| Effective
technology programs encourage students to be productive,
innovative and enterprising. This involves generating ideas and
taking action, as well as developing techniques and products
that satisfy human needs, wants and opportunities and extend human capabilities.
Students learn
about materials, information and systems and the technology practice by
which they are employed. They consider the resources, equipment
and techniques that are relevant to the context in which they
are working. Students examine the context of a task or activity
to determine needs and opportunities, and to relate what is
known to what might be done. They make, organise and modify
techniques and products and communicate their plans to others.
They appraise technologies with which they have had no direct or
first-hand experience and reflect on what has been done and how
it can be improved.
Technology practice is central to technology. It is a dynamic process
where the organisers - investigation, ideation, production & evaluation -
overlap and do not occur in a pre-ordained or lock-step sequence.
Rather, the creative processes should involve iterative, cyclical, and
recursive interactions. |
| Assessment
is a process that uses information gathered through measurement
to analyse or judge a learner’s performance on some relevant
work task (Sarkees-Wircenski & Scott, 1995). The process can
also be applied to a systematic examination of materials,
programs, or activities for the purpose of formulating a value
judgement about their suitability for a particular application.
Procedures used in performing an assessment should be predicated
upon a clear understanding of goals for instruction and the
desired learning outcomes, whether assessing learner performance
or some other aspect of the learning environment. Just as a
compass on a ship allows the captain to determine direction of
travel and make course corrections, assessment provides the
feedback needed by an instructor to successfully guide student
learning activities.
In response to
public and political pressure to assure accountability and
reduce expenditures, assessment of educational programs is
viewed as being increasingly important (Lewis, 1995; Sewall,
1996). It is therefore essential that technology education
professionals be equipped with tools to effectively assess how
instructional materials and teaching methodologies are
facilitating learning (Custer, 1996).
Assessment of
technology education must go beyond the tacit approval sometimes
afforded after a cursory look at facilities and activities.
Students who successfully participate in technology
education activities should develop a number of intellectual
qualities including "understanding and competence in
designing, producing, and using technology products and systems,
and in assessing the appropriateness of technological
actions" (Wright & Lauda, 1993, p. 4). Creating
appropriate assessment strategies as well as establishing
effective technological literacy efforts at each level of
schooling should be a primary goal of the profession (Technology
for All Americans Project, 1996).
A key element
in the study of technology and the development of technological
literacy is the task of solving problems. The Technological
Method Model (Savage & Sterry, 1990), described in the
Conceptual Framework for Technology Education, spoke to the
issues of how humans use technology to solve problems. This
model specifically addressed problem solving as an essential
component to working and competing in the workforce.
The professional literature in the field of technology education
is replete with references to problem solving and the importance
of this intellectual process within the contemporary world
(Johnson, 1987, 1994; McCade, 1990; Shlesinger, 1987; Tidewater
Technology Associates, 1986; Waetjin, 1989). Therefore it is
imperative that professionals in the field incorporate problem
solving concepts and strategies as a significant element in
curriculum design and implementation.
The task of
solving problems can be undertaken in a variety of ways. Problem
solving can be approached from simple trial-and-error efforts
and range on a continuum to highly complex approaches. Many
technology educators espouse the need to create opportunities
for students to learn multiple approaches to problem solving
with movement toward the development of models to facilitate
student growth in strong mental methods of inquiry when solving
technological problems (Herschbach, 1989; Hutchinson &
Hutchinson, 1991; Todd, 1990; Wicklein, 1993; Zuga, 1989).
One of the
aspects that should distinguish technology education from other
program areas that address technological content is the
integrated study of technological processes, knowledge, and
context. In presenting A Rationale and Structure for the Study
of Technology, the Technology for all Americans Project (1996)
identified these three components as universals for the study of
technology. Knowledge related to technology, and processes
related to technology, are taught within the context of
manipulative activities with information, physical, or
biological systems. Hands-on activities are important, but they
are not aimed toward development of vocational competencies.
They provide a setting for experiential learning related to
technology. Of significance to this study, knowledge of
technology and manipulative skills related to technology are
relatively easy to measure and assess. Use of technological
processes, with associated thinking and problem solving skills,
is often challenging to measure and accurately assess. |
