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Are Engineering Design Graphics Educators Satisfied with their Jobs? A National “Snapshot” into the Lives of These Professionals

Aaron C. Clark, Alice Y. Scales NC State University

Abstract

For the past twenty years, professionals in the field of engineering design graphics have seen major changes in both the content taught and the type of tools used in the classroom. With these changes, few have looked at job satisfaction among educators in engineering/technical graphics. Therefore, the authors of this research study investigated educators' contentment with their current positions as engineering/technical professionals and the factors that are influencing their level of job satisfaction.

During the fall of 2001, a questionnaire was sent to all of the members in the Engineering Design Graphics Division of the America Society for Engineering Education living in the United States and Canada. The questionnaire was designed to look at job satisfaction and to identify motivational factors that influence educators’ perception of their work environment(s). The instrument, originally developed and validated by Mottaz in 1981, was design to measure the intrinsic and extrinsic variables associated with job satisfaction. 1 Questions in the survey looked at job responsibilities, salary, supervision, autonomy, promotion, co-workers, challenges, and general working conditions. With slight modifications, the instrument was re-written to adapt it to engineering/technical graphics educators and the types of environments they commonly work in. This paper will discuss some of the findings of this study and suggest areas for improvement so that, as the profession grows, our dedication to our students can grow with it.

Introduction

The instructor is the heart of the educational process, and the quality and success of any institution are based on its faculty and their productivity. The role of instructor, for those that teach in either an engineering or technology-based institution, is increasingly important as society becomes more technological advanced and as people rely on their institutions of higher education to “pave the way” for the future. Considering the important task given to professionals in higher education, this study was designed to examine the job satisfaction of instructors that teach engineering/technical graphics. The researchers based the need for this study on previous research conducted in other fields related to both secondary and post-secondary education, which looked into the present and future well-being of teachers. 2 For example, Cetron and Gayle, in their 1991 book titled Educational Renaissance, discussed issues related to educational reform at all levels, with a particular focus on educators and their retention. These researchers concluded that educators leave the profession because of lack of commitment, stress, burnout, salaries, and lack

“Proceedings of the 2002 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright ã 2002, American Society for Engineering Education”

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Scales, A., & Clark, A. (2002, June), Are Engineering Design Graphics Educators Satisfied With Their Jobs? Paper presented at 2002 Annual Conference, Montreal, Canada. 10.18260/1-2--10954