EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES AND OUTCOMES FOR TECHNOLOGICAL LITERACY PROGRAMS AT COLLEGE LEVEL

摘要

This paper presents results of work towards constructing a model set of educational objectives and outcomes for minors, courses or similar programs which can be used by engineering units to develop programs for technological literacy of non-engineers at the collegiate level. Four institutions with varying approaches in this area collaborated for this work as part of a larger NSF supported project. Working definitions for Educational Objectives, Outcomes, Assessment and Evaluation are established to support the work. Available objectives and outcomes from the literature, which would be pertinent to this audience, were used as primary sources. The project team prioritized statements from these sources for how they would apply to the intended audience of non-engineering, college-level students in the context of offerings from an engineering unit's perspective, strengths and resources. By multiple iterations, highest priority items were combined as appropriate and categorized as Educational Objectives and related Outcomes. This resulted in a set of four Educational Objectives and seventeen Outcomes. The four Educational Objectives include demonstrating: 1) knowledge of the technological nature of the physical and natural world, 2) ability to meaningfully engage with big questions of a technological nature, both contemporary and enduring, 3) characteristics of personal and social responsibility in using and creating technology, and 4) capability to synthesize and advance technological accomplishments across general and specialized domains. Three to six Outcomes were related to each of the Educational Objectives. The Educational Objectives and Outcomes were shared with members of the Technological Literacy Division of ASEE for comment. Comments were considered in refinement of the statements. The paper presents a foundational set of Educational Objectives and Outcomes that can be used for multiple pedagogical approaches to technological literacy for non-engineering collegiate level students.