Keeping Up with What's Happening in Photonics Education

Things at OP-TEC are moving rapidly. In two short years we have our infrastructure in place, most of our curricula and teaching materials developed and updated, strong Partner Colleges, good employer support/oversight and lots of colleges interested in starting new educational offerings in optics and photonics. I predict that this next year, which began September 1, will produce more new and different programs—and will call for more changes to what we are already doing.

Things are also moving in the photonics field, with new applications and breakthroughs happening almost daily. Many of these changes will affect what and how we will teach to photonics techs. As our network of educators and employers grows I feel a need to “connect” with all of you—to provide information & issues—and to get feedback about things that we all care about. We try to post announcements and recent developments about our products & services on our website, http://www.op-tec.org/. But, there’s also a quicker way to get news & ideas to you—and to get news and feedback from you.

The Blog is an Internet feature that I am still learning about; and I think it fits our network’s needs in a useful, unique way. This is my first attempt at a blog; hopefully they will get more interesting as I get rolling on this. Initially, I plan to post a new blog every 3-4 days; if it works for me and for you, perhaps they might increase in frequency.

Any suggestions for topics? Please e-mail me at hull-blog@cord.org.