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Session #3586

Implications for Technology Curriculum – Outcomes of a DACUM study in Tennessee Lisa Bogaty Pellissippi State Technical Community College

Abstract

This paper describes the three major outcomes of using the DACUM (Developing a Curriculum) process in developing curricula for the Tennessee Exemplary Faculty Advanced Technology Education project, an NSF-funded precursor to the current southeastern Advanced Technology Education (SEATEC) project. The project had three major goals: Faculty development, curriculum and curriculum support materials development and developing internship guidelines for sending faculty back into industry. DACUM was used to address two of them – faculty development and curriculum development.

DACUM (Developing a Curriculum) is a process used by companies and colleges around the world to quickly, accurately describe specific occupations. A DACUM chart lists duties of the job, tasks, which you must be able to perform in order to do the job, and general education skills that are prerequisite to effective job performance. Unlike conventional job analysis methods, DACUM relies on panels of expert workers, defined as employees currently performing the job, to define each job – and they do it in two days. For technological careers, accurate, current materials that explain to prospective students exactly what they will be doing upon graduation, and that outline the general education skills and tools of the job they have chosen are invaluable.

The SEATEC teams used DACUM to define the jobs of two types of Information Technology employees – Network Specialists and Telecommunications Technicians. Panels were recruited from companies East Tennessee, Middle Tennessee and West Tennessee and included many of the major employers in the region (TVA and Lockheed Martin Energy Systems, for example, in East Tennessee). Three different panels were used; each working under a trained DACUM facilitator and each composed of representatives of 6-8 local companies.

The SEATEC teams realized three very positive outcomes from the DACUM studies: Professional development for team members that included certification as a DACUM facilitator; Stronger ties with businesses and industries in their service areas; and DACUM charts that can be used to compare job responsibilities in one region of the country to those in another. The rest of this paper will outline these outcomes.

Professional Development: Because the group wanted to insure that trained DACUM facilitators were available across the state to conduct DACUM job analyses, a week-long facilitator training workshop was held at Pellissippi State Technical

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Bogaty, L. (1999, June), Implications For Technology Curriculum Outcomes Of A Dacum Study In Tennessee Paper presented at 1999 Annual Conference, Charlotte, North Carolina. 10.18260/1-2--7722