This project combines the benefits of two national initiatives in the sixteen Wisconsin Technical College System districts to advance the teaching and learning of common manufacturing concepts in technician education using the power of online multimedia resources. The NSF-ATE TECH SPAN project has developed a common manufacturing curriculum isolating twelve core competency clusters that cut across over forty manufacturing/engineering related technical degree programs. The Wisconsin Online Resource Center, a FIPSE-LAAP project focused on a general education digital learning library, builds web-based learning objects that are designed and linked to a competency driven curriculum. This NSF-ATE project is adapting this Center framework to create a manufacturing digital library, and multimedia-based chunks of learning are being designed that stimulate and accelerate student understanding of core concepts. In addition, a post-associate degree advanced technological certificate in emerging industrial practices of integrated cellular manufacturing is under development using an associated learning object collection in the digital library. Secondary teachers, prospective teachers in industrial technology, and community-based trainers of disadvantaged women and minorities are being trained in Center resources to inspire the next generation of manufacturing technicians.
