Project
This project will result in the creation of short-term, for-credit, modularized certificates. The resulting certificates will be stackable into an associate (AAS) degree, conferred through WSU Tech, and transferrable into bachelor’s degree programs through Wichita State University. This project will blend curriculum across three degree programs – Robotics Technology, Maintenance and Reliability, and Industrial Automation Machine Maintenance – to offer local employers with options to upskill their employees through stackable robotics credentials.
Objective
This project created a program that leveraged stackable robotics credentials resulting in an associate degree with the possibility of transferring it into a bachelor’s degree.
Specifically, the program:
- Created an industry-approved education pathway model: Expansion of existing relationships with business and industry and also the establishment of new industry partners will be conducted for a variety of manufacturing industries and sizes. Through these interactions, we will develop modularized and shortened tracks for industry-specific skillsets and stackable credentials that lead to a new certificate-degree track.
- Integrated applied learning opportunities into education model: Blended applied learning models will be developed with employers and a pilot group of current students will be engaged in applied learning with WSU NIAR.
- Developed student pipeline from within and outside of manufacturing industry: Models of recruitment including social media, print, and videos will be used to develop the student pipeline from high schools into post-secondary programs, from current manufacturing employees who want to upskill, and from closely-aligned occupations outside of the manufacturing sector.
Participants
Wichita State University (Principal Investigator), Black Anvil Group, Spirit AeroSystems, WSU Tech, Workforce Alliance of South Central Kansas