This award supports a planning visit to enable Professor Edward Reeve at Utah State University to meet with Professor Howard Middleton at Griffith University in Australia. The visit will help develop a detailed international collaborative research and education plan in the emerging area of engineering and technology education. Technology education is a field in which the people involved are focused on promoting technology literacy. Engineering and technology education is a new field which combines the disciplines of technology education and engineering in hopes of developing pre-engineering programs and curricula that will help students to choose careers in engineering, science or technology related fields. This topic is of significant interest to the U.S. not only in promoting technology literacy of the general population, but also in encouraging students in K-12 to pursue careers in technological areas. By leveraging the intellectual and financial resources at both institutions, the unique collaboration that emanates from the proposed visit has the potential of producing a significant impact on future development in this field.
There is sufficient overlap of interests between faculty at Utah State and Griffith to indicate that they can successfully pursue the activities proposed, and that the interaction will benefit both sides. In addition, the proposed involvement of four US graduate students at Utah State University's National Center for Engineering and Technology Education (NCETE) will enable these (early-career) researchers to gain valuable international perspective and insight. These students will also participate in discussion on future collaborative activities with researchers at Griffith University. Information and presentations from the meetings will be posted on the NCETE website. Additionally, information on a plan of action will be posted on the Engineering and Technology Education Department's website.
