The TIME Center has been instrumental in ensuring that Maryland's secondary and post-secondary programs keep pace with the rapid transformation of manufacturing from a mass-production, product-based industry to a customized production, knowledge-based, demand-driven industry.
The TIME Center's goals and objectives are focused on educating manufacturing and engineering technicians (MET) to meet regional workforce demands and enhancing the advanced technical skills sets of new and incumbent technicians. Regional MET careers are evolving to demand broader and deeper skills and more integration of emerging and converging technologies. The goals, objectives and activities extend the work the Center has begun.
Objective 1: Developing and enhancing secondary/post-secondary manufacturing and engineering technology (MET) curricula in demand-driven program areas.
Objective 2: Providing professional development opportunities for secondary and post-secondary MET faculty that enhance their technical knowledge, improve their pedagogical skills and broaden their awareness of MET & STEM careers.
Objective 3: Collaborating with partners and key stakeholder groups to increase the visibility and improve the image of manufacturing and engineering technology as viable career options.
Objective 4: Implementing innovative approaches to improve and enhance MET learning, providing broader access to MET learning opportunities and better integrating partner college efforts with economic development needs in their regions.
The TIME Center (Technology & Innovation in Manufacturing & Engineering) received renewal funding to continue its work as an ATE Regional Center of Excellence focused on manufacturing and engineering technology (MET). Five community colleges partnered on Center activities: The Community College of Baltimore County led the effort, with the College of Southern Maryland, Harford Community College, Wor-Wic Community College and Chesapeake College as partners. The Regional Manufacturing Institute was an industry partner. The Center received $2.6M over the 3-year award period (plus an extension period), October 1, 2008 to June 30, 2014. Our key goals were to increase the numbers and technical skills of students and workers interested in manufacturing and engineering technology careers and educational programs. The scope of the activities was statewide. The Center focused its energies in six areas: (1) refining courses in the new Engineering Technology and related AAS degree programs; (2) designing new curricula in Energy Efficiency and Logistics and Supply Chain Management; (3) collaborating with college and industry partners to provide quality professional development opportunities; (4) engaging existing and new partners to promote manufacturing careers, particularly for underserved populations; (5) developing a comprehensive campaign to improve the visibility and image of manufacturing and engineering technology careers; and, (6) employing new technologies to deliver interactive hybrid learning programs and career information. To implement these strategies, TIME partnered and collaborated with a variety of regional and national industry, education, workforce development and labor organizations, including several NSF ATE Centers. The TIME Center’s objectives built upon its many successes to date, continued the transformation in manufacturing and engineering technology education already begun in Maryland, and expanded its involvement and expertise into new areas of opportunity and challenge. Intellectual Merit Grant activities built upon our successes and lessons learned since our inception in 2003 by: continuing to restructure secondary and post-secondary manufacturing and engineering technology programs in Maryland; identifying emerging areas for coursework and certification options that addressed regional industry needs for trained technicians; ensuring that faculty had access to current instructional materials, technologies, and state-of-the practice professional development; implementing innovative instructional delivery approaches; continuing to build and deepen the educational pipeline for our targeted programs; and institutionalizing our products and expertise into partner programs at various educational levels. Broader Impact Grant activities continued to: involve the Center in regional and statewide workforce development partnerships and initiatives; maintain our close interaction and collaboration with our employer community; increase the participation of underrepresented groups; advance our efforts to create systemic educational change at the secondary and post-secondary levels; effectively assess the impact of our collective efforts on faculty and student learning; build collaboration with other ATE Centers on professional development, program development, skill standards and innovative instructional delivery options; create competency frameworks and degree models with broader regional and national impact; and ensure sustainability and institutionalization of TIME Center products and services. The Center was very successful in meeting and exceeding its goals and objectives, creating substantial value and impact for our student, faculty, educational, employer and partner stakeholders. Secondary and post-secondary enrollments increased, underrepresented students increased their participation rates, high quality professional development activities served over 2,000 faculty, meaningful STEM activities engaged 9,900 students, outreach efforts touched 13,000 students and project results were disseminated widely. Stakeholder evaluations validated the high quality, usefulness and strong impact of the Center’s and partner college efforts in addressing our targeted goals and objectives.
