PathTech LISTEN (DUE #1801163)
Mixed Methods Longitudinal Investigations of Students in Technician Education
PathTech LISTEN is a partnership between the Florida Advanced Technological Education Center (FLATE) at Hillsborough Community College (HCC) and sociologists from the University of South Florida (USF) to track student post-enrollment short-term outcomes and understand how programs facilitate technician education experiences and transition into the workforce. LISTEN accomplishes this goal through three activities:
The USF research team will conduct two stages of in-depth interviews with a national sample of former advanced technology students.
The USF team will conclude the three-year project by designing and constructing a follow-up longitudinal survey of former students based on knowledge gained from the two stages of interviews.
The USF team will conclude the three-year project by designing and constructing a follow-up longitudinal survey of former students based on knowledge gained from the two stages of interviews;
This mixed methods approach will allow respondents to reflect on their past technician education experiences, current work and schooling situation, and describe their aspirations and goals. By including programs, this study gains institutional knowledge of pathways and efforts to influence and track post-enrollment student outcomes.
This study makes three specific empirical contributions. First, this study will illuminate pathways into technician education and student school-work-life balance concerns to yield information programs can use to increase recruitment, retention, and completion of certificate and AS/AAS programs. Second, this study will help broaden scholarship from a STEM pipeline model to a reality-driven model that accounts for the complex, often cyclical, work-school-work transitions and overlaps students experience. Third, this study will use access to survey data from several underrepresented groups, including women, immigrants, veterans, and individuals with disabilities to tell the stories of the diversification of the technician workforce of the future. By interviewing people across different demographic/life experience groups, we hope to identify patterns among different groups (demographic and life experience groups) in order to help programs address student needs and track student outcomes post-program. We seek to meet this goal by addressing the following questions:
- How do students from diverse backgrounds at different life stages (non-traditional, married, parents) experience their advanced technology program? How do they address challenges they face? What supports contribute to successful experiences in advanced technology programs?
- What are students’ short-term educational goals? Did students accomplish their short-term educational goals (i.e. complete specific coursework, earn certificate or degree)?
- What aspects of an advanced technology education prepare students meet their broader educational goals (i.e. transferring to a four-year university and earning a bachelor’s degree) and/or employment goals (i.e. increased wages, promotion, getting a new job)? What aspects of the advanced technology education are the barriers to meeting broader educational goals and/or employment goals?
- What program and institutional efforts do colleges around the country employ to increase recruitment of students from diverse backgrounds, to increase retention and persistence, and to stay connected to former students?
- How does industry facilitate transitions from two-year technician education programs into the workforce? What technical and employability skills do employers seek?