The Advanced Technology Education Demonstration Project (ATEDP) is structured to take full advantage of the new Advanced Technology Center (ATC) in Norfolk, Va. The ATC is located on Tidewater Community College's (TCC) Virginia Beach Campus. This center is described as the most advanced joint workforce/technology project in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The ATEDP brings together an initial consortium of Tidewater Community College, the Virginia Beach City Public Schools, the regional workforce investment board, three manufacturing business partners, and the City of Virginia Beach to create shared curricula and materials for science and engineering technology students in both high school and college.
The ATEDP improves the learning environment, course content and learning experiences each year for 850 to 1,000 Virginia Beach high school students enrolled at the ATC in CADD, industrial engineering technology, and information systems technologies. New curricula and materials in the area of Metrology, as well as the above technology areas, are also being used for about 800 Tidewater Community College students. The ATEDP provides intensive shared professional development and technical experiences for high school and college faculty in collaboration with the industrial employers. The new curriculum and educational materials are being developed for articulated placement of students, dual enrollment and distance education courses. High school students in these curricula are able to earn a minimum of 12 credits toward an associate degree while attending the ATC. TCC faculty are involved in completing laboratory-intensive course content, including a distance education component, for a recently approved metrology curriculum. The employer partners are providing mentored, on-site internships for students, while the workforce investment board continues to develop new employer partners, particularly in manufacturing.
Outcomes/deliverables include: 1) curricula for articulated and/or dual enrollment courses, targeted to the industry standard, which enables high school students to earn a minimum of 12 college credits toward A.A.S. degrees in Industrial/Manufacturing Engineering Technology, Information Systems Technology, Computer Aided Drafting and Design or related options of the A.A.S. degree in Technical Studies, while they are completing their high school diplomas. 2) content for a laboratory-intensive metrology curriculum and at least six new or upgraded modules for other courses in the identified curricula not scheduled for implementation as dual enrollment and/or articulated courses. 3) relevant, mentored, 80-hour or longer work site experiences for both high school and other TCC students. 4) an 80 percent pass rate for those students who attempt regional and national certifications after completing the relevant courses and taking the certification exams. 5) detailed plans for implementing the reforms in the other three school systems in the college service area and for disseminating them nationally.
