The duration of our grant is
two years, from the summer of '06 to the summer of '08.
As of the summer of '07, we are roughly half way through.
Highlights of our accomplishments include:
-
NATEF
certification at Chabot College
-
Progress
toward NATEF certification at City College, Contra Costa College
and Solano ROP
-
Development
of on-line Automotive Career Exploration (ACE) class at Chabot College
-
Participation
of over 40 high school students in ACE class
-
Articulation
agreements between Chabot College, Eden Area ROP, Mission Valley
ROP and Solano ROP
-
Strengthened
advisory committees at City College and Contra Costa College
-
Alternative
fuel training workshop for instructors presented by Mac Fernandez
of PG&E
-
Advanced
transportation technology and alternative fuel training workshop
for instructors presented by NAFTC
-
NATEF
workshop for instructors and administrators presented by Rick Donia
-
Marketing
video produced at College of Marin
-
Education/industry
partnership discussions at Regional Advisory Board meeting at Infineon
Raceway
-
Automotive
career exploration seminar for counselors at Chabot College
-
Car
show and career day at Chabot College
-
Presentations
at high school/ROPs by college instructors
-
Field
trips to colleges for high school/ROP students
-
City
College graduates placed in jobs at San Francisco Honda
-
Automotive
math curriculum developed
-
Job
shadowing experience for Eden Area ROP students
-
Project
website developed
-
Experimental
"tech
connect" web page to help students and graduates connect
with jobs
-
Working
visit with our state Project Monitor at City College
-
Participation
in the Statewide Career Pathways Project automotive technology Discipline
Work Group to prepare an articulation template
-
Purchase
of equipment, tools and computers for Solano ROP
-
Purchase
of equipment and tools for Contra Costa ROP
-
Purchase
of lifts for Eden Area ROP
-
Purchase
of textbooks for Marin ROP
-
Purchase
of Skill Manager competency tracking software at Mission Valley
ROP
Summer's
reduced workload gives us the opportunity to brainstorm how to strengthen
career pathways in automotive technology and ponder our priorities for
the upcoming year. Please think about this, read through the list
below and let us know what you would like to do. Let's put
our heads together and decide how we want to expend our energies and
funding in order to maximize the benefit for our students and our
programs. Possibilities include:
-
Aligning
automotive technology curriculum so that ROP programs and college
introductory courses match more closely
-
Finalizing
articulation agreements between secondary and post-secondary programs
-
Specifying
automotive curriculum for a common college introductory course to
be taught at two or more participating colleges
-
Incorporating
the NATEF General Service Technician task list into the introductory
college courses to facilitate articulation with GST certified secondary
schools
-
Finalizing
reciprocity agreements between colleges sharing common curricula
or task lists
-
Revising
course outlines and/or certificate course sequences (eg. at Contra
Costa College)
-
Helping
to set up a new automotive technician training course (at Hayward
Adult School)
-
Conducting
NATEF self-evaluations and other continuing work towards NATEF certification
(eg. at City College and Contra Costa College)
-
Conducting
NATEF self-evaluations and other continuing work toward NATEF General
Service Technician certification for secondary ROP programs (eg.
Solano ROP)
-
Hosting
NATEF evaluation team visits and achieving official certification
-
Conducting
advisory committee meetings and strengthening advisory committees
(eg. at City College and Contra Costa College)
-
Formulating
a constructive agenda for partnering with industry and meeting with
our Advisory Board industry partners to move it forward
-
Setting
up workplace learning opportunities including unpaid job shadowing
and paid internships for students
-
Facilitating
job placement for students and graduates using the "tech connect"
web page and/or direct contacts
-
Recruiting
new industry partners who will contribute to the success of our
training programs
-
Staging
a career seminar workshop at a college for high school and career
counselors
-
Disseminating
information to career counselors to help recruit students into the
field
-
Staging
a career day event at a college for students (and parents?)
-
Staging
a career day event at a high quality dealership that might include
students, parents, counselors, instructors and industry partners
-
Visiting
high school/ROP auto shops to promote the automotive repair industry
and the community college programs
-
Hosting
field trips for visiting high school/ROP students to tour college
programs
-
Hosting
field trips for high school students to tour high quality dealerships
and auto repair facilities
-
Presenting
workshops and training seminars for instructors on advanced transportation
technologies and alternative fuels
-
Developing
a consortium-wide community college course in hybrid vehicles and
electric propulsion
-
Inviting
industry partners to visit our classrooms and speak to our students
-
Arranging
for industry representatives to mentor students
-
Experimenting
with an e-mentoring program that would allow students to share experiences
of real world troubleshooting
-
Seeking
guidance from our industry partners regarding curriculum and competencies
to prepare our students for success in the field
-
Seeking
guidance from industry partners regarding tools and equipment that
reflect industry standards
-
Continuing
to offer the on-line ACE career exploration class to high school
students
-
Sharing
the on-line ACE career exploration curriculum with other consortium
colleges and high schools
-
Sharing
the recently developed automotive math curriculum with all consortium
partners
-
Pilot
testing the recently developed automotive math curriculum
-
Purchasing
additional instructional materials to strengthen our programs
-
Providing
equipment, tools or instructional materials through donations from
industry or other schools
-
Providing
equipment, tools or instructional materials through time-sharing
with industry or other schools
-
Visiting
each others' programs to cross-fertilize and learn from each
other
-
Job
shadowing of college instructors by ROP instructors to improve awareness
of skills their students need to succeed in the college program
-
Reaching
out to under-represented minority communities to promote opportunities
for young people in the auto service industry
-
Partnering
with industry to promote professionalism and improve the public
perception of the auto service industry
-
Collecting
data to evaluate the effectiveness of our efforts
-
Participating
is focus groups and interviews with our project evaluator to evaluate
the effectiveness of our efforts
-
Consolidating
our gains and ensuring that the benefits of our work continue beyond
the two year period of the grant
-
Re-applying
for or extending our grant or seeking new grant funding to continue
our work after the summer of '08
-
Any
other projects or activities you may wish to suggest
We will contact you soon to set up meetings of
our clusters where we will formulate our plans of action decide what
we want to do.
