Journal of Advanced Technological Education (J ATE)

Community colleges are integral to the higher education landscape in the United States, enrolling a large percentage of all undergraduate students, including half of all freshman and sophomores. Community and technical colleges teach a higher proportion of low-income students, students of color, and first-generation college students than their counterparts at four-year institutions.

Because of differences in the history, mission, organizational structures, and student populations, community college faculty spend more time teaching and fewer hours engaged in research and scholarship than four-year college faculty. Yet within higher education as a whole, publication in peer-reviewed journals remains a primary way of evaluating the productivity and workload of college faculty.

In a world where faculty competence is often measured in terms of publications rather than teaching experience, the lower number of articles submitted for publication by faculty at community and technical colleges contributes to perceptions of lower prestige, and misperceptions of the quality of education provided by community and technical colleges. With the emergence of the Journal of Advanced Technological Education (J ATE), these highly-valuable, little-known sources of innovative ideas can be brought to a larger audience.

J ATE represents an opportunity not only for community colleges, but for educators at all levels to learn about research and best practices in technician education and undergraduate research that are being developed for the most diverse population of undergraduates in the country. This project will support the J ATE in developing a sustainability plan for the journal while also supporting both faculty and students in honing their skills on crafting articles for submission to peer-reviewed journals.

The goal of J ATE is to promote and advance technician education nationwide by building a community of peer-reviewed published authors from community and technical colleges. By publishing innovations in technician education, this project will promote best practices for teaching America’s increasingly diverse undergraduate student population and increase the reach and recognition of community college faculty and students.

The goal will be achieved through professional development of project team members, community college faculty and students; broad dissemination of resources and information for ATE PIs, Co-PIs, Evaluators, and community college faculty; and a business plan for sustaining the only peer-reviewed journal dedicated to technician training. 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.