1. Timothy Fetting
  2. NTC Faculty, STEM Center Coordinator
  3. The EMMET Project
  4. https://www.emmet.education/
  5. Northcentral Technical College
  1. Darren Ackley
  2. Vice President for Learning
  3. The EMMET Project
  4. https://www.emmet.education/
  5. Northcentral Technical College
Public Discussion

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  • Icon for: Timothy Fetting

    Timothy Fetting

    Lead Presenter
    NTC Faculty, STEM Center Coordinator
    May 12, 2019 | 08:22 p.m.

    Welcome everyone; thanks for checking out our project.  All comments welcome, but any information or thoughts on measurable impact indicators and sustainability would be greatly appreciated.  

  • Icon for: Jake Foster

    Jake Foster

    Facilitator
    Founder
    May 13, 2019 | 12:23 p.m.

    Thank you for sharing this project. I am excited to see a focus on rural communities and engagement of high school students in facilitating sessions. Given the focus on exposure activities, what sort of follow up has been requested, or do you foresee as being useful, to those in rural communities who get excited about the CS-infused activities? Perhaps others that work in rural communities can talk to issues of access and application as well.

  • Icon for: Timothy Fetting

    Timothy Fetting

    Lead Presenter
    NTC Faculty, STEM Center Coordinator
    May 13, 2019 | 04:26 p.m.

    We plan to provide all of our active community based organizations with the resources needed to continue conducting these activities.  We have been planning sustainability piece with our senior personnel, adult mentors, and some of our high school mentors that will stay on with the project.  This will include materials, training, and instructions for the activities available on our website.

  • Icon for: Jake Foster

    Jake Foster

    Facilitator
    Founder
    May 13, 2019 | 09:21 p.m.

    Thank you for sharing. Are the high school students being drawn from the rural communities? It would be great to find a way to expand your high school cadre to include students from different grade levels so that older students can train/mentor/induct younger students to become leaders/facilitators over a few years to keep the cycle going over time.

  • Icon for: Camellia Sanford-Dolly

    Camellia Sanford-Dolly

    Facilitator
    Senior Research Associate
    May 13, 2019 | 01:30 p.m.

    I like the approach of introducing STEM in unexpected places - home shows, libraries, community events, etc. I wanted to know more about who is identifying such opportunities/existing events and locations - Is it the project leads, the maker mentors being trained as facilitators, other groups, some combination of the above? Similarly, I wondered about how the word is getting out to potential maker mentors or community participants to take part in these opportunities - Are there particular communication or outreach strategies that you've found to be effective in reaching rural community members?

  • Icon for: Timothy Fetting

    Timothy Fetting

    Lead Presenter
    NTC Faculty, STEM Center Coordinator
    May 13, 2019 | 04:15 p.m.

    The project leads, senior personnel, and adult mentors have all played a role in identifying events and locations.  We began with exposure activities at community events and correspondence to many of our regional community based organizations.  As the word has gotten out we have shifted from looking for events to trying to fit all of them in our calendar.  We did outreach at local high schools to identify our initial maker mentors.  The best outreach strategy for us initially was demonstrating what types of educational opportunities we could provide at the community events because of the large audiences.

  • Icon for: Michelle Quirke

    Michelle Quirke

    Project Manager
    May 13, 2019 | 04:26 p.m.

    This video addresses an issue that will be critical for our next generation - taking technology and STEM education to rural communities. The video captures the training and energy of the maker + mentor. Definitely a project that captures increasing student confidence and building leaders for STEM education. Dynamic project and excellent video!

     
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    Discussion is closed. Upvoting is no longer available

    Timothy Fetting
  • Icon for: Breanne Litts

    Breanne Litts

    Facilitator
    Assistant Professor
    May 14, 2019 | 12:54 p.m.

    Thank you for sharing your project! Connecting with rural populations is especially important, and Wausau is a really unique community in Wisconsin as well. From the video, it appears that there is quite a bit of community engagement. Can you share more about how your project has impacted the community more broadly? How have you developed partnerships with the community? What sort of buy-in do you have? I am specifically curious if you have insights particular to how people might approach this in rural contexts. 

    I notice the idea of "exposure" activities is mentioned in the video. I wonder what the next step might be for those who participate in these workshops. How do you envision sustaining participation beyond exposure? 

    Full disclosure: I have some early connections to this project via Erica Halverson & CMP. :) 

  • Icon for: Timothy Fetting

    Timothy Fetting

    Lead Presenter
    NTC Faculty, STEM Center Coordinator
    May 15, 2019 | 09:32 a.m.

    Community involvement has been significant although it took time and effort in the beginning.  Through these community contacts we will be getting our resources out to a wide variety of locations.  Our current mentors have finished a two year commitment, but many have expressed interest in continuing on with the project.  Additionally, Northcentral Technical College has the physical space and resources needed to continue to offer training for activities and mentoring.

     

    Heading to CMP in July!

  • Icon for: Jason Aloisio

    Jason Aloisio

    Researcher
    May 15, 2019 | 12:23 p.m.

    Following-up on this and your question about sustainability... Are the mentors compensated in some way for participation? Have the majority stayed committed for the 2 year duration? 

  • Icon for: Timothy Fetting

    Timothy Fetting

    Lead Presenter
    NTC Faculty, STEM Center Coordinator
    May 20, 2019 | 10:37 a.m.

    Mentors are reimbursed for their time.  We have been fortunate to have a core group of approximately 12 mentors commit for the duration of the two years.  We also had some who attended sporadically either because of a lack of commitment or a busy high school schedule with extra-curricular activities and/or work.

  • Further posting is closed as the showcase has ended.