The Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training grant program needs reviewers with knowledge of OER.  This is an important initiative, which could advance OER and OCW in exciting new ways.  Please pass along to friends or colleagues who may be interested.

Background:
On January 20, 2011, the U.S. Department of Labor/Employment and Training Administration (ETA) announced the Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) grant program (www.doleta.gov/grants/pdf/SGA-DFA-PY-10-03.pdf). This program will enable eligible institutions of higher education to expand their capacity to provide quality education and training services to TAA for Workers program participants and other individuals to improve their employment outcomes. The review of the applications for the TAACCCT program will involve two levels of paneling:

• Technical review panels will carefully evaluate all applications against the evaluation criteria found in the Solicitation for Grant Applications (SGA).
• Expert review panels will validate the strength of the evidence cited by applicants and/or verify the technical feasibility of the design, technologies, and delivery methods for online and technology-enabled strategies

Panelist Outreach:
ETA is seeking a pool of education and training professionals that includes individuals with experience in providing or administering fully online or technology-enabled programs, individuals who have knowledge of or experience with evidence-based learning, and individuals with reasonable knowledge in both areas to help evaluate these applications.
This serious responsibility requires a significant commitment of time and panelists must make a full-time commitment to this effort for the duration of the panel, which could last as long as two weeks. If selected, non-Federal panelists will be compensated for their service. Panelists will not be required to travel to Washington, DC, but will be required to read and evaluate applications independently and subsequently participate in conference calls with other panelists to discuss the applications. The estimated workload for selected panelists to review and evaluate is between 10 and 15 applications. This review process is expected to take place in July- August 2011.
Requirements for Consideration:
If you consider yourself a practitioner with reasonable knowledge in either or both of the areas mentioned above, ETA invites you to submit your resume or curriculum vitae for consideration. In addition, also include a paragraph (200 words or less) describing your experience in online and technology-enabled education, experience with the evaluation of evidence-based learning, or both. Please submit the appropriate information to ETA’s identified contractor, Performance Excellence Partners, Inc., at DOLPanelists@pep8a.com no later than May 27.