Enhancing Artificial Intelligence Skills for Technicians to Thrive in the Digital Workforce

This project aims to serve the national interest by strengthening the education pipeline, providing students with a deeper understanding of artificial intelligence and expanding their opportunities to pursue technician careers in the digital workforce. Artificial intelligence enables researchers to make groundbreaking discoveries, empowers educators in their teaching, fosters collaborative learning among students, and facilitates efficient product development by manufacturers. With the growing prominence of artificial intelligence in all sectors, community colleges are well-positioned to prepare technicians to better adapt their skills to meet the demands of the workforce. This project will develop curriculum, provide pathways for faculty to upskill their knowledge, pilot recruitment and career awareness initiatives, and build a promising practices model for artificial intelligence education in the community college classroom. The experienced leadership team includes experts from community colleges, economic development, and industry. The project will prioritize implementation fidelity with the understanding that artificial intelligence education is a new addition to the curriculum for many community college faculty and students. The evaluation plan will analyze each outcome and provide summative results that will be widely disseminated. Leveraging collaboration with industry partners to shape the program’s needs, the project will make emerging technician-level jobs with artificial intelligence skills more accessible to all citizens. This project is funded by the Advanced Technological Education program that focuses on the education of technicians for the advanced-technology fields that drive the nation's economy. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.