BOARD # 398: NSF ATE:  Advanced Manufacturing Professional Development Workshops for High School and Community College Educators

Karen Wosczyna-Birch

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Conference: 2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Publication Date: June 22, 2025
Start Date: June 22, 2025
End Date: August 15, 2025
Conference Session: NSF Grantees Poster Session II
Tagged Topic: NSF Grantees Poster Session
Page Count: 4
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/55772
Download Count: 1

Paper Authors

biography

Karen Wosczyna-Birch CT College of Technology

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Dr. Karen Wosczyna-Birch has been a champion of engineering and technology education for over 35 years. Since 1995, she has been the State Director of the CT College of Technology (COT) where her leadership has been instrumental in creating nationally recognized seamless pathway programs in engineering and technology between all 12 public community colleges in CT with 10 universities and high schools. She is also the Executive Director and Principal Investigator of the National Center for Next Generation Manufacturing (NCNGM), a National Science Foundation (NSF) Center of Excellence and a Professor of Applied Technology at Tunxis Community College. Since 2004, she has received over $30M in funding from the NSF, including two grants for international partnerships. Karen has implemented strategies resulting in an increase in the enrollment of underrepresented populations in STEM programs at the community colleges.

Karen has received numerous awards for her accomplishments as a professor and for her passion for increasing the diversity of the STEM population including the 2016 Distinguished Service Award from the international honor society Epsilon Pi Tau (EPT), the 2018 CT Women of Innovation Award in the Postsecondary Academic Innovation & Leadership Category, the 2012 New England Board of Higher Education Excellence Award for the State of CT and most recently, the 2020 HI TEC Innovative Program of the Year Award and 2021 ITEEA Special Recognition Award. In 2014, she was invited to the White House College Opportunity Summit recognizing leaders like Karen for their commitment to STEM education. She also serves on numerous local and national boards including the Epsilon Pi Tau Honor Society, Hartford High's Pathway for Engineering and Green Technology, and the Connecticut Technical Education and Career System.

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Abstract

This National Science Foundation Advanced Technological Education (NSF ATE) National Center aims to address the need for a highly skilled advanced manufacturing technician workforce at the two-year college level through its network of advanced manufacturing stakeholders. It is imperative that educators are up to date on current and future skills needed in the manufacturing workforce when educating that future workforce. The Center partners with two NSF ATE funded projects to offer hands-on professional development opportunities for high school and community college educators from across the United States.

The virtual Summer Teacher Workshop for high school and community college educators provides lessons on both technology skills and professional skills for participants to implement in their own classrooms. Curriculum for the workshop is updated annually to address workforce needs trends in a timely manner. The curriculum was initially developed for a program for high school students and later incorporated into a program for community college students. With student feedback being positive, instructors for these programs developed a workshop to disseminate their curriculum through the Summer Teacher Workshop. The format has remained virtual for four years to accommodate educators from across the nation who have barriers to participating in activities that require travel such as funding and scheduling conflicts. For professional skills lessons, breakout rooms are used for activities that demonstrate teamwork. For technology skills, supplies are shipped to participates ahead of the workshop for use with instructors in real-time during the workshop.

The second professional development opportunity is a series of four in-person mechatronics workshops where participants learn about a dual enrollment pathway that gives high school students access to four online entry-level, hands-on mechatronics courses and best practices for delivering those courses. They also build a mechatronics trainer based on which of the four levels the workshop is covering. Participants keep the trainer for use in their own classrooms along with corresponding curriculum. Participants have been surveyed at the completion of the workshops and throughout the year after the workshop to determine impacts of the workshops.

Feedback for both professional development opportunities has been very positive. Suggestions are taken into consideration and changes are made in the workshops for continuous improvement when appropriate. Both workshops have been able to reach national audiences and provide professional development to educators who may not have local professional development opportunities.

Citation
Format

Wosczyna-Birch, K. (2025, June), BOARD # 398: NSF ATE: Advanced Manufacturing Professional Development Workshops for High School and Community College Educators Paper presented at 2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Montreal, Quebec, Canada . https://peer.asee.org/55772

TY - CPAPER
AB - This National Science Foundation Advanced Technological Education (NSF ATE) National Center aims to address the need for a highly skilled advanced manufacturing technician workforce at the two-year college level through its network of advanced manufacturing stakeholders. It is imperative that educators are up to date on current and future skills needed in the manufacturing workforce when educating that future workforce. The Center partners with two NSF ATE funded projects to offer hands-on professional development opportunities for high school and community college educators from across the United States.

The virtual Summer Teacher Workshop for high school and community college educators provides lessons on both technology skills and professional skills for participants to implement in their own classrooms. Curriculum for the workshop is updated annually to address workforce needs trends in a timely manner. The curriculum was initially developed for a program for high school students and later incorporated into a program for community college students. With student feedback being positive, instructors for these programs developed a workshop to disseminate their curriculum through the Summer Teacher Workshop. The format has remained virtual for four years to accommodate educators from across the nation who have barriers to participating in activities that require travel such as funding and scheduling conflicts. For professional skills lessons, breakout rooms are used for activities that demonstrate teamwork. For technology skills, supplies are shipped to participates ahead of the workshop for use with instructors in real-time during the workshop.

The second professional development opportunity is a series of four in-person mechatronics workshops where participants learn about a dual enrollment pathway that gives high school students access to four online entry-level, hands-on mechatronics courses and best practices for delivering those courses. They also build a mechatronics trainer based on which of the four levels the workshop is covering. Participants keep the trainer for use in their own classrooms along with corresponding curriculum. Participants have been surveyed at the completion of the workshops and throughout the year after the workshop to determine impacts of the workshops.

Feedback for both professional development opportunities has been very positive. Suggestions are taken into consideration and changes are made in the workshops for continuous improvement when appropriate. Both workshops have been able to reach national audiences and provide professional development to educators who may not have local professional development opportunities.

AU - Karen Wosczyna-Birch
CY - Montreal, Quebec, Canada
DA - 2025/06/22
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - BOARD # 398: NSF ATE: Advanced Manufacturing Professional Development Workshops for High School and Community College Educators
UR - https://peer.asee.org/55772
ER -