers, faculty from four-year institutions, community college faculty, local industry partners, and community organizations. The project's dissemination plan includes employing the train-the-trainer model to provide professional development for potential adopters and incorporating open educational resources to supplement instruction. The project's logic model and theory of change are expected to guide the formative and summative evaluation to determine the effectiveness of the program and capture the project's contributions to the knowledge base. 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.- subawards are not planned for this award.