AVS 63rd International Symposium & Exhibition
    Vacuum Technology Wednesday Sessions
       Session VT-WeM

Paper VT-WeM2
A New Approach to Vacuum Technology Education at a Distance

Wednesday, November 9, 2016, 8:20 am, Room 101D

Session: Vacuum Technology – History and Innovation (8:20-10:00 am)/Transfer and Manipulation (11:00 am-12:20 pm)
Presenter: Del Smith, Normandale Community College
Authors: D. Smith, Normandale Community College
N. Louwagie, Normandale Community College
Correspondent: Click to Email
Education and training for technicians who work in the vacuum and vacuum coating industries is becoming more critical as the complexity of the equipment and processes increases. In addition, many of those currently working as technicians are approaching retirement age, with no obvious source for the large number of replacement personnel that will be needed. Many technicians will benefit from a formal educational program giving them grounding in the basic sciences and developing their soft skill set. Several local companies utilizing vacuum and coating technologies partnered with Normandale Community College in 1998 to develop a formal educational program to train technicians in the basic concepts of vacuum and thin film technology. Recently, the need for the expansion of this program to geographic areas that are currently underserved and cannot support a college program in these specialties became apparent. Normandale Community College in Bloomington, MN, is in its second year of a three year project, funded by the National Science Foundation, Division of Undergraduate Education, Advanced Technological Education. The focus of this project is to develop the vacuum technology curriculum, processes and equipment needed to train technicians at locations remote from the primary instructor. This paper presents the current status of this project, with details about curriculum development, remote classroom technology and the development and use of advanced vacuum training hardware systems for use at the remote learning site that include features not previously available.