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The 27th National Advanced Technological Education (ATE) Conference is going virtual! The American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), with the support of the National Science Foundation (NSF), will host the 2020 ATE Conference on October 19-23. 

AACC and NSF leadership have monitored the COVID-19 pandemic with respect to the upcoming ATE Conference, including local guidance in the Washington, D.C. metro area, the current state of domestic travel and travel restrictions among educational institutions, and recommendations for convening large groups. In order to ensure the safety and well-being of the ATE community, the organizers have made the difficult decision to transition the conference, which was to be held in Washington, D.C., from an in-person event to an online experience. 

The 2020 Virtual ATE Conference will consist of pre-conference workshops, keynotes, featured presentations, poster presentations, and a range of live streaming and asynchronous sessions and opportunities. This year’s event theme ATE 2020: Resilience and New Frontiers, will focus on the critical value of preparing students with STEM technical and employability skills—and the vital role...

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HI-TEC 2020 Transformed is a virtual event combining livestreaming and asynchronous presentations. This event offers two exciting speakers and expert community panels on new opportunities and challenges, the future of work, hiring trends, and other timely topics that are vital to our core mission—preparing America's skilled technical workforce.

The event will run July 29 and July 30, 2020, commencing both days at 12:00 pm EDT. Registration is free (courtesy of the National Science Foundation), but required. Register by filling out a brief digital form on the HI-TEC site.

Upon registering, you will receive a link to the virtual event on Wednesday, July 29, from noon to 3:30 and Thursday, July 30, from noon to 2:30. You will also be sent a link to access conference presentations on July 28. These will include PowerPoints, PowerPoints with voice over, and video links provided by our presenters. These presentations will be available for six months.

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Military veterans transitioning from service to community college bring experiences that can be incredible assets to a classroom along with others that can be barriers to success. Hearing loss, a commonly overlooked disability in the veteran population, is often one of these barriers. This panel will discuss findings of focus groups conducted with student veterans with hearing loss that provide insight to the unique educational needs of these students and best practices for their success in the STEM classroom and how they can be applied in the online setting.

Panelists include: Saddleback College Veterans Education and Transition Services (VETS) Program Coordinator Terence Nelson, PhD candidate at Northern Illinois University and Certified Rehabilitation Counselor Hira Byrne Paulin, and Alternative Media Specialist Mike Sauter.

Real-time captioning will be provided during the webinar. For questions about accessibility or to request accommodations please contact Hira Paulin at hjpdtec@rit.edu. At least a one week advance notice of need for accommodations is requested.

This event will run July 16, 2020  3:00-4:30 pm EDT. Those interested can register to attend using this...

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The National Academies of Sciences, ​Engineering, and Medicine is holding an idea competition to generate contributions to the Symposium on Imagining the Future of Undergraduate STEM Education, which will take place in a virtual format on November 12-13, 2020. The event will bring innovators from a diverse range of colleges and universities together with policy makers, funders, and representatives from associations and industry.

Winning submissions will be highlighted at the symposium and featured on the National Academies website. Winners will also be eligible for stipends to attend the symposium. Ideas generated at the symposium will be published and shared broadly after the event, with the intention of driving change in postsecondary STEM education and influencing funding priorities for the National Science Foundation and other organizations.

To enter, submit a statement or video addressing some aspect of the symposium’s focus: What should undergraduate STEM education look like in 2040 and beyond to meet the needs of students, science, and society? What should we do now to prepare? The deadline to submit is July 15, 2020.

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Interactive flipbook and electronic (PDF) versions of the ATE Impacts book are available for viewing and download on the ATE Impacts website.

Feel free to distribute copies of the virtual ATE Impacts book to campus colleagues, to your industry partners, or to other stakeholders.

Printing and distribution of the physical book have been delayed because of COVID-19, but as soon as most ATE institutions are able to receive shipments again, printing will move ahead.

Image of Developing High-Quality Instruction Online in Response to COVID-19 Faculty Playbook title page.

Created to help faculty respond to the need for high-quality remote instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic, this "playbook" was developed by Every Learner Everywhere (ELE), a "network of 12 partner organizations that collaborate with higher education institutions to improve student outcomes through innovative teaching strategies, including the adoption of adaptive digital learning tools."

This manual covers five areas: Online Learning and Remote Teaching, Designing with Equity in Mind, Course Design, Course Components, Course Management, and Evaluation and Continuous Improvement. Each section is sub-divided into three levels. The first is Design, which "guides immediate and basic needs for moving a course online." The next, Enhance, is dedicated to "provid[ing] options to enhance the learning environment and experience." Finally, Optimize is full of "tips and resources for online teaching and learning that aligns with the highest-quality practices."

The playbook also contains information on optimizing course materials for accessibility (found in the Course Design section). Here readers can find links to further resources on ensuring their remote instruction curriculum...

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National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD) has announced the 2020 winners of the Scott Wright Student Essay Contest, recognizing the hard work of student authors and the mentorship of post-secondary institution employees who helped them along the way. Awardees and their mentors each received $1000 and their institutions were granted complementary 2020-21 NISOD memberships.

The annual competition is held in honor of Scott W. Wright, acclaimed journalist and former editor of Community College Week whose reporting "brought national attention to developmental education and the unique mission community colleges possess in providing an accessible education."

Participants were asked to complete a 500-word essay on "a faculty member, staff member, or administrator who encouraged them to complete a course, finish a semester, or graduate from college and how that encouragement helped them reach their goal(s)." Those interested can read the award-winning essays on NISOD's website (at the first link above).

Want to encourage your student to participate? Next year's essay contest opens for submission on August 21, 2020. Read more about the guidelines and find a...

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This May 19, 2020 report from Inside Higher Ed highlights findings from three studies exploring the potential impact of a shift to online education due to COVID-19 on college enrollment. Facing economic constraints and health concerns, many students are changing their post-secondary next steps. A survey of parents on "their child's post-high school plan," by Civis Analytics reported that nearly half of respondents' children have changed their plan.

Looking at high school seniors, a survey of 2,800 respondents conducted in May 2020 by Carnegie Dartlet compared outcomes to data gathered in March. Of respondents, "only 2 percent of students have plans to delay presently, and 42 percent will not delay under any circumstance (up from 34 percent in March)." However, attendance may be contingent on institutions making additional financial resources available to students. The authors found that "nearly two-thirds" of respondents would be less likely to attend without opportunities like student loans, which "shift[ed] many to a neutral standing." They also found that "yearlong grants, increased scholarships or reduced tuition or fees ... significantly increasing the likelihood of...

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The American Association of Community Colleges (AACC)'s Community College Voice podcast, now in its fourth season, offers information "about the power of the nation's community colleges." Of the six episodes released thus far, three cover topics related to education in the context of the COVID-19 global pandemic.

Season 4 Episode 2 (released April 23, 2020) features a conversation with AACC President and CEO Dr. Walter Bumphus and Senior Vice President for Workforce and Economic Development Jennifer Worth. Bumphus and Worth discuss "addressing online education for CTE/RTI programs."

The next installment focused on COVID-19 is Season 4 Episode 3, where CEO of the Organization of Associate Degree Nursing Donna Meyer joins Dr. Bumphus to talk about "the state of nursing education."

Finally, Season 4 Episode 6 highlights the collaboration between the AACC and the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT) during the COVID-19 pandemic "to best serve their members." In this installment Dr. Bumphus is joined by AACC Board Chair and Cuyahoga Community College President Alex Johnson, ACCT President and CEO J. Noah Brown, and ACCT Board Chair Dawn Erlandson.

Listeners can...

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The National Science Foundation (NSF) recognizes that there is much uncertainty among ATE grantees regarding how to start or to proceed with your ATE projects during the COVID-19 public health emergency. This webinar is designed to address commonly asked grant management questions to assist the ATE community and will cover such topics as no-cost extensions; supplemental funding requests; changes in project objectives, deliverables, timeline, and scope; budget adjustments; evaluation plans; and annual reporting.

Conducted in partnership with the American Association of Community Colleges, Mentor-Connect, and ATE Central, the webinar will feature an opportunity to hear from experienced PIs and from NSF lead ATE program director, V. Celeste Carter. To further support the ATE community, the webinar will be followed by an ATE Central Office Hours, via Zoom, for an opportunity to interact directly with presenters and NSF program directors to continue the discussion.

This webinar runs Wednesday, June 10, 2020 1:00 - 2:00 pm EDT. Those interested in attending should register to participate in advance.