Automotive and Aviation

1. Automotive and Aviation Technician Education Summit SWOT Analysis Summary November 20th, 2009 Greenville, SC

2. Strengths • Experience and Knowledge of funding source • More competitive • System in SC founded to support industry. • Right player at the table • Technology platform is available to delivery education experiences. • Technology cost on decline. • Example: 3D savior of movie theater. • Software available to education. • Upstate climate attracting industry and students and educators • SC region for industry. • Pool resources – 4 yr and 2 yr institution • Accompanying skills • Status and image that it will portray to community.

3. Strengths • Experience in delivering technology • NexGen technology – Greenville, Charleston. • Makes sense to deliver education at the pace of industry. • Enrollment automotive/aviation technology is exploding. • Shop space is in shortage • Hybrid education (online, in class) on the rise • Instructors need accredited training and this will provide opportunities to train them • Develop the right set of language skills, especially to implement multi lingual systems. • Facilitate as Global information sharing system • Ability to attract students not only from SC from all around the states. • To be able to tap into the military and government sectors.

4. Strengths • Availability of findings • Consolidation of recourses (virtual recourses) • Pooled recourses to a strong base (number of talents and teaching locations to a premier base ) • Location independence • Consistency • More Flexibility • New industries moving in SC (K12 through tech colleges ) • New recourses to schools (not to worry about the recourses otherwise missed) • New technologies (E style, lab time , transferring lab time) • Students get into hands-on experience quicker • Instructional training tool to be provided by the users • Facilitate lottery tuition payment systems

5. Strengths • Expand enrollment • Synergy through a larger class group • Based on needs of employees in the area. • Access to leading technology • Real time upgrades to the reference materials • Bringing the industry and education together. • Keeping the trainers up to date. • Take the technology and spread to all the programs. • Getting the field inputs from active program committees • Greenville is a center for the automotive cluster. • Relationships already exist. • Quality technical education structure exists. • Successful track record in continuing education.

6. Strengths • Experienced partnership already exists with present infrastructure • University , technical college, secondary and industry • Creation for IT materials and curriculum. • Flexibility of CE over curriculum. • Universalizing the training platform. • E-mobility • Statewide technology network availability through technical college system.

7. Weaknesses • Lack of opportunities to sharing distance learning technology across education institution. • Intellectual property, • However, NSF want to benefit the whole. • Automotive/aviation is hands on • Educators and students have to feel as comfortable with online classes as they do during in-class classrooms. • Not everything can be done online. • There has to be a link between hands on learning and e-learning. • Type of students • Students familiar with new technology vs students that are not as familiar/comfortable. • Students familiar with previous experience vs students that do not. • Hard time getting buying to support and training. • State budget cuts • How to increase technologies without funding?

8. Weaknesses • Needs students with critical thinking, right set of skill set • Replacement of actual hands-on experience by VR too much. It has to be balanced. • Have to learn how to present the e-school , it’s not just recording a lecture. It’s a different teaching style. • Compatibility issues - whether there are any laws? • Are we able to keep up with the changing technology ? • Ability of instructor will impact the quality of the training. • Companies will be reluctant to provide their proprietary information to the ATE. • Can’t produce a hands-on environment • Multi-National Companies– language barrier • Regulatory Limitations: • FAA • Lack of funding due to economic downturn. • Information is not shared between technology colleges.

9. Weaknesses • How to tie transition of e-learning technology with hands on training • Gap between online and in-class. • Possibility of long term learning to be lost. • Students really good on E-learning realm and not so good on real world environment. • Students not having access to internet. • Using the capabilities that we already have. • Need to develop content for the E-learning delivery. • Industry must know that the new E-learning technology is an enhancement to curriculum. • Fear that colleges might turn out lower quality students. • Misconception that younger students can use ALL technology. However, that is not the case with this advanced technology such as the ones discussed today. • Fear of learning something new / different experience • Fear of breaking the technology they are working on, rather than the expensive real apparatus

10. Weaknesses • Lack of changing structure for the current education system. • Generation gap for the people who are not up to date with the latest technology. • Expenses without recognized ROI. • Lack of personal resources such as computers, broadband etc. • Virtual worlds have limitations in modeling real world • Industries will be reluctant to give away intellectual properties • Sharing ideas with competing companies (Hybrid/ new technologies ) • Leadership structure of the center, loss of control could create problems ( span of control) • Even though it is produced in 3D can the general population watch these at home 3D? • Instructors reluctant to get involved in new tech, educational items . (people are not so into education and learning new things creates problems to aging population • Curriculum changes need to be in place to implement virtual schools, change the mentality of the students who are so used to conservative learning.

11. Opportunities • Content is not out there with this type of delivery/ technology. • Cost factor on the decline. Opportunity to share with colleges. • Mobile workforce, people will move where the work is • Lack of the visual training aids, therefore opportunity to expand/ distribute better training aids. • Opportunity for students to make a career choice. • Opportunity for technical colleges and universities to work together, to create solid partnerships. Also, building partnership with K-12, career clusters, Department of Education, etc. • Opportunity to create a ground breaking center. Validating e-learning as a learning model. • Opportunity to tap into known and unknown resources in the state. • Benefit to students to be trained with technology at this level. • Attract bigger and better companies/industry. • And the companies/industry that support those larger ones. • Improving next generation workforce for this region.

12. Opportunities • Easier to get standardization accreditation process ASE certification (FAA, NADCAP) • Industry certification • Technology changes and innovation changes with information sharing • Enhanced the training simulations. • Establishing standards • Economic development through training. • Industry could be the place for continued education. • Industry expert/leader in training. • Closing the gap between technology and education. • Improve class room instructions by preparing the students before class starts.

13. Opportunities • Partnerships • Corporate education • Sponsorships/ partnerships for students for higher education • Example: the company can be the lab to facilitate the hands-on experience required by the students . • Its only “good” for their business. • Collaborate with the local facility • Local tech schools can partner up with ATE to teach computer skills to computer illiterate • Network of schools • Individuals with limited income / single parents can still get skills to advance their career. • Include other areas other than automotive and aviation. • National Certifications. • How to train the technician for the next generation technology.

14. Threats • Proposal not being funded. • Being overly greedy, • Not including adjacent states. • Over promising and under delivering. • Access to information that will be needed to create curriculum. • Proprietary information from industry. Companies will release information for free, others may charge for it. • Time • Put together high quality products and deliver it on time • New technologies emerging, and there will be a need train workforce on those new technologies on a timely manner. • Once it is started, it will be an ongoing work • Not being flexible enough to demand. • Feasibility of changing content, again, on a timely manner.

15. Threats • Accountability – mentors working with apprentices. • Training could be too high tech.! • Need to understand the concepts of older technology • Funding: Need to prepare for self funding. • Information Technology (IT) issues. • Limited to Automotive and Aviation. • People with limited computer knowledge. • Inability for the colleges to work as a team. • Ability to stay current for the instructors, technicians. • Change in technology/curriculum creating a large gap. • Resisting the change in technology/ curriculum.. • Cost expenditure vs. benefit. • Keeping the education silos. • Method of dissemination.

16. Threats • Politics of SC do not encourage partnerships. • Climate of competitiveness, instead of partnerships • Compatibility issues - whether there are any laws? • Replacement of actual hands-on experience by VR too much. It has to be balanced. • Need the right set of skill set for instructors and students • Loss of control in the structure of leadership