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This report describes a course in the Irish student-teacher curriculum that was designed in response to criticisms of post-graduate teacher training that it was too theoretical and insufficiently practical. The design of the Applied Psychology of Instruction course was based on the teacher-as-researcher paradigm of professionalism. Student teachers were asked to evaluate a limited variety of techniques, methods, and theories of instruction. This replicated previous research to test different models of learning in order to consider their value for their own future use. In so doing, student teachers received training in classroom research and reflection as it focuses on instruction. A comparison was made between 91 student-teacher reports and questionnaires completed in 1995 and responses to a similar questionnaire by 79 student teachers in 1991. Findings support Galyean's (1993) thesis that guided cognitive imagery can improve performance and enhance motivation and discipline, especially for low achievers. Student teachers in 1995 learned that pupils appreciate variety and novelty and that they do not all learn in the same way; they learned to refine the perception that they had about their pupils. Student teachers also learned the design, statistical analysis, and interpretation of classroom tests. Although most student teachers did find the imagery exercise more useful that they originally thought, gender-specific differences in attitudes toward the reports were noted. The survey results and syllabus for courses in Applied Psychology and Curriculum Studies are appended. (Contains 22 references.) (NAV)

ASEE / TELPhE have offered numerous papers, proposed many approaches, and reported on many programs and initiatives to promote and implement technological and engineering literacy. Overall, these focused on increasing the understanding of engineering and technology among K-12, undergraduates who were not engineering or technology majors, and the citizenry. These comprised K-12 STEM initiatives, success stories from faculty who established general education courses and other initiatives on engineering and technology topics for non-engineering students at their respective institutions, and reports developed in conjunction with national bodies and associations through study and focus groups with the over-arching objective being to present the need for technological and engineering literacy as a positive and beneficial initiative. The hoped-for outcome was that those who experienced this initiative, regardless of its context, would be enjoined as advocates for the importance of technological and engineering literacy as they moved among the citizenry locally, nationally, and internationally. To this end, the division developed a pedagogy, researched history, offered definitions, developed theories, recorded data, and published studies, and offered some excellent examples of "Why?" concluding with a 2021 white paper, "Future Directions for Technological and Engineering Literacy and the Philosophy of Engineering" [1] proposing eight actions through which to discuss and assess: • How to promote the "importance of" the message; • How to get the "benefits of" rationale listened to; • How to establish civic "recognition / acceptance" that technological and engineering literacy is a "constituent part" of many activities and decisions; • How to present the discussion of technological and engineering literacy in a "publicly accessible" context? This paper considers these questions vis-à-vis moving technological and engineering literacy / philosophy of engineering into mainstream conversation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent events in the UK during COVID 19 have raised questions about the scientific and technological capabilities of civil servants that have a bearing on the meaning and scope of technological literacy, and therefore, for the work and purpose of the TELPhE Division of ASEE. This paper is based on the view set out at the beginning (section 1) that technological literacy is not a particular discipline of a study but a skill that enables a learner to bring together different components of knowledge and skills to the solution of technological and scientific problems in all kinds of human situation. The argument is supported by a case study of Britain's Vaccine Task Force (VTF). "The long Shot. The Inside Story of the Race to Vaccinate Britain by Kate Bingham and Tim Hames. It recounts Bingham's experience of creating and leading the task force. The origins the task force, the risks that would have to be taken, and the significance of the networks brought together by the members of the task force are summarised section 2. Persons capable of working in contingent situations and used to getting things done were recruited. For Bingham this created difficulties because she was not used to dealing with bureaucracy (civil servants) which was process oriented, risk averse, and often had an animus against industry. Although the primary goal was achieved, Bingham regretted that several other goals were not (Section 3). This may be put down to short termism which is a characteristic of British political decision making (section 5). Two educational projects are described that might have produced a workforce more responsive to change are described that were not persisted with after the cessation of funding. The essence of these projects is necessarily a component of technological literacy as defined here. Bingham recommended that there should be more science qualified civil servants at all levels, and that some experience of industry should be mandatory. But as section 4 illustrated research on engineers in organizations shows that the ability to change is a function of organisational structure, and that it is possible to make closed systems less closed. The sixth section argues the case for technological literacy as conceived here is an alternative to, if not necessary education for the generalists that are required in the work force or the education that is required to live in a technological society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cyclical models are often used to describe how students learn and develop. These models usually focus on the cognitive domain and describe how knowledge and skills are learned within a course or classroom. By providing insights into how students learn and thus how an instructor can support learning, these models and the schemas drawn from them also influence beliefs about learning and thus how educational programs are designed and developed. In this paper the authors present an alternative cyclical model of learning that is drawn from a philosophy of enactivism rather than rational dualism. In comparison with the dualism inherent in viewpoints derived from Descartes where learners construct internal mental representation from inputs received from the external world, in enactivism development occurs through continual dynamic interactions between an agent and their environment. Enactivism thus emphasizes the role environments play in learning and development. The model developed in this paper hypothesizes that the environment in which learning typically occurs can be represented by three elements: the learner's identity and culture which informs personally significant goals and values; the affordances a degree program offers in areas of knowledge, identity, and context which informs the capabilities of the environment; and the implicit and explicit goals of education as they are negotiated and understood by learners and teachers. These three elements are strongly coupled and together define the ever-changing learning environment. The paper explores how changing technologies and cultures affect each of these three elements in regards to students' ability to become technologically literate. While rational or dualist views of education see such environmental changes as peripheral to developing accurate representations of truth, enactivism posits that environment significantly affects the process of education. Because each student or faculty member is a participant in a learning organization changes within the organization--whether externally or internally driven--change the learning process. If education is deemed successful when students can transfer learning to new contexts, dualist models assume transfer is weakly coupled to educational environments while the enactivist viewpoint posits that environments strongly affect transfer. The enactivist model can inform efforts to encourage technological literacy. Like many areas in STEM, education technological literacy has sought to identify and support learning outcomes that specify effective teaching or content interventions which enable learners to become more technologically literate. From the enactivist perspective, however, technological literacy is achieved by placing individuals into an environment in which they must navigate technologyinduced challenges, with success defined as learning processes that allow learners to manage tensions inherent in their environment. Because most students already live in such environments teaching definable or enumerable outcomes makes less sense than helping student to be metacognitive and reflective how they manage and relate with technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This evidence based study follows from a previous paper which described the origins of a unique sub-system of higher technological education that was fortuitously established by the British government in England and Wales in 1955, and lasted for a decade. Although no official evaluation was ever undertaken of the colleges that formed that sub-system, a number of investigations into different aspects of the diploma programme that was the core of the system were completed. The specifications of one of these studies accidentally required a study of the system, or at the very least "pictures" of the functioning of different components of the system. Unfortunately the study of the system as a "whole" was never published. However, inspection of the other investigations suggests that taken together their parameters would provide an informal evaluation of this sub-system. The intention of this discussion is to undertake such an evaluation. But no attempt is made to incorporate into the discussion the results of work undertaken by other authorities that was tangential to or in any other way related to the development and demise of the sub-system. The system and its development described in the previous paper demonstrated the importance of understanding the culture in which educational decisions are made, for those decisions are a reflection of the society in which they are made. Opportunities taken, and opportunities lost are a function of those mores; for some a decision will be an opportunity to be taken, and for others it will be an opportunity lost. This study confirms the importance of "culture" in educational decision making, be it in terms of career choice, institutional status, or curriculum and teaching. Following a brief introduction, essentially a short precis of paper 1, answers to fourteen questions derived from the philosophy of the Percy Report, and other elements of its discussion are given in the light of the findings of the investigations undertaken. Taken together these papers raise questions about the scope of engineering education research. Most of the participants in the investigations reported here were working in social science departments; several in pursuit of higher degrees. Given that the Percy and other official committees used the term technology (ist) to describe engineers, and given that the public may think in this way if they are not thinking about IT and smart phones, might not a better expression of the area be engineering and technology education research? A list of abbreviations together with a time line is given at the beginning of paper 1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This evidence based study is derived from other work in progress related to the history of engineering education in the UK. Its interest lies in the fact that in 1955/56 the British government created a sub-system of higher technological education in England and Wales that had as its objective, the education of highly qualified engineers and applied scientists for manufacturing industry. This sub-system came to an end in 1964/5. While it could have been the subject of an official evaluation, it was not. However, fortuitously, it was established during a period increasing interest in research in higher education, and several researches addressed various aspects of the system that, accidentally, make a retrospective, but partial informal evaluation possible. The discussion is presented in two papers because of the structure of the conference, and the need to provide the detailed explanation of the cultural system in which the development took place which would be of substantial length. That is the purpose of this, the first paper. Together these papers have a secondary function of showing factors that contributed to the success and failure of a major innovation in order that the mistakes made will not be repeated in the future: that is to foster learning of the collective past. Their final purpose is more international collaboration among engineering educators and its research fraternity. Since the social forces (attitudes, beliefs and values) at work in society ultimately determine the success or failure of educational innovations, part 1 (this paper) shows the importance of social class in what is valued and not valued in the English educational system. The academic is preferred to the vocational. Grammar schools and universities are associated with the academic. Technical and further education colleges with the vocational. The antecedent philosophy driving this innovation in degree level technological education, as expressed in the 1945 report of the Percy Committee on Higher Technological Education placed the Colleges of Advanced Technology (CATs) created in 1955/6 firmly in the vocational sector. The results of the investigations carried out in the CATs reported in part 2 (the second paper) showed that schoolteachers and their pupils tended to view the CATs as second class citizens: that most students had good experiences of industrial training although many believed it could be improved, and that the curriculum offered tended to model that found in the universities. The Robbins Committee believed that the curriculum offered was of degree level standard and recommended that the CATs be given university status, which they were in 1964/5. For the convenience of the reader part 1 is preceded by a list of abbreviations, and a time line. The research for the papers summarised in part 2 took place between 1960 and 1965. A note on problems of presenting studies about non-American systems of engineering and technological education at ASEE conferences is included in the introduction to part 1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last decade there have been an increasing number of discussions on how information technology (IT) impacts the practice and structure of higher education. There are strong views on this subject with some claiming that higher education as currently defined is ripe for disruption while others claim that since the functions of the university have persisted for nearly a millennium claims of disruption are overblown. Since individual beliefs on the function or purpose of a university and the extent to, and rate at, which advances in IT will continue to be made are integral to this conversation it helps to clarify what aspects of IT align with universities functions. It is proposed that the functions performed by a university form a framework that can serve as a lens to examine the changes stimulated by IT. The proposed framework is defined by four separate functions. A university's learning function is based on enabling students to acquire necessary knowledges and skills. Its societal function prepares students to engage with each other in community as well as citizens who participate meaningfully in civic life. The economic function ensures students and faculty contribute meaningfully to a region's economy and individuals get adequate return on their investment in education. Finally a university's moral function gives individuals the guidance and experience to act in ways that contribute to a common good. Taken together these functions contribute to holistic development of the individual. It is proposed that this Learning-Societal-Economic-Moral (L-S-E-M) framework can be used to describe potential impacts of IT on university functions. In other words it provides a framework to discuss the aims which a university education should seek to achieve as pressures rise to shift its functions from humans to computers. As digital technologies are increasingly adopted in education and cost pressures on institutions grow each of these elements will be affected. Due to new ubiquitous platforms, lower costs, and wider acceptance of online credentials both the learning and economic functions will be most strongly affected. However even within the learning function elements some skills are not easily shifted to online platforms and acquisition of tacit knowledge changes. Motivation, relationships, and new research from neuroscience on brain plasticity will affect to what extent the learning functions can be adequately supported in fully on-line courses. Similarly since the societal and moral functions require mentorship and community, shifting these functions to online platforms is more difficult. The L-S-E-M framework provides a useful lens to re-envision the purpose of a university and determine which functions should be maintained, which modified, and which further developed. Additionally the framework suggests possible alternatives for re-envisioning both curriculum and the partnerships universities need to pursue to adapt to the affordances and challenges posed by information technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work argues that there is a need for a substantial debate about the aims of engineering literacy and that the ASEE Technological and Engineering Literacy/Philosophy of Engineering Division (TELPhE) would benefit from efforts to more fully answer the question “Why should the general public have some understanding of engineering?" Experiences from an early attempt to measure the engineering ability of pre-university students demonstrate the problems that can emerge for an educational program if the motivating questions of why are not adequately transparent and addressed. In advocating for broader understanding of engineering in Technically Speaking, the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) argued that responsible citizenship and the need to make responsible decisions motivated engineering literacy. Beyond the responsible citizen argument, the NAE offered very little about “why understand technology" as opposed to questions of “what should be known." Since the establishment of the original ASEE Technological Literacy Division in 2005, schools of thought that answer the question of “why" include: responsible technological citizenship, empowerment as consumers of technological hardware, career awareness and development, filling gaps in the educational program of engineers, and the recognition of engineering as an important and unique contribution to general education. This paper draws lessons from the experience of the Joint Matriculation Board (JMB) of several universities in the United Kingdom from the late 1960s to 1970s. The Joint Matriculation Board sought to develop university entrance examinations in engineering during a time in which the foundations of modern engineering educational practices were solidifying. The board sought to create an examination guided by an overall philosophy of engineering. Many issues articulated by the board foreshadowed the condition of engineering literacy efforts today. The significance of well-defined educational outcomes and the alignment between objectives, curriculum, and assessment were vividly illustrated in the JMB experience. The paper argues that answers to the “why" questions could be more carefully developed today and that a series of valid and compelling answers to “why" would further the TELPhE Division's continued efforts to help everyone know more about engineering and technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the last five years the TELPhE Division of ASEE been engaging in constructive dialogue with its members about its purposes and intents. In 2016 the author presented a paper at ASEE's annual conference that raised questions about the intent of technological literacy in society at the present time. To further encourage dialog the Division invited its membership to submit short responses to the issues raised in the paper with a view to publishing them in one of the Divisions handbooks. These were published in 2017. The publication of the responses serves no useful purpose unless they are scrutinised by the author who caused the responses for in this way ideas are sharpened and refined. The paper reflects the non-linear process of the rhetoric of dialog. It is presented as contribution to the dialogue the Division began when in 2018 it initiated proceedings to produce a White paper on the purpose and future of the Division. It is evident that there are a number of audiences to be met. There is a public audience and an engineering audience particularly of students. The public is not a homogenous group but has several different needs. These needs will only be met by alternative approaches to technological literacy designed to meet different levels of understanding. Most of the courses offered in technological literacy (not to be confused with Science, Technology and Society STS) are electives, but the essay by Keilsen suggests an alternative curriculum for general education programmes. The implications of this review are that the general aims or purposes of programmes in engineering and technological literacy are far from clear. The one that comes through in the essays is the ability to control or change technology. Since, whatever is looked at in this area shows different benefits for users and vendors, the question arises, Cui Bono? This implies that aims will have to be considered within the framework of the common good. The essays show the need for clarification and amplification of the definitions of engineering and technological literacy, even if it means a revised unitary definition. In any event there is a need to take into account the different audiences and perspectives Notwithstanding the issue of finance, or indicators of issues for research raised by this study, as for example, levels of required mathematical attainment, Krupczak shows there is plenty of research to be done in this area that is not being done and should be done. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2017 The Technological and Engineering Literacy and Philosophy Division of the American Society for Engineering Education initiated a debate on "for whom" and "what" are studies in technological and engineering literacy for. This study presents a case for technological and engineering literacy for all. This is achieved by analysis of currently available documentation and in particular to the ASH report and BBC "Newsnight" documentaries on the on-going case of the Grenfell Fire tragedy of the 14th June 2017. On the data currently available this study reveals an apparent lack of engineering expertise in the planning, implementation and approval of the substantial refurbishment of the building. While the study demonstrates the validity of Krupczak et als distinction between technological and engineering literacy, it also suggests that the attention given to science and technology to the exclusion of engineering by the media may prevent the public from asking key questions about the role of engineering in such developments. It is argued that a major purpose of a curriculum in engineering and technological literacy is to better enable the public to ask and better understand the answers to questions that such disasters cause. Following Bucciarelli it is noted that the different elites involved understanding the engineering and social problems from different perspectives or object worlds that are governed by the different languages they use. In this case fire safety engineers are one of those elites. It is argued that the public as defined by the residents of the tower and associated housing including tower blocks in the vicinity are an elite. They provide the justification for teaching engineering literacy let alone technological literacy. The challenge for engineering literacy is to develop a "bridging" language so as they may better communicate with the other elites including those representing the law. Following a brief introduction, the Grenfell Tower Block is described, the overall purposes of its refurbishment outlined, and the management organisation described. The purposes, and function of the ASH report are outlined. The primary and secondary causes of the fire as currently understood are summarised. The implications for professional engineering are considered and questions the public should seek answers to are listed. From the perspectives of technological literacy two issues are considered, namely fake news, and the role of prejudice in public perceptions of what happened. It is concluded that a radically different approach to the design of the curriculum will be required if the public are to become engaged in engineering and technological literacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the large number of commentaries on the current deficiencies of higher education there has been little work which undertakes careful analysis of alternative educational structures. To explore possible alternatives a model for engineering education developed over several years with feedback from ASEE conference attendees was analyzed at the Higher Education and Technological Disruption: Purposes, Structures and Financing workshop in Dublin, Ireland in 2017. This paper presents initial pedagogical and economic analysis of this curricular model as well as analyzing feedback from a variety of stakeholders--academics, industry, and policy makers--who attended the workshop. The model was developed in response to long term challenges facing engineering education which in turn are driven by forecast changes in employability and advances in technology. For example some long term predictions forecast that robotics and artificial intelligence may radically change desired workforce skills or cause significant reductions to the labor force. These trends may be exacerbated by the increasing impact technology is having on some aspects of education and the rising costs of college. The model was based upon alternative structures of credentialing and financing as a response to these potential pressures. The curricular model proposes restructuring engineering degree program towards: 1) shorter undergraduate programs that focus on developing horizontal transfer of knowledge rather than in-depth disciplinary knowledge and 2) periodic in-depth "educational renewal" throughout an individual's career. This structure is grounded by, and emerges from, established models of liberal arts degree programs and is supported by decades of evidence on the aspects of college which most impact long-term student development. From a policy perspective in order for such a disruptive model to have a chance of implementation the methods by which education is financed also needed reconsideration. The economic analysis of the curricular model derives from modelling education as a human capital insurance policy that allows post-secondary education to be viewed as a continuous consumption process with different probability distributions for persons to re-invest/consume rather than as a discreet non-deferrable, non-repeatable investment decision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The case study presented in this paper is a description of a blended transdisciplinary Small Private On-Line Course (SPOC) conducted by one of the authors for a selected group of faculty and doctoral students brought together by the co-author. The aim of the course was to enable the participants to reflect on who and what we are as individuals and engineers in a society that is becoming increasingly complex. It necessarily integrated knowledge from several disciplines and in consequence is transdisciplinary. The paper begins with a brief discussion of transdisciplinarity and interdisciplinarity. It is followed by a section on the transdisciplinary nature of engineering literacy. A major problem for those who wish to design interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary courses is the lack of suitable introductory texts and the unwillingness of publishers to publish texts that fall outside the scope of the traditional curriculum and its numbered course. In this case, the SPOC (Small Private On-Line Course) was blended: the text of the course was made available (accumulatively) in parts at the time of each of eleven video presentations (Skype), which were presented a few days in advance of a seminar/discussion (Skype). The course, its origins, aims and presentation are described, and its limitations and potential considered in the light of current discussions on the integration of engineering and liberal education, and developments in the role of technological and engineering literacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2010 James Trevelyan argued on the basis of studies of the work that engineers do that the engineering curriculum required to pay more attention to the development of what have come to be known as "soft skills", as for example communication and the ability to perform effectively in teams. He noted that engineering courses that taught communication treated communication "only as information transfer" when what was required was a comprehensive development of social interaction skills. He thought that this could be achieved if students were given the opportunity to teach in their courses because "education, like engineering practice, relies on special kinds of social interactions reflecting the specialized knowledge that defines the context". He argued that students should be trained to teach because they also learn when they have to explain to "others using such methods as cooperative learning and peer instruction". Support for Trevelyan's thesis is to be found in a review of research on learning-by-teaching and its implications for engineering education reported by Carberry and Ohland. Although it is known that some students are trained and paid to act as tutors for small groups in some programmes no information is given in either of these papers about the content of that training. It is argued here that substantial prior training may lead to more effective learning exchanges and subsequently better teaching in higher education. It is argued that students may benefit more if they have to teach an unfamiliar subject. The training may be linked to the preparation, implementation and evaluation of classes in that subject. Possibly the most effective way of achieving an understanding of the skills involved transfer to engineering is by cooperative education in which one of the experiences is in a school. However, while there are other pathways to achieving the same goal it is not the purpose of this paper to advocate any one way but to illustrate potential that the cognitively adjacent subject of Technological and Engineering Literacy has to offer. A minimalist approach to training that would meet Trevelyan's requirements based on the concept of "teaching as research is presented". The paper is presented in two parts. The first sets out the case student teaching in Engineering and technological Literacy. The second outlines a minimalist curriculum that is supported by classroom action research undertaken by student teachers. It is preceded by its own introduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many countries schoolteachers are recognized by the public as "professionals" and school teaching is a professional activity for which some kind of specialist training is required. In some countries (e.g. Ireland and Scotland) standards of entry and subsequent behavior are regulated by councils similar to those that act in this respect for the health professions. In contrast, most countries do not require specialist training in education to become a university teacher which begs the question "is university teaching a professional activity?" With the recognition that faculty often play many roles, including those with aspects of research and service, here the focus is on teaching. One characteristic of a profession is that it can set standards for entry into the profession and for the behavior of professionals in practice. How such standardization is achieved varies from country to country as does the status of the professional qualification. In both the United States and the United Kingdom a doctorate is the usual qualification for teaching engineering at the university level, not the Professional Engineer (USA) or the Chartered Engineer (UK) qualification. Thus many candidates for university teaching are newly qualified PhD's without any experience of engineering in the outside world. The PhD serves as a "standard" that qualifies a person to undertake research. Since a PhD is not a guarantee that a faculty member can teach or has been trained to teach, in one aspect of their careers many engineering educators will be "restricted" professionals [1]. Some countries however, such as the UK and Sweden, do require intending university faculty to have training in teaching and learning. It can be argued that such training serves as the teaching equivalent of the PE; the PEE, as it were. All of this implies a second characteristic of a profession, that is, that it possesses a codified body of knowledge and expertise. A third characteristic of a profession is that it has agreed standards of behavior, and a set of ethical standards that members abide by or face sanctions for violating. This paper argues that, certifications or degrees aside, university teaching should be a professional activity and effective training should be required. If engineering education is in fact a discipline--as declared in the United States the Journal of Engineering Education in 2006--then engineering educators have a responsibility for developing such training given that a substantive body of knowledge about teaching and learning in engineering exists. This paper discusses what might be expected of engineering educators should we choose to implement some form of teaching qualification and what steps might precede the development of such qualifications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]