Faculty Technical Currency and Professional Development: 2013 Status Report on a National Survey of Engineering Technology Faculty

Faculty professional development activities and technical currency play an important role in promoting student learning and success. Especially for non-research institutions that offer technology driven programs, one of the most important factors determining student success is the technical currency of faculty members. The Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) and regional accreditation bodies place strong emphasis on the technical currency of faculty, and require institutions to provide opportunities for faculty to keep abreast of technological advances. This paper presents the findings of a faculty survey conducted during December 2013 using the ASEE ETD listserv. ETD has a membership of more than 4000 faculty members and professionals belonging to 1000 institutions from all 50 U.S. states and 57 countries. The intent of the survey was to gauge the status of professional development activities vis-a-vis faculty technical currency at personal, departmental, and institutional levels in the domains of engineering technology. The survey also explores faculty input regarding the importance of technical currency and its relationship to student learning and success. Finally, the paper compares the current status of faculty scholarship vis-a-vis faculty technical currency to the results obtained through earlier studies (2003 & 2007).