TECHNOLOGICAL LITERACY AS AN ELEMENT IN THE STRUCTURE, ASSESSMENT, AND EVALUATION OF ENGINEERING AND ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY DEGREE PROGRAMS

The goal of teaching technological literacy is to foster greater technological literacy in society. Efforts in this area have been focused largely on developing technological literacy in students who are not majoring in engineering or engineering technology. Our majors need to be technologically literate as well. While meeting the specific educational goals of the major area, the program curriculum in engineering and engineering technology degree programs also needs to help students develop general technological literacy. These concepts and dimensions should be considered and included in the design of individual courses and the curriculum. Concepts of technological literacy are implicit in ABET accreditation criteria for programs in engineering and engineering technology. Each course is expected to contribute to meeting accreditation criteria, and most, if not all, courses are expected to contribute in different areas, including areas that are linked to technological literacy. Criteria for both types of program can be matched to dimensions of technological literacy, and these dimensions can be a useful framework for assessment and evaluation. These dimensions should be considered when revising courses and the curriculum to address issues raised in this process. This paper will explore the use of the concept and dimensions of technological literacy as a guide for revising and improving individual courses and the curriculum as a whole. This will include discussion of efforts to apply this framework to existing courses ranging from first year to senior year courses in a four year degree program in engineering technology and to identifying places where elements of technological literacy could be added to enhance instruction. This work on specific courses will then be linked to the curriculum as a whole. Finally, assessment of the progress made by students in developing technological literacy will be discussed.