ATE Answers
Active Dissemination Methods
Since NSF ATE grants are funded by taxpayer money, there is a strong expectation that each project will actively share its accomplishments and lessons learned widely. While developing a website is required, this means of sharing is not considered active dissemination. Presenting at conferences and interacting with colleagues and stakeholders via social media, on the other hand, promote active engagement with your project.
Presentations at conferences
The ATE PI Conference in October and the HI-TEC conference in July are directly connected with the NSF ATE program. Other conferences focused on community college and/or technician education and attended by those who will be interested in the activities, accomplishments, and results of your project are listed below. Don’t forget to consider presenting at state or regional conferences (e.g. TACTE in Texas).
- American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) is holding two Annual Conventions, ATE Live (April 11-14) and AACC Digital (online). They have planned to record the AACC Live workshops in the event that the meeting cannot be held in person. The call for presentation proposals has closed.
- NISOD online, April 28-30, 2021. The call for presentation proposals has closed.
- High Impact Technology Exchange Conference (HI-TEC), July 2021
- League for Innovation in the Community College, Innovation Conference (online), March 1-4, 2021. The call for presentation proposals has closed.
Use of social media
LinkedIn is a professional social media platform that supports dissemination of articles and posts about your project’s work. Share your project’s URL and your contact information and prompt visitors to ask questions or provide information. Be sure to track interactions with the site.
Others social media avenues include regularly scheduled blogs and newsletters about your work. The project newsletters may be as simple as compilations of recent blog posts emailed to a wider audience than just the ATE community. The audience should include internal as well as external partners.
Resources
ATE Outreach Kit from NSF ATE Central
Using Social Media to Promote and Achieve Grant Outcomes (webinar video) from a collaborative group of NSF ATE Centers
Dissemination and sharing ideas from the NSF-funded Center for Advancement of Informal Science Education (CAISE)
Dissemination Toolkit, a comprehensive guide to planning your project’s communication and dissemination strategies from the NSF-funded Community for Advancing Discovery Research in Education (CADRE)
Social media directory of ATE projects from NSF ATE Central
Press Release Template from NSF ATE Mentor-Connect