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Publications Research

2004

Critical Issues and Problems in Technology

Education
Robert C. Wicklein
University of Georgia

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Part of the Engineering Education Commons

Recommended Citation
Wicklein, R. C. (2004). Critical issues and problems in technology education. The Technology Teacher, 64(4), 6-9.

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 CRITICAL ISSUES AND PROBLEMS IN
TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION
Robert C. Wicklein, DTE
"This is our decade, we will either
develop as a strong and viable
instructional program or we will wither
and die as an insignificant relic of a
failed curriculum" (Custer, 2003).
These prophetic words by the 2002-
2004 president of the Council on
Technology Teacher Education (CTTE)
seem to be ringing more true with the
passing of each school year. In these
critical times it is imperative that we
utilize every available resource to build
and establish our field of study and to
address and solve the issues and
problems that we now face. Therefore,
if we are to guide our profession
successfully through the myriad of
problems and concerns that impact us,
we will need to be strategic in every
decision. A crucial first step to
preserve the future of the profession is
to gather empirical data that
accurately identifies the critical issues
and problems facing technology
education.
Research Goals
To address the need of identifying a
comprehensive base for the critical
issues and problems, research was
conducted to ascertain the perspec-
T tives of classroom teachers, university
professors, and supervisors of
technology education. The goal of the
research was to determine the critical
issues and problems based on the
following two (2) questions;
• What are the critical Issues that
are currently impacting tbe
technology education field of
study?
• What are the critical problems that
are currently impacting the
technology education field of
study?
In order to obtain standardized
information from the most knowl-
edgeable subjects integral to this topic.
6 December/January 2005 • THE TECHNOLOGY TEACHER
If we are to guide our profession successfully
through the myriad of problems and concerns
that impact us, we will need to be strategic in
every decision.
survey-based research methodologies
were deemed appropriate to collect
data. A combination of random
T field; Problem - an obstacle that is
sampling and total population data
collection strategies were employed.
Stratified random sampling was used
to collect data from classroom
teachers of tecfinology education. A
total of 347 middle school and high
scfiooi teachers were randomly
selected from tfie four regions of the
International Technology Education
Association (ITEA) to participate in tbis
study. In addition, tbe entire population
of 132 university department
beads/program leaders in technology
teacber education, as well as the total
population of 55 state and regional
supervisors, were selected to receive
the survey questionnaire. Tbese
individuals represented an appropriate
cross-sectional perspective of tbe
current needs and difficulties facing
the field of technology education.
Survey Construction
Tbe survey was divided into four (4)
sections. Section 1 - Demographics -
sought to collect data on tbe
appropriate demographic categories,
including instructional position, (e.g.,
middle school teacber, bigh school
teacher, etc.), years of experience,
gender, and age. Section 2 -
Directions - explained tbe procedures
for completing tbe survey and defined
the terms used in tbe survey (e.g..
1
Critical - bigh degree of importance for
tbe field; Issue - a concern tbat may
affect progress or development for tbe
preventing progress or development for
tbe field). Section 3 - Criticallssues -
sougbt the rating and ranking on 18
pre-identified critical issue items.
Section 4 - Critical Problems - sought
rating and ranking on 21 pre-identified
critical problem items. Participants
were asked to rate tbeir level of
agreement or disagreement on each
item by using a likert-type scale,
indicating Strongly Agree, Agree,
Disagree, and Strongly Disagree. In
addition, each participant was
asked to independently rank order the
top tbree (3) critical issues and
problems tbat tbey deemed tbe most
vital to the field of tecbnology
education.
Results
Df the 534 survey questionnaires that
were mailed, 301 were completed in
some fasbion and returned. Eive (5)
surveys were incompletely or
inaccurately filled out and were
deemed unusable, therefore, 296
surveys, or 55%, were analyzed for
evaluation. Table 1 presents tbe results
of the demographic data collected in
this study.
Participants were asked to identify
tbeir level of agreement or
disagreement on eacb survey item. A
likert-type scale was utilized to
ascertain participant perspectives with
4=Strongly Agree, 3 = Agree,
2 = Disagree, and 1 = Strongly
Disagree. Table 2 represents tbe
analyses of tbe overall group mean
Participants
Table 1
Demographics of Study

Middle School Teachers 90

N
30.3
scores and standard deviations for the
top five (5) critical issues for
technology education. Each of the top
five (5) mean score ratings ranged in
the Agree to Strongly Agree choice.
T with the overall mean scores as
reported in Tables 2 and 3; however,
other items surfaced as being vital to
the field, yet were not evaluated highly
in the mean scores ratings. Table 4
High School Teachers 107 36.0 presents the rank orders for the critical
University Professors 53 17.8 Table 3 represents the analyses of the issues.
Supervisors 47 15.8 overall group mean scores and
standard deviations for the top five (5) Table 5 represents the analyses of the
Gender N
critical problems for technology rank order for the critical problems in
Male 267 90.2 education. Again, each of the top five technology education.
Female 29 9.8 (5) mean score ratings ranged in the
Experience N Agree to Strongly Agree choice. There was consistency among ratings
in levels of agreement/disagreement
1-3 Years 19 6.4
When asked to rank order the top and rank orders on some of the critical
4-8 Years 44 14.9
three (3} critical issues and problems issues and problems. Recruitment of
9-15 Years 53 17.9
by importance and significance for the studer^ts/teachers into teacher
More than 15 Years 174 58.8 field of technology education, the education programs was identified as
Age N participants in this study provided an the highest rated critical issue as well
20-25 4 1.3 interesting mixture of issues and as tbe number one ranked item across
26-45 113 38.0 problems. Several of the top ranked all categories of technology educators
46-65 176 59.3 issues and problems were consistent (e.g., overall, middle school, high
More than 65 4 1.3 school, university professor, and
supervisor). Another critical issue that
had consistency both in the mean
Table 2 score ratings and rank order was.
Overall Mean Scores/Standard Deviations - Top Five Critical Issues for Identifying and procuring adequate
Technology Education funding sources for technology
education. This item was rated as the
Critical Issue Mean SD 3"^ highest critical issue and was also
ranked 3'^' highest on the overall status
1 Recruitment of students/teachers into teacher
order. Conversely, Enhancing business
education programs 3,62 0.55 and industry connection with
2 Positioning technology education within the whole technology education was rated as the
4'^ highest critical issue as analyzed by
school curriculum 3.44 0.65
mean scores but was not identified by
3 Identifying and procuring adequate funding sources any of the educator groups when rank
for technology education 3.35 0.66 ordered.

4 Enhancing business and industry connection with
technology education
Integration of technology education with other
school subjects
Table 3
Overall Mean Scores/Standard Deviations - Top Five Critical Prohtems for
Technology Education
Critical Problem
Insufficient quantities of qualified technology
education teachers
Inadequate understanding by administrators and
counselors concerning technology education
Inadequate understanding by general populace
concerning technology education
Increased high school graduation requirements
The matching of rating scores with
3.32 0.68 rank order for the critical problems met
with much more consistency. Four {4}
of tbe top rated critical problems were
3.30 0.70 also categorized within the top five in
rank order. The critical problem items,
Insufficient quantities of qualified
technology education teachers.
Inadequate understanding by
administrators and counselors
Mean SD concerning technology education, and
Inadequate understanding by general
populace concerning technology
3.60 0.61 education, were rated and ranked
identically (position 1, 2, 3) on both
measurements. In addition, Inadequate
3.52 0.69 financial support for technology
education programs was rated as the
3.41 0.68 5"' most important critical problem and
ranked 4"^ most significant critical
problem.

i
impacting on technology education programs 3.29 0.73

Inadequate financial support for technology education

programs 3.29 0.75

THE TECHNOLOGY TEACHER • December/January 2005 7

 Table 4
Rank Order of Critical Issues in Technology Education

Rank Order

Critical Issue MS HS Univ.

Overall Teacher Teacher Prof. Super.

Recruitment of students/teachers into teacher education programs 1 1 1 1 1

Curriculum design and development for technology education 2 2 2 3 2

Identification of a knowledge base for technology education 3 2 5 2 3
Positioning technology education within the whole school curriculum 4 3 3
Identifying and procuring adequate funding sources for technology education 5 4
Integration of technology education with other school subjects 4 4 4
Revisions and development in technology teacher education 4 5

Table 5
Rank Order of Critical Problems in Technology Education

Rank Order

Critical Problem MS HS Univ.

Overall Teacher Teacher Prof. Super.

Insufficient quantities of qualified technology education teachers 1 2 4 1 1

Inadequate understanding by administrators and counselors concerning

technology education 2 1 1 4 2
Inadequate understanding by general populace concerning technology education 3 4 3 5 3
Lack of consensus of curriculum content for technology education 4 2 2
Inadequate financial support for technology education programs 5 3
Increased high school graduation requirements impacting on technology
education programs 5 5
Inadequate marketing and public relations of technology education 3 5
Resistance to change in technology education 4

Conclusions
Each of the critical issues and
problems identified in this study bears
further investigation and possible
action to correct the crisis. Clearly,
some of the issues and problems are
more critical to specialized groups, at
certain times, and in particular
locations. However, other issues and
problems are serious and systemic to
the entire profession of technology
education. Some actions will require
the efforts of literally every person
involved in the profession, while others
will need to be addressed by a select
rightful place within the school
curriculum.
The most obvious conclusion from this
research is the concern and crisis over
the insufficient quantities of qualified
new technology educators entering the
instructional ranks. As the strongest
indicator in this research, the dilemma
over recruitment and preparation of
new technology teachers coming from
university programs dwarfs all of the
other concerns. Identified as the
highest priority in both the critical
issues and problems sections of the
study. Recruitment of students/
teachers into teacher education
future health of the technology
education profession. Without a
serious and immediate effort to
address these needs, the field of
technology education, as we know it,
will cease to exist in the short-range
future.
Inadequacies seem to also plague the
field of technology education,
Inadequate understanding by
administrators and counselors
concerning technology education and
Inadequate understanding by general
populace concerning technology
education speak to the issue and

1
group of educators. The crux of the
matter is that strategic actions by
technology educators at all ranks are
needed if the profession is to take its
problem of confusion and mis-
programs and Insufficient quantities of
understanding of what technology
qualified technology education
education is about. Technology
teachers are vital to the current and

8 December/January 2005 • THE TECHNOLOGY TEACHER

educators commonly experience the
inaccurate assumptions by pro-
fessional educators and general public
alike as to the goal, purpose, and
T • Identify and communicate a clear
activities of the field. Serious efforts
need to be directed at developing a
clear and distinct description of the
profession that can be easily grasped
and understood by those inside and
outside of the profession. The common
assumption held by many technology
educators is that an explanation of
technological literacy will suffice in
describing our goals and purpose. This
Is a mistaken assumption that
continues to confuse many decision-
makers as well as the general public.
Curriculum design and development
and the need for consensus of
curriculum content were ranked within
the top five (5) critical issues and
problems; however, they were not
rated (mean scores) highly in this
study. In addition, funding of
technology instructional programs
ranked high for both issues and
problems but was not rated within the
top five (5) of these categories. These
inconsistencies may be indicative of a
separation of general needs when
compared to prioritizing considerations.
In whatever capacity, curriculum
design, development, and consensus,
along with procuring adequate financial
support for technology education,
remain as high needs for the field.
and understandable purpose of
technology education to all
populations,
T References
R. Custer (personal communication, March
13,2003),
Wicktein, R.C. (1993). Identifying critical
• Reach consensus in curriculum issues and problems in technology
design and development as high education using a modlfied-delphi
priorities. technique. Journal of Technology
• Evaluation of this data by Education. 50). S/i-Ti.
professional leadership to aid in Wicklein, R.C. & Hill, R.B. (1996),
future planning and focus of the Navigating the straits with research or
profession. opinion? Setting the course for
technology education. International
• Conduct research of this type at
Journal of Technology and Design
regular intervals.
Education, 6(1), 31-43.
'This is our decade" (Custer, 2003); if
we are to grow into an instructional Robert C. Wtckiein
field that is clear, distinct, and highly Is a professor in the
valued, it will take the efforts of every Department of
available human resource technology Occupational
education has^elementary teachers, Studies at the
middle school teachers, high school University of
teachers, university professors, and Georgia in Athens.
supervisors. We are all in this boat He can be reached
together. via e-mail at wick-
one@uga.edu.
This is a refereed article.

Recommendations
The majority of the issues and
problems that were identified in this

T
study were also evaluated as
significant in similar studies conducted
in 1993 and 1996 (Wicklein, 1993;
Wicklein & Hill, 1996). The unique-
nesses of the issues and problems
facing technology education at this
time in its history may very well be at
a point of no retum, where solutions
must be found if the field is to sun/ive.

The following recommendations will

serve to help guide our profession
through the issues and problems
facing us:
• Undertake significant efforts aimed
at recruiting and preparing new
technology education educators at
all levels.

THE TECHNOLOGY TEACHER • December/January 2005 9