Partnerships take the lead: A deans summit on education for a technological world

There is much concern about graduates from the U.S. precollege (K-12) system being technologically literate enough to survive in our modern, rapidly changing technological world. Through the sponsorship of the IEEE Educational Activities Board, a Summit of Deans of Education and Deans of Engineering was convened to address the issues of technological literacy. Forty-two pairs of deans began cross-campus collaborations at the summit, held October 1-2, 2001, in Baltimore, MD. The conference comprised keynote speakers, panel sessions, a poster session, and breakout groups that brainstormed to develop common or emerging themes and action plans. Each pair of deans committed to a customized action plan to guide their future collaborations in the contexts of precollege (K-12) teacher preparation, outreach, and the enhancement of engineering teaching, learning, and assessment. This paper summarizes the conference and the action items suggested by these deans.