Part 1 Brief project description
The automotive industry is the largest and most important industry in Michigan and the United States, employing more than 7.25 million Americans, according to the Auto Alliance, and representing the single largest U.S. export. However, the world economy has shifted. Today, the automotive industry is engaged in a shift from petroleum-powered engine that moved us through the 20th Century to the renewable resource based electric powered motor that will sustain our transportation needs and environmental resources of the 21st Century. The U.S. auto industry is developing vehicle drive systems that will reduce emissions and provide a platform for further technological advances into the future. The impact of these new technologies is an increasing need for trained automotive technicians prepared to support these new automotive technologies, which requires a new skill set for the repair industry. The undergoing technological changes to vehicle drive systems and other advanced technologies is fundamentally changing the educational requirements for the industry’s workforce. The industry demands highly trained automotive repair technicians for these new systems and certification tests. To properly support the skills needed our future technicians must have these new technologies in their classrooms to give them the hands on experience needed to be successful.
Part 2 Outline transformation in students’ learning
We are at a time in the automotive world that being the new kid is not exactly a bad thing. Students have the opportunity to start a career as a technician earning higher than average wages if they are prepared with the correct skill set. Advanced powertrain technology (APT) vehicles are the future of our industry with stricter fuel economy standards and green energy incentives we may see variations of these systems, but their increase within our transportation system is guaranteed. Nearly 20% of U.S. Cars will be Hybrid/Electric Vehicles by 2020 (Greimei). To meet the educational goal of students that can be certified and competent with APT vehicles our Lapeer ED-Tech program needs the resources to educate them through hands on training experiences. We currently lack the vehicles to support these needs, our students have online training programs sponsored by AC Delco but to give them the best educational training possible we need actual vehicles for our students to work on. We will use curriculum materials developed by the Center for Advanced Automotive Technology (CAAT) which is a regional group comprised of industry and educational representatives. I will expand our current computer based curriculum to include hands on tasks from electrical shut down safety to module testing and replacement. We will have end of unit testing over APT vehicles using the ASE student tests in Maintenance and Light Repair and Electrical/Electronics designed by the Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) Alliance. ASE is nationally recognized as the leader for Automotive certification within the USA. The idea for our program is to graduate students from high school ready to transition into a working environment with the necessary skills to be successful.
Part 3 The Total Package
The Automotive Technology program at the Lapeer ED-Tech Center is one of the best in our area, whether it’s looking at our equipment, shop size, or classroom population. Our shop has 12 working bays which gives our student to working space ratio of 2 to 1. We have four full sets of tools for the students to use and a computer lab they have access to for class assignments once a week. The shop was redesigned and expanded in 2008 with new tool storage, more than twice the square footage, as well new alignment and tire machines. Then we had the economic downturn which hit our school in 2010, funding was cut across the board in all programs and capital expenditures went away. We have managed to hold our program at the same quality level to date but each year gets a little harder to keep up with the new technologies in the automotive world. The student population comes to us from five different school districts within our county, most are middle class and we have a large rural population in the northern half of our county. Roughly 25% of my students are special needs ranging from learning disabled to forms of autism. I have a paraprofessional in the class to assist with these student and others that may need extra support. Students from the program work for local employers in a variety of positions from parts counter people to service technicians. Our students are 11th and 12th grades and as part of our program spend a minimum of two weeks in the workforce with different employers around the area. This allows them to see how a real shop functions and the environment in which their profession is based in. Every year our school contacts graduated seniors from the program to see whether they are working in our profession, college, or the military. The average over the past few years for my students is 60% are working in the Automotive industry whether working or college and 10% are serving in the military.
Click on the picture below for a tour of our shop.
The industry demands highly trained technical workers, of which there is currently a shortage. More than 80% of employers indicate an added need for highly trained technicians and 13% report a severe shortage (Eisen, Jasinowski, and Kleinhart). These are the facts of today’s workforce, our technology is moving faster than our educational system can keep up with. If we want students to be prepared with the skills needed to be successful than we must have the proper training tools. APT is part of that future, this technology is only going to grow and for the students in the service field hands on training is essential. Students need real vehicles to test, repair, and see. With these vehicles we can teach lessons on Hybrid transmissions, electric motors, series and parallel circuits, ohm’s law, and a host of other theories and applications. We would be able to teach engineering and infrastructure within the transportation world, like grid power interface, automated driving, and materials lightweighting. One thing I have always enjoyed about vocational education is how we tie school and work together, by showing students, yes this does matter in the real world and you will use this information again. They should know how to properly shutdown a hybrid electrical system and understand through actual hands on experience how a car transitions from gas power to electric power, not watching it on Youtube through a computer. This idea also helps to move our students from a group of watchers into doers which is a huge part missing in a lot of education today.
Mastery has always been my key educational principle when teaching my class. In the automotive repair field you can not do 90% of a brake job or someone loses a wheel and their brakes. I use lecture, online training resources, and procedure sheets for all the units we teach and with that mastery idea in mind each student completes a list of tasks to show they are hands on proficient as well as academically proficient before ever working in the field. To that point, this is why APT vehicles are so critical to your program and the complete education of our students. We use AC Delco online training for all units taught in the class, it is designed by industry for GM technicians and free to all schools. The students also receive training certificates for their portfolio from AC Delco. Procedure sheets are used for every task in the shop which gives the student an idea of what steps are necessary to complete the task, at the end of each procedure sheet is a place for me to sign showing that I checked the job and that the task was 100% correct when finished. We use lecture and powerpoints to explain theories and systems to the students with discussion to find any general question or misconceptions in the class. For most students, automotive technology is a new world with big ideas that have to be broken down into pieces for better student understanding. Brake for example, you hit the pedal and the car stops but what goes into that system to accomplish that. You have hydraulics that move pistons and friction with metal drums or discs that actual stop the car, so we break the system into parts showing how each part works and what part it play in the whole system. This way students are not taught how to change parts but rather how the big picture all works together.
Part 4 Evaluation
Evaluation is key to any lesson we teach to our students whether a written or hands on test, post graduate surveys, or simple discussion with our students to see what theories they have comprehended. I like to use all of these methods to evaluate my students, I talk to local employers and community college instructors about my past students and the knowledge they do or don’t have. I personally meet with local employers twice a year to get their feedback on how my students are doing, what changes need to be made to the curriculum, and what trends are being pushed in the industry to date. I use pre and post tests to measure the progress of the school year to help evaluate my curriculum from one year to the next. This gives me a good over of the whole year, so I can see if the students are retaining the key information I want them to graduate with. I can see what units I need to spend more time on and where enrichment activities are needed. Students take written certification tests at the end of each unit to see if their knowledge meets industry standards and hands on tests (task sheets) to connect their written knowledge with application knowledge together. All certification tests are written tests in industry, so students need practice reading technical questions and other test taking skills to help them be successful in industry, without certification you are unemployable in the automotive repair field. I like class discussions, it gives me the opportunity to see if students actual understand the material in the lecture and allows the students to guide the discussion into content they want to know more about. Connecting that information they want to know with knowledge they need to know helps with retention and drives the students to succeed in the class. I use many different tools to evaluate the students, myself, and the class as a whole. In regards to APT curriculum the students will have certification tests and task to show their abilities. The curriculum itself will be evaluated through discussions with employers, student test scores, and discussions in class. Nothing is perfect, we can always change and correct issues we see within our class to improve the material and methods we use to teach.
Part 5 How does your project connect to educational technology?
The idea is not as simple as just a car, it the value of what that car bring to the classroom. The hands on experience needed to fill an industry need and the support of that educational experience. Students will be adding a concrete idea (the car) with the technical material they learn through AC Delco which will enrich that learning experience and push them for a greater understanding of the material. We will also be teaching lessons on connect driving and grid infrastructure to help students interested in engineering. They will build on theory and design to see real world applications for automated driving, handheld scanner use, and lightweighting vehicles for better fuel economy. This will allow us to work with community colleges and presenters on educational experiences that most high school students don’t have. Different career pathways and educational ideas can be taught and included into the curriculum from design theory to marketing. We need to start expanding our students opportunities within the automotive world and push them to be thinkers and designers, not just what’s the answer or to change this part.
Resources
https://autoalliance.org/economy/
Hans Greimei, Automotive News, May 27, 2009, http://www.autonews.com/article/20090527/ANA05/905279972/1186/. Accessed October 5, 2009.
Eisen, J. Jasinowski, and R. Kleinhart, R., 2005, “2005 Skills Gap Report – A Survey of the American Workforce.” http://www.nam.org/s_nam/bin.asp?CID=89&DID=235731&DOC=FILE.PDF/. Accessed April 17, 2009.
John Howell - Automotive Technology Instructor 