Henry Ford Community College
5101 Evergreen Road
Dearborn, MI 48128-1495
Last Revision:
Thursday, April 20, 2000
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Copyright © 2000

The Technological Learning Skills Bridge

 ( The TLS Bridge)

Henry Ford Community College’s Bridge Education Project has two primary goals: assisting under-employed and under-skilled workers in becoming employed in technologically advanced manufacturing firms and assisting them to develop skills for further educational development.

This curriculum is an alternative to more narrowly defined job training programs.  It is predicated upon a work environment that requires continuous skill upgrades.  It assumes these upgrades are enabled by broadly defined skill sets that helps transform the underemployed into career entrepreneurs.

With generous assistance from the National Science Foundation, the institutional partners  have worked collaboratively in the development of multiple learning tools. The TLS Bridge developed by faculty from Henry Ford Community College is defined by the functional skill sets of manufacturing based technological employment and offers skills mastery focused instruction that leads to lifelong learning skills found relevant at the level of industry and national skills standards.  This curriculum, and the process of inquiry from which it emerged, is broadly inter-disciplinary. It links components of apprentice education with foundational skills in mathematics and communication; it draws upon contributions of developmental education; it depends on the humanities to explore the culture of work.  For recruitment and selection of students, the Bridge model relies on educational partnerships with community-based organizations (CBO’s). The CBO knows its local community and should be experienced in client/participant support, is crucial to both the implementation and success of this program.           

The Bridge curriculum emphasizes practical applications and performance standards.  It is best delivered in classrooms in the community and at the local community college with technology, tools, and equipment that resemble those found in the workplace.  The Pedagogy also reflects the culture and practice of the workplace.  Lecture is minimized; teamwork and collaboration are the norm.  With instructors who facilitate, students make judgments linking theory and practice in frequent problem-solving, workplace-specific situations.  Connections to the workplace are emphasized in worksite visits, occupational oral histories and career development case studies. Connections across the curriculum are emphasized in the use of coordinated lessons. Occupational and academic faculty are encouraged to work collaboratively.

HFCC is using this model as a basis for other technology based career opportunities. These programs are taking the form of orientations to work and learning. The curriculum is also being used in a higher level of technical skills training.