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Leadership Development for Engineering Technology Faculty: Becoming an Educational Leader through Knowledge Generation, Application, and Contribution

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Conference

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Indianapolis, Indiana

Publication Date

June 15, 2014

Start Date

June 15, 2014

End Date

June 18, 2014

ISSN

2153-5965

Conference Session

A Focus on Non-Traditional Students and Non-Traditional Course Delivery Methods

Tagged Division

Two Year College Division

Page Count

14

Page Numbers

24.844.1 - 24.844.14

DOI

10.18260/1-2--20735

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/20735

Download Count

482

Paper Authors

biography

Elaine L. Craft Florence-Darlington Technical College

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Elaine L. Craft (Florence-Darlington Technical College, Florence, SC) holds a baccalaureate degree in chemical engineering from the University of Mississippi and a MBA from the University of South Carolina with additional graduate studies in mathematics. Her experience includes working as an engineer in industry as well as teaching and administration at community college and state levels. She has served as Director of the South Carolina Advanced Technological (SC ATE) Center of Excellence since 1994, leading initiatives and grant-funded projects to develop educational leadership and increase the quantity, quality and diversity of highly skilled technicians to support the American economy. Currently serving as Principal Investigator, Mentor-Connect: Leadership Development and Outreach for ATE; Co-Principal Investigator, SC ATE National Resource Center for Expanding Excellence in Technician Education; and Co-Principal Investigator, ATE Regional Center for Aviation and Automotive Technology Education Using Virtual E-Schools (CA2VES). The SC ATE Center is widely known for developing and broadly sharing successful educational models and practices in technician education, with a particular emphasis on faculty development in problem-based learning, the first year of study for success in engineering and technology majors, and mentoring educators nationally.

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biography

Liesel Ashley Ritchie Institute of Behavioral Science

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Liesel Ritchie is with the Institute of Behavioral Science at the University of Colorado (CU), Boulder, where she is Assistant Director for Research at the Natural Hazards Center. Dr. Ritchie has more than 25 years of experience in evaluation and research with agencies including NASA, NOAA, NSF, USDA, US Department of Education, USGS, and the US Department of the Interior. Prior to joining CU, she was a Senior Research Associate at the Evaluation Center (Western Michigan University) and served for six years as Coordinator for the Social Science Research Center's Evaluation & Decision Support Laboratory (Mississippi State University).

Dr. Ritchie has extensive experience in all aspects of evaluation and research design and implementation. She has served as PI or co-PI on more than 70 projects and authored or coauthored more than 70 technical reports, as well as published in peer reviewed journals.

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Sandra Janette Mikolaski

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Abstract

Leadership Development for Engineering Technology Faculty: Becoming an Educational Leader through Knowledge Generation, Application, and ContributionLeaders understand that knowledge is power. They also know knowledge creates resilience,flexibility, and adaptability, and therefor provides a competitive edge for those using andapplying that knowledge. This paper explores how engineering technology faculty andadministrators at two-year colleges can gain, use, and share critical knowledge of what works,and doesn’t work, in technician education (TE). Faculty members who generate, apply, andcontribute their knowledge of research-in-action and effective practices give their students, theirtechnical programs, and their colleges a strategic and competitive advantage. Knowledge sharedwith and by peers in the greater community of practitioners enables faculty to: 1) broaden theirown knowledge base and improve their professional practice; 2) strengthen student outcomesacross engineering technology courses and programs; and, 3) develop more competitive grantproposals built on an existing body of knowledge. Further, knowledge acquisition and effectivedissemination informs and supports the development of leadership skills, thereby enhancingindividual faculty status and visibility at home institutions and in the collective community.This paper introduces and showcases the Compendium of Research on Technician Education--anew way relevant research is being published and delivered to the doorstep of technicianeducators at www.TeachingTechnicians.org. This comprehensive database resource, developedin part with funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF), includes promising andproven practices to assist two-year college faculty in keeping their teaching practice andstudents’ learning rigorous, current, and relevant. The compendium offers targeted research on awide array of topics, such as TE technology programs, TE and workforce needs, and TE andstudent outcomes. Among the resources included are reports; peer-reviewed articles; NSF awards(mostly from the “ATE” or Advanced Technological Education program); presentations andposters; and technical briefing papers. Sample research entries range from “MaximizingRetention in Engineering/Engineering Technology” to “Using Problem-based Learning toModify Curriculum to Meet Industry Needs” to “Learning and the New Workplace: Impacts ofTechnology Change on Postsecondary and Technical Education.” Searches within TE can betailored to specific program and/or course needs for up-to-date and pertinent models, examples,and implementation practices. The ability to customize searches can also assist faculty indeveloping competitive grant concepts and strong, research-based proposals. Faculty accessingand searching the compendium can use the research findings in multiple ways to enhance theirwork and improve program success. In addition, faculty members can become active contributorsto the compendium, thereby expanding the body of knowledge generated and applied in the field,and gaining or expanding their own leadership skills.

Craft, E. L., & Ritchie, L. A., & Mikolaski, S. J. (2014, June), Leadership Development for Engineering Technology Faculty: Becoming an Educational Leader through Knowledge Generation, Application, and Contribution Paper presented at 2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Indianapolis, Indiana. 10.18260/1-2--20735

ASEE holds the copyright on this document. It may be read by the public free of charge. Authors may archive their work on personal websites or in institutional repositories with the following citation: © 2014 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015