It’s pumpkin and Halloween season with students and faculty well into the rhythm of another school year. It’s also a good time to share some news from our 19 ET College partners. This update/synopsis is based on information presented at the Engineering Technology Forum (ET Forum) hosted by Daytona State College’s Advanced Technology Center on September 22-23.

A common theme among the colleges was the good news that most ET enrollments are up,

despite many colleges reporting that overall college enrollment is down. The new programs at Pasco-Hernando, Palm Beach and Lake Sumter Colleges all report strong growth as they start their second year of ET classes. Mature programs at Hillsborough, St Petersburg College, Florida Gateway, Polk, Broward, Central Florida, Eastern Florida and Jacksonville also all report solid enrollment growth. Daytona State started it’s A.S. program just this fall offering the Digital Design and Modeling and Electronics specializations with good first semester enrollment.

Ted Norman, State Supervisor for the Manufacturing cluster reported on the status of the current, 2016, ET Curriculum framework review. He also requested help with outstanding review items. He related important information about changes in the Automation and Production Technology high school and PSAV programs that included; a new name and CIP number in 2018 (Advanced Manufacturing Technology); significant alterations to reflect modern industry needs, and guidelines for the annual presentation sequence of important topics.

Additional good news came from the ET Forum round up session about new faculty. Colleges

are appointing new full time faculty. This includes Sherri Dobbins and Ron Smith, both at HCC; Henry Cabot at Polk State; Jessica Jones at TCC, and recently hired to start a new program at North Florida Community College in January, Jorge Monreal. HCC, Polk, and TCC, joining the ranks of Eastern Florida and Jacksonville, now each have two full-time ET faculty. This is great news for the E.T. degree program. Congratulations to all and good luck to the five additional colleges who will be recruiting new faculty this year. We will share news about their programs and specializations with you later this fall.

One exciting adventure this fall is the fact that many colleges have ventured into offering hybrid and non-traditionally scheduled classes. Several colleges have added online sections of their courses, others have added optional home lab kits that the students either purchase or check out for a semester. Margi Lee reported that this “check-a-kit” process is working great for her rural students in the Lake City area. She is now running most of her program using this augmented learning process.

So what are the bottom line items for the colleges in the Florida College System that offer the

E.T. degree? The programs are growing, everyone reports strong industry partnerships and high industry satisfaction with graduates and training and the Florida Department of Education is developing improved high school program interactions with college A.S. programs. One final tidbit of great news. Additional resources are important but hard to come by. However, 2016 brought NSF ATE funding to North Florida, Lake Sumter, Seminole, and Florida Keys Colleges to support their new Engineering Technology degrees. A few colleges also have been awarded Department of Labor grants that will support manufacturing. Congratulations to these FLATE partners!

Don’t forget to check out the other parts of this month’s FLATE Focus which is heavily focused on ongoing Manufacturing Month activities which just kick started on October 7. The sTEm-at-Work Puzzle provides an opportunity for you to keep up with the concept of “lead” and “lag”. Send us your thoughts and comments at news@fl-ate.org. You can also jot down your thoughts on our social networking platforms on Facebook, LinkedIn, and on Twitter @Made_InFlorida #FLMFGMonth16 and #MFGday16.

FLATE tries to work diligently to be sure students are exposed to and learn about Florida’s

great manufacturing industry and the great careers pathways that they can follow right in their own community, or anywhere across the globe. But it typically takes more than one encounter or one experience. How do we extend and deepen the impact of a “Made in Florida” Industry tour, or summer robotic camp experience? How can we make relevant career and job information integral part of student learning? It’s not unexpected, but many teachers do not much about our industry sector, nor about the lucrative and exciting technical careers in manufacturing. A workshop can be a good beginning, providing a spark of interest, the beginning of a passion. But a workshop is not typically enough for teachers to bring the materials to life in a classroom. To provide more opportunities for teachers to teach each other and collaborate, FLATE is working to re-activate FAITE, (Florida Association of Industrial Technical Education), a division of FACTE, the Florida Association of Career and Technical Education (FACTE). FLATE, together with the Florida Department of Education Adult and Career Education (FLDOE) is providing foundational support for building a collaborative learning community. Such a “Community of Practice” have three simple components:

• a common goal (enhanced student learning)
• shared time (regular in person and/or virtual collaborative meeting spaces), and
• passion for the focus of the community

As an infant organization, FAITE’s goal will be just that, to build a Community of Practice that

will sustain itself with the passion of its members. Keeping it simple is important so that the community can focus on its passion and not on maintaining the infrastructure of the group itself. With regular opportunities for industrial technical educators to come together in person and virtually, FAITE aims to build capacity and confidence in participants, provide a platform to share promising practices, finding solutions, and voicing common concerns. Working in isolation can be tough, and can be frustrating and demoralizing in the world of frequent changes in policy and processes. Working together with our peers, sharing experiences in a collaborative environment is invigorating. FLATE strongly encourages educators to join us and the FL DOE to participate in FAITE. Reasons and incentives to join include, but are not limited to:

• Advance your career
• Advocate
• Get Legislative Updates
• Connect with Industry to
• Lead
• Learn
• Network
• Share Ideas
• Sharpen Skills

For more information on FAITE and/or technical and industrial education throughout Florida

visit the FAITE website, or contact Alan Lynch, president of FAITE at alan.lynch@ocps.net, and Dr. Marilyn Barger, Executive Director of FLATE at barger@fl-ate.org. I now invite you to enjoy the stories in the September issue of the FLATE Focus. Our primary efforts in the next month, or two will be focused on MFG Day/Month. We invite All across Florida to celebrate and participate in the various tours and events that have been planned starting October 7 through the end of the month. As always jot down your thoughts and comments under each of the stories in the blog, or contact us news@fl-ate.org and follow us across our social networking platforms on Facebook, connect with us on LinkedIn, or Tweet us @Made_InFlorida using the Hastag of the Month #FLMFGMonth16 and at #MFGday16.

There is no shortage of focus on Workforce Education around the country and within the NSF ATE community. Not only have we been busy here in Florida attending and presenting at the ET Forum, the grand opening of the Manufacturing Alliance of Hillsborough County, regional scholarship golf tournaments and meetings hosted by Regional Manufacturers Associations, SkillsUSA Florida (see article) and the Florida Engineering Education Conference, but we have been busy across the country. Take a walk through my April out-of-state events where I found some best practices to bring home to Florida and shared many of our own best practices with others.

MODEX EXPO 4/7-8 Atlanta
FLATE visited MODEX, referred to as “”the Greatest Supply Chain Show on Earth” held at the 

Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta. MODEX Student Days is hosted by several well-known supply chain, material movement associations and their foundations to expose students to the careers and opportunities in this growing field that is increasingly using more mechatronics systems like we have already seen growing in manufacturing and production companies. After one day in the massive exhibit hall and listening to speakers, the students toured several nearby facilities to see implementations first-hand. 

Educators were bused to tour of the Norfolk Southern Training Center on the outskirts of the Atlanta metro area. The training center was amazing in size and scope. Training programs (apprentice like) for various railroad technical employees takes place at the facility from engineers, conductors, mechanics, and more. All office personnel and administrators also learn how to put the giant train engines together and make minor repairs. It was a fascinating experience as we learned a lot about running a railroad, the job opportunities, and training programs, as well as the company’s philosophy and investment in its future workforce.

AACC PANEL 4/11 CHICAGO
Early in April, FLATE partners participated in a panel discussion at the American Association of

Community Colleges (AACC) in Chicago, IL. The conference is “the go-to place” for college administrators and educators at all levels involved in all aspects of community colleges, including workforce education. Dr. Barger, FLATE Executive Director and P.I was joined by Dr. Nancee Sorenson, President of the HCC Brandon Campus (host of FLATE Center), Terry Iverson, President of Iverson & Company, FLATE’s National Visiting Committee (NVC) chairperson and Dr. Celeste Carter, Program Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Advanced Technological Education program.

The Panel “NSF Support for Community Colleges – Community College Leaders Address the Benefits and Challenges of Leading STEM Technician Efforts” focused on some tough questions on: the value to colleges for hosting national and regional efforts when their missions are more local; funding high cost technical programs; engaging students in high-technology technician career pathways, and building and sustaining partnership with industry.

AMTEC and CARCAM NVC meetings 4/13-15 Hammond, IN; Lincoln, AL
AACC was followed by participation in two National Visiting Committee meeting. The AMTEC NVC meeting was hosted by the Center for Innovation through Visualization and Simulation (CIVS) at Purdue Northwest. CIVS is developing a training simulation for AMTEC that aligns to their automotive manufacturing curriculum modules and equipment. We got to explore the many worlds of virtual and augmented reality and its uses for education and training as well as research. 

Just a day later during the CARCAM NVC, we toured the new Honda Engine plant in Lincoln, AL. This amazing place is filled wall to wall with nearly 100 robots building and assembling Honda engines. The bright, clean and new facility is now producing all the engines for the vehicles produced there in Lincoln, AL. Along with the review meeting at both NVC’s these visits with partners help tell the stories of the NSF ATE Centers in ways words cannot. I wish I could share a photo of the Honda Engine Plant.