Rabu, 12 November 2008

Grassroots Robotics

With financial support from the Indiana Department of Workforce Development (IDWD)—a state agency—IRE is able to provide free workshops and competitions that benefit teachers, students and schools. At the end of the three-day teacher workshops, the teachers get free software, curriculum guides and a VEX Starter Kit each to take back for use in their classrooms.
As part of the deal, teachers must field one or more student teams to compete in robot competitions held locally in the state. This has been a boon for the teachers because the students are extremely enthusiastic and highly motivated, and the resources for the new robotics programs are almost entirely paid for by the state, i.e., by taxpayer dollars. The IRE program costs teachers only two or three days of their time at a training workshop; the teachers and their school boards are not asked to pay for anything.

Backing for the IRE’s robotics programs has come from the IDWD because that agency is charged with ensuring a flow of technically trained graduates into the local workforce. IDWD partners in this program with Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana—a statewide college system that provides the facilities for the teacher workshops and that ultimately trains technical majors for Indiana industry.

class="style1">Everybody Wins

This expanding program is a win-win for all. It has long been recognized that robots are a learning accelerant—a catalyst that galvanizes students’ interest in STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and math). Because robots are entertaining and fun to build, operate and compete with, students progress more quickly in their studies and become more aware of technical career opportunities along the way. From the viewpoint of engineers, educators and government, this is of critical importance in a changing world in which our technological leadership is being challenged.

Teachers progress in their professional development and the performance of their schools is recognizably enhanced. The Ivy Tech campuses where the workshops are held benefit through a strengthened working relationship with the teachers who are educating the students who will soon be going to college. Even hobbyists in general benefit because the program heightens the demand for robotics technologies that squarely overlap with those enjoyed by hobbyists of all ages; in other words, the robotics market itself is expanding as a result of the IRE initiatives.

The Leaders behind the IRE

Dan Ward is the Design Technology Program chairman at Ivy Tech, the only community college system in Indiana. Dan and his brother, Luke, an assistant professor at Ivy Tech, have been pioneering IRE robotics educational programs since 2000 with the goal of inspiring high school students to pursue technical careers. Kyle Wiley, assistant professor at Ivy Tech, joined their team, and what they have achieved in two short years is nothing short of phenomenal. Their accomplishments could serve as a role model to change the landscape in technical education nationwide to our country’s benefit. In fact, Dan and his IRE associates have been contacted by educators in several states who wish to replicate the successes spearheaded there in Indiana.

When did you first launch a robotics program in Indiana, and how did that come about?
Dan: I was on a visit to the Indiana Statehouse to give a robotics demonstration to our legislature. I was there with my brother, Luke, who works with me on grant projects. We were trying to convince the state legislature that it was a good idea to fund educational robotics. To set the context, the Indiana Workforce Development agency has been a big supporter of FIRST in our state. We were there with our FIRST machines, probably 10 teams. We were offering quite a show, making a lot of noise; a lot of robots were moving around.
The people from Workforce Development had heard we were coming and stopped by and asked what was the biggest hurdle in getting more schools involved with robotics programs like FIRST. I said, “training.” That’s the first hurdle; the second is money. They asked, “What is the best way to solve this?” And I told them “Let us train them. We will use your funding and give the teachers the equipment they need so that they won’t have to get it from their school.”
They then asked how much it would cost; now, I was on the spot. I turned to my brother and we whispered back and forth and then I turned around and said that it would cost in the vicinity of X dollars. Based on that, they figured that their cost per teacher would only be around $300 for three days of training and all of this equipment. They had never seen anything like it and asked me to commit this to writing in a proposal. This was on a Tuesday, and I said I could have it to them by Friday, so I spent a couple of sleepless nights putting the proposal together.

What happened next?
Dan: The following week was business as usual until Wednesday, when we jumped in the car to drive to Atlanta for that year’s FIRST national competition. While we were there, my cell phone rang; it was our school business office manager at Ivy Tech, who said that a check had shown up with my name on it and that it was for a substantial sum of money, and nobody knew what it was for. The DWD thought the proposal was such a good idea they jumped on it in less than a week! When that later played out, we actually surpassed our first year’s projected numbers; we came in under budget.

class="response_title">Robot:When and where are the workshops held?
Dan: Teacher workshops are held in the summer, June through August, on Ivy Tech campuses around the state. We have a 10-week window to hold eight workshops.

Robot: Can you characterize the process of writing a grant? What do you put into it?
Dan: Those in a position to allocate money want to see sustainability; that’s first. The grant writer must say that with the history here, there is this much more we can do, and that it will be self-perpetuating—that we have people who are involved and that they are going to stay involved. That’s the important part. Even if you don’t have it at the moment, you have to prove that it will be sustainable in the end.

Robot: How many have you trained, and when did your workshops begin?
Dan: The first year, we trained 35. That was a proof of concept on an old grant. We did that on donations; I put a little money into it. We scraped and got the information together. We had really good luck. The teachers really seemed to enjoy it.
The next time around, summer of 2006—and that is the same time as we partnered with the Workforce Development people—we had 121 participants. That was without advertising—just word of mouth. We had requirements defining what we could use the money for. We were able to get 121 people representing 102 high schools.
In 2007, we did a little marketing and sent out some emails. The Department of Education had a mailing list, and the science technology teachers received this on their list serve as well. I think word of mouth did more for us than any other channel, quite honestly. At this point, we have trained 560 teachers—560 robots have been delivered into teachers’ hands.

class="response_title">Robot:What exactly do teachers get in these workshops?
Dan: All have been given free VEX Starters, current Autodesk Inventor software, a DVD with a curriculum that we have developed over the years and robot project and competition notes. This is provided in Microsoft Word format so that they can edit it. They also build a robot during the workshop and compete with it on the third day
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