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This paper reports on how institutions collaborating on Additive Manufacturing (AM) and Smart Manufacturing (SM) have been able to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic and be able to modify their planned activities in 2020 in an effort to continue delivering quality training and education to educators across the country. The pandemic made it impossible to offer the usual on-ground workshops to STEM educators and industrial practitioners. As a workaround, the project teams offered instructional delivery via Zoom and Microsoft Teams while also providing distance learning tools online. The best practices of the delivery and pros/cons of the operations will be presented with the feedback received from the participants. 

3D Printing (3DP), also known as Additive Manufacturing (AM) is the latest production technology. Its popularity in fabricating functional parts in all fields is growing day by day. The range of 3D printed products is limitless, including glass frames to hearing aids. It is thus important to train educators and students regarding this cutting-edge technology so that they become familiar with the functionality and implementation of it in several courses, laboratories, and projects. This paper reports several novel developments which have been implemented in the past few years, including details of these unique practices and feedback received from the educators and students. 

One of the fastest growing fields in the broad field of engineering is Additive Manufacturing (AM), also known as 3D Printing. AM is being used in many fields including, among others, design, STEM, construction, art, and healthcare. Many educational institutions however, do not have the requisite capacity and resources to effectively educate students in this area particularly when it comes to rapid transition from design to small-volume level production. A coalition of several higher education institutions under a National Science Foundation (NSF) funded Advanced Technological Education (ATE) Project has been working towards providing educators with the skills and material resources to effectively teach their students about 3D printing. The ultimate beneficiaries are high school and post-secondary students and include those in vocational fields. Before and during Fall 2019, Train the Trainer Studios (TTS) were conducted to train instructors, drawing participants from many institutions across neighboring states designed to provide hands-on instruction to participants. In addition, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) and webinars have also been made available to all participating instructors and other collaborators to openly share the information being generated through this ATE AM coalition. Evaluation of the TTS revealed many positive results, with the participants sharing many success stories after implementing the learned concepts at their institutions. From the evaluation findings, participants were largely satisfied with the delivery and quality of instruction they received from all the TTS presenters, with almost all of them, in all instances, indicating that the training they received would be useful in their programs. The current paper and proposed presentation will report on the lessons learned through this process, including sharing some of the success stories from the instructors and their students. 

During the Fall 2018 semester, two community colleges and one university shared their design and additive manufacturing (AM) facilities and capabilities. While student teams learn the depth of technical drafting in one community college’s design course, the other two institutions have opened the doors of their AM labs so that students can solidify the knowledge they acquire which is largely limited to the computer screen in their design course. As the design files are received by the AM labs of the other two institutions, the files are evaluated for AM related issues and modifications are suggested. Following any revisions, the AM labs begin production of the files, both in single version and batch production for potential, larger volume applications while demonstrating to the students and stakeholders the versatility and cloud manufacturing capabilities that AM has to offer on a variety of levels, as well as helping to improve the student’s design competencies that are necessary for AM. This current paper will report the nature of the current AM coalition and share a sample student project designed and produced during the Fall 2018 semester. The feedback received from the students will also be shared. 

The Additive Manufacturing Workforce Advancement Training Coalition and Hub (AM-WATCH) targets to address gaps in the current knowledge base of manufacturing professionals through the development of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) based educational materials, delivery of professional development activities, support provided to 30+ instructors per year, and expanded outreach activities targeting K-12 and community college teachers and students. Tennessee Tech University is collaborating with the University of Louisville, Sinclair Community College, National Resource Center for Materials Technology Education, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and industry in the development of cutting-edge and multi-dimensional educational modules and activities for instructors. Developed materials are presented to 30+ instructors through intensive two-day AM Studios every year. While instructors learn the latest trends and technologies in AM, they also grasp the ABET Student Outcomes and Continuous Improvement. This paper reports the current practices made in these studios and feedback received from the instructors.