pacific nw transportation consortium region 10 Pactrans

Development of PacTrans Workforce Development Institute – Phase IV

PI: Yinhai Wang (UW), yinhai@uw.edu, ORCID: 0000-0002-4180-5628

Co PIs: Wei Sun (UW), Shane Brown (OSU), Billy Connor (UAF), Kevin Chang (UI) and Eric Jessup (WSU)

AMOUNT & MATCH: $175,000 from PacTrans; $175,000 Match

PERFORMANCE PERIOD: 8/16/2020 – 8/15/2022

STATUS: Active

CATEGORIES: Education, Workforce Development

RESEARCH PROJECT HOT SHEET:

UTC PROJECT DOCUMENTATION:

FINAL PROJECT REPORT: will be available once completed

PROJECT DATA: will be available once completed

DESCRIPTION:

To gain a better understanding of the existing training or professional development needs within Region 10 (i.e., Idaho, Alaska, Oregon, and Washington), the research team conducted qualitative, structured interviews with transportation engineers, managers, and learning coordinators, and synthesized the findings to generate an online survey tool for broader distribution. In addition, the research team designed the administrative structure and business model that ensure sustainability, efficiency, and quality of the proposed program, and the collaboration with existing programs in Region 10. The research team is currently in the process of launching the workforce development institute through delivering training courses/programs to working professionals in Region 10. Specifically, the research team will focus on the following tasks:

• Adding new courses/certificate programs and improving the existing education platform. The research team will develop an online training platform and include new training courses and certificate programs that cover more topics with critical training needs. In addition, the research team will integrate previous education research products into the education platform and evaluate various methods (on-site, e-learning, hybrid, etc.) for the delivery of training services.
• Improving assessment and evaluation processes for training courses and the overall program of the PacTrans WDI. The research team proposes to develop a guidebook including course development processes with carefully designed learning outcomes and associated learning activities, active learning strategies, reliable assessment and evaluation processes of learning, and overall program and course evaluation.
• Outreach and marketing plan of the PacTrans WDI. In order to make the institute sustainable, the research team proposes to develop the effective outreach and marketing plan. The plan will help to develop long-term collaboration with existing connections and explore new training opportunities with local DOTs and other transportation.