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Session 1078

Faculty Technical Currency: Status Report on a National Survey of Engineering Technology Faculty

Ahmed S. Khan DeVry University, Addison, IL 60101

Amin Karim DeVry University, Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181

Gene Gloeckner George Morgan School of Education, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523

Abstract

Rapid technological growth has put new demands on engineering and engineering technology educators. Industry seeks graduates with up-to-date technical knowledge. The half-life of an engineer's technical skills - how long it takes for half of everything an engineer knows about the field to become obsolete - is becoming strikingly short. The pace of technological change has also imposed new challenges on faculty development and technical currency programs. Faculty professional development activities and technical currency play an important role in promoting student learning and success.

Especially for non-research (purely teaching) 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. ABET’s new criteria for accrediting engineering technology programs, Technology Criteria 2000 (TC2k), also emphasize the importance of faculty technical currency.

Thus, the rapid pace of technological change coupled with the shortened “half-life” of engineers, mandate that faculty remain current in their areas of specialization in order to help students acquire an up-to-date technological knowledge base.

This paper presents the findings of a faculty survey conducted through the ASEE ETD listserv which presently has a membership of more than 3000 faculty members and professionals belonging to more than 677 institutions. The intent of the survey was to

“Proceedings of the 2004 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2004, American Society for Engineering Education"

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Morgan, G., & Gloeckner, G., & Karim, A., & Khan, A. (2004, June), Faculty Technical Currency: Status Report On A National Survey Of Engineering Technology Faculty Paper presented at 2004 Annual Conference, Salt Lake City, Utah. 10.18260/1-2--12756