Maricopa Community Colleges
Phoenix, AZ
- A premier source of quality instructional materials used by educators and industry trainers in the areas of electronics, semiconductor manufacturing, automation and energy utilization technologies.
- A provider of timely, relevant professional development opportunities in the form of an internationally attended webinar series.
- A sponsor of opportunities for education and industry partners to work as a community that advances learning and establishes new models for student achievement and success.?
Industry-Relevant Learning Resources Ensure Student Success in the Classroom
With the information explosion, discovering and using new library materials can be a daunting task for high school teachers and college faculty. MATEC NetWorks has developed a unique digital library of classroom-ready technology and pedagogy resources such as curricula, lesson plans, videos, learning objects, and hands-on laboratory activities. These resources are easy to obtain and incorporate into existing courses, saving instructors time while improving the content of their lessons.
The materials in the digital library are pre-screened and tagged to yield good results via customized searches. MATEC NetWorks provides a personalized experience and a trusted network for educator access. Fifty-three percent of 125 surveyed users updated existing topics and 38% indicated they added new, emerging technology topics to their curricula on the basis of the resources they accessed.
Internationally Attended Webinar Series Provides Timely, Relevant Professional Development
MATEC NetWorks’ webinars help educators grow professionally in their knowledge of the subject matter they teach and in the methods they use to encourage student learning. The focused webinars are delivered for free via the web on advanced technologies, teaching and learning, program building, and other technician education topics. These highly interactive, short duration programs provide a cost-effective approach for faculty and their colleges to make sure students acquire the skills they and their future employers want and need.
During a 15-month period beginning in September of 2009, MATEC NetWorks produced or co-produced 52 webinars with 3,084 total registrants. Teachers, college faculty, industry personnel, and students from 49 states, the District of Columbia, and 13 countries participated in the live webinar sessions.
In a follow-up survey of 111 webinar participants, 51% reported that they had updated topics and instructional materials based on what they learned from a webinar. Forty-four percent reported using webinar content to add information about new and emerging technologies into their courses.
MATEC NetWorks Builds Future STEM Workforce
MATEC NetWorks partners with industry’s SEMI Foundation to encourage high school students to pursue high technology careers. Together they produce and deliver High Tech U, a 3-day career awareness experience where industry presenters guide students through experiential STEM learning activities that emphasize teamwork. When 72 high school seniors were surveyed 2 years after they attended High Tech U, 88% reported feeling that High Tech U influenced their career and education choices.
A survey of 18 teachers whose students attended High Tech U found additional evidence of the program’s positive impact on students. In the survey, 91% of the teachers reported seeing new confidence in students who attended High Tech U; 77% observed that the High Tech U participants are more interested in the applications of their math and science studies; and 71% of the teachers said High Tech U influenced their students’ education and career plans.
