Technology Driven University and Community College Collaboration: Faculty Training on ARM Microcontrollers

The electronics world is undergoing a transformation in the underlying technologies used to create new products for the world's consumers. The movement to reconfigurable electronics using microcontrollers is sweeping the electronics world in the rush to create smaller, faster, and more flexible consumer and industrial devices. Microcontrollers are becoming one of the most exciting devices in history. At the core content of microcontroller technology is ARM microcontroller, the ARM processor is an industry standard with annual sales of 5 billion units, and it will increase as the demand for powerful, low-power electronics increases. An engineer's and technician's exposure to this technology is critical in order to remain competitive. To meet this industrial needs, university programs are updating curricula with courses in ARM microcontroller technology. Partners on this project have years of successful National Science Foundation (NSF) projects, educating and training hundreds of instructors and introducing thousands of students to advanced technologies. This paper will discuss the offering of a Professional Development workshop on ARM microcontrollers for electrical engineering technology faculty as part of an NSF grant. The project goals are to provide colleges with up-to-date educational equipment, educational resources and promote best practices to enable instructors to teach advanced technologies.