PROJECT SUMMARY Technician education for the electronics industry at community colleges in the United States faces multiple challenges including: inadequately prepared high school graduates; the need for more and higher quality business-education partnerships; and rapidly changing industry requirements. All of these would be improved by activities which would build a system from the many fragmented programs and projects currently in place. With the support of industry associations such as the AEA and NACFAM, as well as many educational organizations, Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC) will work in collaboration with two community colleges and their feeder high schools at the Siemens Youth Partnership Sites in Alpahretta, GA to conduct a project that will improve the education of electronics technicians. With our partner schools and Siemens experts, EDC will be responsible for producing curriculum modules in a standardized format for possible dissemination. EDC will accomplish this by forming teams of industry experts and secondary and post-secondary educators at the sites. EDC will coordinate the development of instructional strategies, teacher guides, and staff development activities to support implementation of the new curriculum materials. The products and processes developed in this project will be useful in technician education projects throughout the United States. Finally, it promises to deliver a new and exciting model for collaboration between a multi-national employer and public schools and community colleges.
