CATEP Grant Overview

Summary

The Nation Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded Arapahoe Community College (Littleton, CO) and Aims Community College (Greeley, CO) the Colorado Advanced Technological Education Partnership (CATEP) Grant. The goals of this grant are aimed at helping IT students to obtain the training and experiences desired by industry for entry level employees. One of these goals addresses the infusion of basic “employability skills” (often called “soft skills” or “transferable skills”) into technical training for IT students that will support the high-growth aerospace, energy, bio-science, and IT industries in the Colorado region.

Specific Goals

The NSF ATE program “supports projects that strengthen science and mathematics preparation of technicians being educated for the high-performance workplace of advanced technologies.” ACC and Aims Community College (Greeley) are collaborating to implement the following goals in each of our communities.

• Infuse employability skills (verbal/written communication skills; critical thinking/problem-solving skills; teamwork and collaboration skills; contextual knowledge of work responsibilities; and self-management/motivation skills) into CIS 118 toward meeting the needs employers report are absolutely essential (and presently lacking) to their Information and Communications (ICT) workforce.
  
  
• Provide professional development for CIS and CTE faculty (at the partnering community colleges and their participating secondary schools) toward developing and implementing internal and external educational experiences that include problem-based and collaborative learning driven by real-world problems.
  
  
• Provide professional development for high school counselors and community college advisors toward (1) guiding students interested in ICT to leverage their IT skills by specializing in a disciplinary domain, and (2) guiding students of all disciplines to enter our IT-enabled world with a commanding knowledge of technological applications in their field of choice.
  
  
• Offer incumbent IT workers training in employability skills.

Implementation

As part of the implementation, a CATEP Advisory Board has been established. This board is comprised of educational, industry, and workforce development partners that have joined the CATEP team in order to help accomplish the goals and objectives of the grant. Implementation of soft skills training will take place through technical training curriculum modification at both ACC and Aims. Mini Tech Fairs will allow students, their parents, their teachers, and their advisors to hear first hand from industry and workforce development reps about the jobs available, employment requirements, and how soft skills can enhance their career. ACC and Aims will offer soft skills training to incumbent (i.e. existing) workers in the targeted high-growth industries.