Consortium for Advanced Manufacturing-International
Advanced Technological Education Project

ATE Project Overview
ATE Education Program
The Agile Manufacturing Technician
ATE First Year Report

ATE Project Overview

CAM-I's National Partnerships

CAM-I is building a national alliance of training programs that will enhance employability for the manufacturing enterprises of the next century. The goal of these national partnerships is to develop a rich pool of entry-level workers with education and skills for employment in the 21st Century.

The ATE Alliance

The Advanced Technology Grant awarded to the Consortium for Advance Manufacturing, International (CAM-I) by the National Science Foundation seeks to prepare students, nationally, for the manufacturing workplace demands of tomorrow. This project will create a seamless Grades 11-14 curricula that will be developed by Lawrence Technological University in Southfield, Michigan, in conjunction with the Goodrich Public Schools in Goodrich, Michigan. This curricula will be field tested, revised and disseminated by scaleable distance learning technologies and the National Information Infrastructure to affiliated sites in Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Kansas City, Missouri and Kansas; Los Angeles, California; and the Mescalero Apache Schools, New Mexico. Once tested and evaluated, the curricula will be disseminated to schools throughout the nation.

CAM-I has compiled from a number of industry sources the knowledge and skill needs for a new breed of agile technicians, technicians who are able to respond knowledgeably, effectively, and quickly in highly competitive, rapidly changing, global manufacturing. The ATE Alliance will meet these needs by:

compiling, analyzing, and combining existing best practices curriculum modules, already developed by members, affiliates and other groups, with newly developed modules into an integrated, flexible, Grades 11-14 program in math, science, communications, computing and manufacturing enterprise technologies;
implementing and evaluating the modules in a pilot program in Goodrich Schools.
reinforcing curricula with teacher training, jobsite education for teachers and students, and public information programs. The ATE Alliance will promote the trend toward very flexible, virtual, and manufacturing enterprises that can adapt to change by establishing a virtual school, combining a national network of educational resources to provide locally and temporarily optimized education for the 21st Century workforce.

ATE Education Program

The ATE Alliance is helping educators and industry prepare highly skilled workers with the abilities to work autonomously in distributed, high technology environments. Key elements of the ATE Educational Program include:

Curricular modules, including "hands-on" learning
Performance-based assessment
Jobsite learning for teachers and students
Recruitment, especially of minorities, women, and the disabled
Documentation
Disssemination

ATE PROGRAM ELEMENTS
Core Curriculum (K-14)	Strong math, science, and foreign language core, modularized for rapid update Strong computer, engineering, and manufacturing strands starting in kindergarten and extending throughout the educational experience Performanced-based assessment
Integrated Learning	Thematic integration of theory and applications with outcomes-driven integrated K-14 curricula Continuous coordination and improvement of curriculum among teachers Learning modules for self-managed teams of students
Simulated Industrial Enterprise within the Educational Experience	Broad multi-tasking technology exploration in grades 4-8 Formation and operation of a virtual enterprise, in cooperation with other teams, classes, or schools to provide or produce a service Multi-tasking industrial practices within the classroom and laboratory that is inclusive of business practices, the business process, and key enablers Project management, team decision-making, career management, and team problem solving in a hands-on environment
Leveraged Development and Simultaneous Replication	Program development to meet national standards and local needs for outcomes verification, benchmarked against international best practices Leverage local strengths and investments at sites across the U.S. for cooperative, distributed development of program modules Coordinated sharing of hardware, software, curricula, assessment tools, probeware, and training packages via distance learning and national information infrastructure technology

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January 26, 1996