Will TysonDepartment of Sociology

University of South Florida wtyson@usf.edu

Speaker Bio

• Background – NC School of Science and Mathematics (‘94)

• Grantsmanship – 11 years as a National Science Foundation grantee

• Research – Publications and presentations on STEM education book on engineering programs

PathTech Research Interests

ET recruitment and pathways

Improving ET education

Visibility of ET programs

Meeting workforce demands

Partnerships

Advanced Manufacturing Biomedical Systems, Quality, Digital Design &

Modeling

Advanced Manufacturing Electronics, Digital Design & Modeling

Partnerships

Partnerships with ET programs connect researchers with:ET students | High schools ET Programs | Industry partners

Advanced Manufacturing Biomedical Systems, Quality, Digital Design &

Modeling

Advanced Manufacturing Electronics, Digital Design & Modeling

InterviewsHigh School Students (69, 11 women)High School Teachers and Administrators (6)Community College Students (67, 6 women)Community College ET Faculty and Administrators (4)Industry Partners (27)

• Interviews were approximately 20-30 minutes• Transcripts coded and thematically analyzed• All names used here are pseudonyms

Methodology

High School 69 students

Interest in Engineering and/or Engineering Technology

CourseworkSkills developedFuture plans

This section will focus on the skills developed from students’ perspectives and skills desired from industry leaders’ perspectives

Industry Leaders

Interviews with 27 Tampa Bay industry leaders regarding:Skills desired from ET workersRecruitment and hiring processesFuture of the field

Skills Developed and Skills Desired

Technical Skills Student Perspective

Dwayne: You can really pretty much give me a part or tell me to make something like a keyboard or a cell phone [and] I can create it right on the computer in less than five minutes, it’s really easy just using Solid Works, it’s just, that’s probably one of the best things I’ve learned.

Industry Leader Perspective Paul: You have to have some technical foundation and you don’t

necessarily have to have had a job in this field but you do have to somehow demonstrate your technical skills…being able to demonstrate that is important here.

Skills Developed and Skills Desired

Personal or Interpersonal SkillsPerseverance and hard workTeam workSelf-assertion

Skills Developed and Skills DesiredPerseverance and hard work

Student Perspective Xavier: It’s mostly just not giving up on something. We spent a

week as a class trying to figure out how to do a certain drawing in Solid Works and even though it took that long for us all to figure it out, we sat there, helped each other out, figured it out, it’s just you have to push yourself to succeed… It’s mostly just straight up determination.

Industry Leader Perspective Victor: Well before skills is the work ethic really that’s paramount,

they have to have that. Because they can have the skills all you want, but you know, if you don’t have the work ethic…work ethic is #1.

Tom: We’ll do the training if we see the right attitude and the right soft skills. I think soft skills is the biggest thing we’re missing.

Skills Developed and Skills DesiredTeam work Student Perspective

Noah: …It’s really interesting to see how four people with four different ideas can come together and make one you know one final project. And I think it’s really interesting just because it’s almost a teamwork skill and you don’t really get that out of a lot of other classes [because] in math and science classes it’s learn the material, take the test and here it was more like okay collaborate with others, work around problems, use limited materials and I really like that aspect.

Industry Leader Perspective Alan: ...are they gonna work well with others…when we’re

looking for a person, be it in sales or from a technician’s standpoint, they’re gonna be talking to our customers, they’re gonna be talking to other employees, they’re involved in the process… They can’t hide you know so… if that’s the kind of job you’re looking for it’s just not gonna be a good fit for us.

Skills Developed and Skills DesiredSelf-assertion and AmbitionStudent Perspective

Dana: I’m the only girl in this class…I’ve had to like hold my own because [the boys] don’t think I know anything…but then I usually end up being the leader and …they’re kinda surprised that I know as much as I do…you just have to really stand your ground and show what you know and then they usually come around

Industry Leader Perspective Alan: First and foremost is mindset. You know what their

mindset where they look you know what’s their, you know maybe their quarterly goals or yearly goal and where do they want to be in five years?

Student GoalsTechnical and personal/interpersonal skills developed correspond with local industry employers’ desired skillsMost students considering post-secondary goals that would take them away from local industryAbout 1/3 could not afford higher education without assistance

Exploring technical fields within military Considering technician workforce

Community College Interviews were conducted with 67 community

college students regarding:

How they came to learn about ET programs

Factors influencing their decision to enroll in ET programs

Their high school preparation

Their perceptions of the ET job market

Community College Findings Four profiles of ET

students

Learning

Credentialing

Re-skilling

Empowering

Community College Findings

1 2 3 4

• High school diploma or equivalent

• Enjoy working with their hands

• Have been indifferent towards schooling in the past

• Winding work history

Through ET classes, they have now found something that really interests them, and they are interested in going further in schooling—perhaps the first time.

LEARNING

Community College Findings

• At least a high school diploma and often some college.

• Describe themselves as good students in the past, but never exposed to ET in their earlier educational or work experiences.

• Stable work history

Aim to enter industry with the credentials/certifications from their ET programs

CREDENTIALING

1 2 3 4

Community College Findings

Taking ET courses and seeking certification in order to gain a new and more stable job that will be able to support their families.

• Focused on re-skilling

• Eager to improve their job

• Prior careers in manufacturing or related fields; laid off after many years of employment

RE-SKILLING

1 2 3 4

Community College Findings

• Degree-seeking• Hope to empower

themselves and gain the respect of others

Higher education degree has often been a life-long dream, and ET provides a pathway

EMPOWERING

1 2 3 4

Community College Findings

Overall, ET community college programs have

a transformative effect on students

Four profiles of ET students

1 2 3 4

Rebuilding Things, Rebuilding Self

…I’ve always enjoyed watching engineering shows and stuff and just I’ve always liked to tinker with things and figure out how they work... as I grew up [enrolling in engineering technology] kind of [made sense to me]… [D]esigning and watching things come from the ground up is really interesting to me… I don’t want to have to push buttons or wrench on something just to get a paycheck. I want to do something I enjoy, so that’s why I came into engineering. (Brian)

Rebuilding Things, Rebuilding Self

Successful Pathways into Engineering TechnologyInclination Toward Building and Fixing Things Searching for Hands-On EducationPersonal Transformation

Building and Fixing Things: The Childhood Self

Lincoln Logs, Legos, pretty much any of the build-it stuff, I had K’NEX, all that type of stuff and then squirt guns, you know, heavy artillery Nerf guns. Besides that, I had a lot of motor sports things like I had a dirt bike and a go-kart and a dune buggy and stuff like that. I was always trying to tinker in the garage. [M]y toys were always built toys or guns of some kind. (Lucas)

Building toys, vehicles, and motor sports

Building and Fixing Things: The Childhood Self

Taking Things Apart to Make Them Better

I’ve always had a bug for taking things apart and re-assembling them, seeing how things worked, I mean I loved that. When I was 13… I was actually got into the hobby of flying [radio controlled aircraft] and I hate to crash it, but I love to fix it or…alter it to make it fly better.” (Gary)My point of view as a child was there’s enough stuff in the world, [but] there’s not enough good stuff and I wanted to go and make the stuff that’s already been designed and fix it to make it work flawlessly. (Henry)

Hands-On Hopes and Tangible ResultsActive Learning

I’m not a sit still kind of person and that’s really one of the reasons why engineering never appealed to me….[Y]ou have that idea in your mind of somebody stuck at a desk that’s just running equations all day and I’m a get up and go out and do things person. (Candace)

Hands-On Hopes and Tangible ResultsMore than just engineering

So I just kinda learned it as I went and I started looking at the computer and saying, “Man, I gotta find something else other than just the engineering, this isn’t doing it, it’s not feeling right.” (Edward)

My guidance counselors in [high] school, they just didn’t understand what I was trying to say, what I wanted to do and things like that, you know, I had to really look into it… [I]t is a little bit more specific than just saying, “Oh, it’s just engineering. No, it’s a little more specific than that.” (Edward)

Hands-On Hopes and Tangible ResultsMore than just engineering

It’s a great program, it’s theory based, it’s hands on, you get you know, instead of just reading or seeing a picture of something you can actually touch it, you can feel it, you can understand it. That’s great. I think the program here is wonderful. (Glen)

We do a lot in the lab, a lot of hands on activities which I would never find like outside of the workplace unless I like taught it to myself on YouTube or something, but they teach you the mechanics behind it. (Shawn)

Hands-On Hopes and Tangible Results

More than just engineering

[I]t’s one building with a very open floor plan where I could be sitting in my design class and there’d be people working on electronics, making circuits. They could be doing stuff in the clean room, people can be in the CNC room or the 3-D printing room doing stuff. And there’s so much work that can be done all together, it’s like an actual plant. Everything’s hands-on at [the community college]… [I]t’s right there in front of you, where at [the university], it was very theory-based for all engineering and if someone’s hands-on, the theory won’t really connect with them. (Gary)

Hands-On Hopes and Tangible Results

More than just engineering

The science is there, the math is there, but it was more simple… This particular program, it involves subjects of engineering, like chemical engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, industrial engineering, classes like Lean Six Sigma, which is kinda like industrial engineering approach and so on and so forth… [I]t was like a conglomerate of all the engineering applications. (Pedro)

Personal Transformation

So you know that’s one of the key benefits and I see myself using my degree to get a better you know a better position in life you know I just feel like you know I personally will feel more respected and you know just I feel like I’ll have more self-confidence and respect for the degree. (Nicholas)

Respect

Personal Transformation

It hit my mark and anything above it, they went above and beyond what I ever expected college could do for me in a short period of time, I mean it’s not too good to be true. It’s more of what you dream of and beyond. (Gary)

I’ll be the same person, I’ll go to church on Sunday and I will do all the things that I do, I think it’s just a matter of where I’m gonna be in my employment. I think I’ll feel a little more gratified. (Daniel)

Gratification

Personal Transformation

I’m getting up in age and I want to you know, I don’t want to be working the wrenches no more…. I don’t want to be on the floor anymore…. It’ll open some doors probably more so than what I’ve got right now. (Daniel)

I think that having that one sense of accomplishment and like I said give me confidence to kind of push it to you know apply for more jobs that I previously thought were out of my range, simply because I didn’t have a degree. (Nicholas)

Options

Personal Transformation

I’ve been given the hand-me-downs from everybody’s trash most of my life, so I’ve learned to rebuild a lot of finds, other things to make them fit my needs. It’s just something I’ve been doing forever. So I decided instead of just rattling off about it, maybe I should go in and get some sort of degree or paperwork, backing up, stating the fact that I really do know what I’m doing… [I]t seems like if you just tell people they don’t always believe you. They want to see the paperwork. (Carl)

Credentials