Florida's Engineering Technology Associate of Science Degree Program: A model for Technical Workforce STEM Based Education

摘要

Florida's Associate of Science (AS) Engineering Technology degree program addresses the state's critical need to create an engineering technician career pathway to support and strengthen engineering-based science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) operations in Florida's public and private sectors. ELATE, a National Science Foundation Advanced Technological Education Center of Excellence in Florida, in partnership with the Florida Department of Education (FLDOE), high school career academies, colleges in the Florida college system, Workforce Florida, and the Florida manufacturing sector, developed and implemented the engineering technology program to meet this critical technical workforce deficiency. This multiple entry, maximum potential AS Engineering Technology degree includes a structure that supports college credit for stack-able industry certificates, college certificates, and the potential to articulate to bachelor degree programs. This paper relates the history, strategies, practices, and processes leading to a complete reconstruction of engineering technology education in Florida's college system. This curriculum reform, advocacy, and collaborative partnership effort provides an evidence-based, illustrative change model for statewide Florida Department of Education AS degree programs. The model represents a transformative approach that employs a systemic, statewide implementation methodology and is a suitable model for adaptation to other degree programs in Florida as well as in other states.