Progress 09/01/11 to 08/31/15
Outputs
Target Audience:Our targeted audience continues to consist of: Renewable Energy Business and Industry Collaborating colleges Regional high schools/teachers/counselors/parents Industrial Technology Students Industriesincumbent workers Applied Learning Institute (ALI) MN Energy Center National Network for Pulp and Paper Technology Training (NPT2) Itasca's targeted audience this past grant period consisted of working with many business, industries and high schools. Some of the industries we have been working closely with include UPM Blandin Paper Company, Sappi Paper, MN Power and Segetis. Segetis is a technology-enabled green chemistry company that harnesses the power and reliability of renewable agricultural and forestry resources. We have also been working closely with those associated with Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006 and are continuing to work with the area administrators to support the integration of career development, technology, academic, leadership and workplace skills in Career and Technical Education. In addition, we have been working with our local Workforce Centers to train/educate many dislocated steel workers due to foreign trade. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?This project has provided our Industrial Technology Instructors with a Faculty Institute that grew into an ideal learning community. They continue to host meetings throughout the year to meet and discuss best practices. I cannot begin to tell you how much this has impacted our programs. ICC needed to develop the 21st Century learner and this gave us the opportunity to bring our faculty together in order to do so. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?This past year ICC has been very involved with the MN Energy Consortium which is a great avenue to disseminate information about our programs across the state. Itasca participated in Energy Education for Educators (E3) conferences which were held around the state of Minnesota in June 2015. This conference drew 47 participants from across the state representing 43 schools. The six 2-day sessions targeted high school and middle school math, science, agriculture and industrial technology teachers. Participating colleges hosting the events were: * Anoka-Ramsey Community College * Century College * Fond du Lac Tribal & Community College * Itasca Community College * Minnesota West Community & Technical College * Riverland Community College * St. Cloud Technical & Community College The conferences consistedof multiple industry site tours andclassroom workshops. Participants wereprovided lesson plans, supporting curriculum and training kits to be used in their classrooms. The goalis to expose high school and middle school students to the energy industry in our state and region and get them thinking about future careers in the energyindustry. Industry partners included Xcel Energy, Minnesota Power, Great River Energy, Alliant Energy, regional solar and wind powered energy producers. We continue to work with the Applied Learning Institute, the National Network of Pulp and Paper Technology training and the Rural Technology partners. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Itasca had many successful outcomes from this grant but if I had to pick the top two that really impacted our college they would be our yearly industry summit and our yearly faculty institutes. ICC's Industry Summit - Fire to Juice has been hosted onsite for the past two years and will continue after the completion of the grant. This has impacted the college, students and industry in a way that is easy to describe. SUCCESS!! Through this the college has demonstrated to both industry and students they are the leader in career and technical education. Industry looks to ICC for potential employees and a way to train their incumbent workforce. Students see our programs as a training tool and a way to get into a career that will have a huge impact for them. The second major impact was the faculty institute. We can have the best curriculum and subject matter experts in the world but if they are unable to teach that information in a way for students to understand and learn than we are not succeeding. The focus for 2015's faculty institute was empowering students to develop the intrinsic motivation for their own learning. There is much evidence that "learning that lasts" is a direct function of such motivation. We used the early works of Carl Rogers and the self-determination theory of Ryan and Deci to develop plans for immediate use in the classrooms and strategies to be acquired for long term use in careers. Here is a statement from one of my industry instructors. He states that his students aren't the only ones benefitting from the classes on Monday and Wednesday afternoons. "This is one of the best professional development things I've done," he said, noting that teaching is helping him improve his public speaking and organizational skills. ICC's other targets have also been successful and we will continue to grow our pool of instructors as well as updating and modifying curriculum to meet future needs. This grant gave us the opportunity to develop the starting point to move forward with the partnerships that have been made through continuous collaboration.
Publications
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Progress 09/01/13 to 08/31/14
Outputs
Target Audience: Our targeted audience consists of: Renewable Energy Business and Industry Collaborating colleges Regional high schools/teachers/counselors/parents Industrial Technology Students Industriesincumbent workers Applied Learning Institute (ALI) MN Energy Center National Network for Pulp and Paper Technology Training (NPT2) Itasca has met with many different audiences focusing on business, industryand high schools. With the renewed ALI vision we have connected high school and college instructors together with industry. Lastly, we have incorporated all of our targeted audiences into our Energy Summit which has brought our program to a new level. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? The opportunities we have had for training and professional development have come through our faculty institute and our collaborating partners we have made throughout this grant. The development of a faculty community that focuses on continually improving their own abilities to guide learning with students has been a huge success that we hope will continue to grow. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? This past year Itasca continues to partner with the MN Energy Center and also the Applied Learning Institute. Both of these agencies work with many different industries/schools/colleges across MN to continue the conversations/curriculum/development for renewable energy. They have been and will continue to be a major asset for our Industrial Technology Programs. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Itasca received a no-cost extension to finish our goals. We have been working diligently with our high school partners in offering students a career pathway to our industrial technology programs. To date we have been mentoring 16 different teachers with our biofuel curriculum leaving them with all the curriculum. We will also be hosting another Energy Summit in May. Lastly we will be disseminating all of the curriculum to our national consortium partners. Itasca will have no issue completing our remaining goals within the grant.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Itasca’s outputs for 2014 include: Itasca Community College is still collaborating with our regional college on our industrial technology programs. In 2013, we partnered with the Minnesota Energy Center and now we have expanded/reenergized our connection with the Applied Learning Institute (ALI). ALI was formed to enhance the curriculum in northeast Minnesota by providing experiential learning that combines hands-on training and technology. ALI’s goal is to prepare students to be highly trained, knowledgeable workers who are equipped with the technical and problem-solving skills needed by employers everywhere. ICC was unable to attend the Project Director’s Conference. The conference was canceled due to budget cutbacks. The funding was used to hold another faculty institute. On June 26th and 27th, Itasca held its second successful faculty institute. The goal of the institute was to help our seasoned industrial technology faculty members and our subject matter experts (SME) identify the essential components in a significant learning experience. They will then apply those components to design improvements in their own course(s). This institute consisted of active learning along with substantial development in their future teaching. As an outcome from June’s Faculty Institute, a new group was formed on Itasca’s campus. The group is currently going by the name Faculty Learning Community. Here is thecharter for Itasca’s new group: The faculty learning community is an organization of teachers focused on continually improving their own abilities to guide learning with students. Membership in the community is voluntary and open to anyone willing to take part. The activities of the group include meeting formally three times per year to evaluate progress on our own personal development goals, set new goals for future growth, share teaching experiences, and seek outside development opportunities. Informally, members will work with each other to give peer feedback on instructional designs and classroom interactions. As noted in goal #1, Itasca is working with the Applied Learning Institute (ALI) to continue with the curricular pathways between the college and high schools. During Fall Semester Itasca developed a renewable energy biofuel curriculum for high school teachers and students. We have delivered it to four different high schools and 16 classrooms. The classroom teacher receives an “Instructor Kit” so they are able to continue this project with their future classes. ICC hosted its first annual Energy Summit and it was a huge success. We had a number of industries from MN show up and express interest with our program and our students. One of the industries asked if they could interview three of our students that day. As a result all three were offered jobs. Another local industry hired eight of our students within the following three months. We have also had industries that were unable to attend asking for our graduates. Below you will find our Energy Summit Invitation. Fire to Juice Energy Summit Employers - come meet and interact with your future employees!! Itasca Community College would like to invite you to come and see our Industrial Technology – Power Generation Students in Action. ICC has worked very hard to develop a “Project Based” learning model for their Industrial Technology Program. This Project Based Learning model allows students to develop a real understanding of the importance of routine maintenance, quality of construction, and general operation of the equipment many of them will be involved in during their careers. Students will be presenting and demonstrating the Rankine Cycle which includes: Showing and explaining to you their design and fabrication of a generator complete with commutator and support structure. Showing and explaining to you their design and construction of a low pressure boiler with options of super-heating and moisture separating. Showing and explaining to you how they have combined their boilers (fire) and generators (juice) together by designing and constructing condensers and turbines. Agenda: Welcome/Keynote Speaker – Inez Wildwood, MN Governor’s Workforce Development Council Program Overview Renewable Energy Certificate Overview Break Professional Development Posters Rankine Cycle Presentations Lunch Rankine Cycle Demonstrations Question / Answer Session and tour of the facilities
Publications
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Progress 09/01/12 to 08/31/13
Outputs
Target Audience: This past grant period, ICC met with much of the Northeast business and industries to listen to their growing needs for new employees and incumbent employees within the Renewable Energy Sector. We have also met with all of the faculty involved with our Industrial Technology Programs which includes general education and program specific instructors in order to develop our faculty institute. We held our faculty institute this past summer which was a huge success. The institute included both seasoned and new faculty which was great. This past year we expanded our outreach to all of Minnesota by joining the MN Energy Council. We have also included any and all contractors involved. All of these folks hire for our programs and help to determine what courses/materials are needed within our programs. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?
Nothing Reported
How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? This past year Itasca partnered with the MN Energy Center and still works with many colleges, k-12 school districts, and industries to continue the conversations of the development of the Renewable Energy Curriculum. ICC has expanded its partners throughout the state of MN. Itasca is still a member of the Northeast Higher Education District (NHED) and represents them with the MN Energy Center. Working with the MN Energy Center allows Itasca to reach more communities than expected. The more colleges and industry partners we have throughout the state helps to increase the awareness of Renewable energy. Our local energy partner, MN Power participated in National Bioenergy Day. This was a day for anyone who was interested in learning about biomass and how it is the largest source of renewable energy in Minnesota. It was also a way for the community to learn about the benefits of bioenergy in our region. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Itasca is six months behind on the agreed goals and the budgeted spending. We have completed the process of converting the existing curriculum supplied to us by NPT2 (National Network for Pulp and Paper Technology Training) and also from Kennebec Valley Community College (Past New Era Grant recipient) June 30, 2013. We are now in the process of customizing the curriculum to implement into k-12. The faculty members have been selected and have begun the process of preparing the kits/curriculum for the k-12 faculty. The next step in the process will come January, 2014 when they will be setting up their scheduled visits within the k-12 classrooms. ICC has also selected and outlined the 3rd course within the Renewable Energy Curriculum. Per our discussions with industry, below you will find our general outline of topics selected for the 3rd course. The Woody Biomass course along with the other two renewable energy courses will fit in perfectly not only with our local/regional paper and power industries but also with ICC’s forestry, power generation, pulp and paper, and engineering programs. Woody Biomass Curriculum – Renewable Energy Course 1. Nature of woody materials a. Wood chemistry b. Cellular structure c. Types of wood 2. Energy values in wood/ combustion process 3. Factors affecting heat value (HHV,NHV) 4. Sources and types of materials (production methods) a. Identifying types of products (residue/waste) b. Impact on quality 5. Forest aspects and considerations a. Recovery of materials b. Seasonality of supply 6. Supply evaluation a. Identifying resource availability b. Contracting and purchasing 7. Procurement a. Scaling and value assessment b. Quality of materials Lastly, Itasca will be offering another faculty institute this coming summer and will be developing materials (website/brochure) along with a two day Rural Technology Partners meeting to disseminate any and all material developed from the grant.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Itasca County Community College (ICC) is located in northeast region of Minnesota in the rural community of Grand Rapids. Itasca Community College is a member of MnSCU – the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system, the largest public higher education system in Minnesota, whose membership includes 32 institutions of higher education. ICC partners with four other two-year MnSCU colleges in northeast Minnesota under the framework of the Northeast Higher Education District. ICC has strong ties with area schools as well. It is a member of the Itasca Area Schools Collaborative (IASC), which includes seven area school districts and the college. IASC is a joint powers agreement and was formed in August of 2005 to bring a new focus to a partnership of area school districts and the local community college seeking increased educational opportunities for students. The region in which ICC is located is well known for its natural resources, most notably timber. Timber has driven the economy in this area for over 150 years, and accounts for much of the economic development from the latter half of the last century through today. Several paper mills are located in northeast Minnesota. The paper industry is currently innovating with new technologies in order to improve operating efficiency, end product quality and customer value. In addition, paper mills using state-of-the-art technologies in energy consume 26% less energy and 46% less fossil fuel than average mills. In the paper industry, machine uptime, which is dependent on employees’ technical skills and knowledge, is paramount to staying competitive in today’s worldwide market. The introduction of cutting edge technologies means there is the added need for training of both incumbent and new employees on the new equipment and processes, and the anticipated application of renewable energies. Itasca’s outputs for this past year include: Itasca Community College continually collaborates with regional colleges on our industrial technology programs. This past year ICC joined and partnered with the Minnesota Energy Center. It is an industry/education/workforce partnership that is focusing on three areas i. Workforce Development: How can MnSCU (Minnesota State Colleges and Universities) provide the right education and training to support the energy industry? ii. Pipeline: How we can increase the awareness of energy-related careers? iii. Research: How can MnSCU support education-industry partnerships that advance research in energy-related fields? The MN Energy Center has brought colleges and industries throughout MN together so that we can all work towards common goals. ICC’s main industrial partners are also involved and play a key role in the Center. ICC was not able to attend the Project Director’s Conference. The conference was not held this year due to budget cutbacks. On June 27th and 28th, ICC held our first successful faculty institute. The goal of our faculty institute was to bring those SME (subject matter experts) together along with seasoned industrial technology faculty members to provide them with training centered on students’ success. The two day training consisted of Syllabus Writing (Participants were led through a session on how to identify all of the crucial components of a syllabus and then applied/practiced writing their own syllabus); Cognitive Apprenticeship (Participants learned the cognitive apprenticeship method of meeting student learning outcomes); Active Learning Strategies (Participants acquired the knowledge of a variety of active learning strategies. Using these strategies, participants will be able to plan the learning activities for selected outcomes for their courses), and Assessment (Participants acquired a variety of assessment techniques aimed at providing formative feedback to students during the learning process and summative evaluation as each learning outcome is achieved). ICC’s Industrial Technology Faculty still continues to meet bimonthly to go over any issues/concerns and highlight our success. ICC has completed the transfer of KVCC’s and LCC’s curriculum into an online format. We are now able to customize and offer these courses online to our local industries both for credit and noncredit. In January, we will be holding our Biannual Advisory meeting to discuss curriculum changes within our two Industrial Technology Programs. We are looking to see where and how we can embed our biofuel curriculum within the program. ICC and our local Industries are planning on offering these courses Fall Semester, 2014. Itasca has initiated ALI/k-12 curricular pathways dialogue between the college and the schools. Currently we are in the process of taking our Renewable Energy curriculum and customizing it for high school faculty and students. We are preparing the kits/curriculum that will be delivered Spring Semester, 2014 and Fall Semester, 2014. Since ICC is a member of the MN Energy Center, we have been meeting with all of the industries and colleges who are involved with Renewable Energy within the state. We did not host a Mill Summit the past year but will be hosting one this next year. ICC did not feel like we needed to pull all of our partners together again to discuss what was already discussed with the MN Energy Centers meetings. This next year we will offer to host one of the meetings either at ICC or at a more centralized location. ICC also works with its local Chamber of Commerce as to what the needs are for our area industries. A Successful Worker Job Description was developed with the help of our local IEDC (Itasca Economic Development Center), and Maven Perspectives through a Blandin Foundation Grant. Local business and industries got together to determine what type of worker they are looking for. ICC’s Industrial Technology Programs have been working on incorporating these skills into our entire curriculum. Our bimonthly faculty meetings incorporate how our instructors are working to implement and demonstrate as many of these skills as possible.
Publications
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Progress 09/01/11 to 08/31/12
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Itasca's outputs for this past year include: 1) designating Jill Murray as the PPAPER Project Coordinator. 2) We have engaged James Gibson as our external coordinator. 3) The establishment of an advisory council. 4) Itasca has initiated ALI/k-12 curricular pathways dialogue between the college and the schools. 5) The completion of a recruitment/retention/marketing plan for our Industrial Technology Programs (Pulp and Paper and Power Generation). This plan will help us move forward on marketing the Renewable Energy Curriculum within these two programs. 6) Itasca partnered with the Chancellor's "Workforce Assessment" initiative to address the state's growing skills gap. The Workforce Assessment will engage employers in developing precise projections for how many workers and professionals, with what kinds of skills, will be needed in our area, for what kinds of jobs. The data gathered from the sessions will be used by Minnesota State Colleges and Universities to align their certificates and degrees, worker retraining and customized training programs with the needs of Minnesota's businesses, industries and communities. 7) The development of the faculty institute is in process ICC has been and will continue to hold bimonthly meetings with all of the programs faculty and staff who are involved in our Industrial Technology Programs. This meeting comprise of seasoned faculty and staff and also new faculty and staff working and teaching within the program. These meetings have been developed to bring out any issues they are having and also best practices. Our faculty institute is being created with all of these issues and best practices in mind. PARTICIPANTS: Itasca Community College has partnered with many colleges, k-12 school districts, and industries to continue the conversations of the development of the Renewable Energy Curriculum, the faculty institute, and how we can recruit/retain/and market this program to students. Itasca is a member of the Northeast Higher Education District (NHED) which is comprised of five colleges Rainy River Community College, Vermilion Community College, Hibbing Community College, Mesabi Range Community and Technical College. Along with our local community colleges we have also developed a relationship with seven community colleges throughout the United States including Alabama Southern Community College, Lower Columbia Community College, Kennebec Valley Community College, Midstate Technical College, York Technical College, Eastern Iowa Community College, Jones County Junior College, and Northeast Iowa Community College. We are also a part of ALI which connects 16 northeastern Minnesota school districts, along with the five colleges of the Northeast Higher Education District (NHED), Iron Range Resources (IRR), Range Association of Municipalities and Schools (RAMS), and Minnesota Center for Engineering and Manufacturing Excellence (MNCEME). We all have similar interests in the development of new career pathways systems for business and Industries. They have been instrumental in the development of our faculty institute, online curriculum, and recruitment/retention/marketing plan. Itasca also the Midwest Node for the National Network for Pulp and Paper Technology Training which also supports us in the development of our new curriculum. All of these participants add value to the development of our PPAPER Project. TARGET AUDIENCES: Within this grant period, we have met with much of the Northeast business and industries to listen to their growing needs for new employees and incumbent employees within the Renewable Energy Sector. We have also met with all of the faculty involved with our Industrial Technology Programs which includes general education and program specific instructors in order to develop our faculty institute. Our Dean of Academic Affairs and Student Services, Barbara McDonald has a monthly meeting with the other Chief Academic Officers and informs them of the development of the recruitment/retention/marketing plan, the faculty institute coming up summer of 2013, and the new online curriculum that will be available. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Not relevant to this project.
Impacts
Itasca is on track in terms of the agreed on goals and the budgeted spending. We are currently in the process of converting the existing curriculum supplied to us by NPT2 (National Network for Pulp and Paper Technology Training) and also from Kennebec Valley Community College (Past New Era Grant recipient). Itasca received KVCC's curriculum the summer of 2012 and are currently in the process of converting the curriculum. Both curriculums will be completed by the end of December of 2012. During this process the instructor is also developing online advanced training modules for customized training. Industries will use these customized training modules to train their incumbent employees. The outcome of our recruitment/retention/marketing plan will also impact our number of recruits within the two programs. This will also impact all other programs within in the college as well as informing students in the k-12 system what is available for them.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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