Conference Session

Technology Literacy for Engineering Students

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Richard Devon, Pennsylvania State University; David Ollis, North Carolina State University

Tagged Divisions

Technological Literacy Constituent Committee

societies in which technology is sopervasive.2The report on an NSF sponsored workshop at eth National Academy of Engineering in 2005includes the statement that technological literacy is important because, We live in a technological world. Living in the twenty-first century requires much more from every individual than a basic ability to read, write, and perform simple mathematics. Technology affects virtually every aspect of our lives, from enabling citizens to perform routine tasks to requiring that they be able to make responsible, informed decisions that affect individuals, our society, and the environment. Citizens of today must have a basic understanding of how technology affects their world and how

Conference Session

Technology Literacy for Non-Engineers

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Lawrence Whitman, Wichita State University; James Steck, Wichita State University; David Koert, Wichita State University; Larry Paarmann, Wichita State University

Tagged Divisions

Technological Literacy Constituent Committee

course to have no pre-requisites. Theminimal pre-knowledge requirement was intended to ensure maximum participation among thosewho might be hesitant to enroll in an engineering course. A key aspect of the course is thepresentation of student designs to their peers and industry panels. However, all presentations andgrading will be on a merit criteria of the engineering product and the student’s ability tocommunicate that design to a diverse audience. This is also a vital component for women andminority participation. A course outline and learning objectives are shown in Table 1.Table 1. Course Outline • General programming: o Define the different parts of a Robolab program (Programming I) o Program in all Pilot levels