The Committee on Technological Literacy (CTL), a group guided by the National Academies of Science and Engineering, the Institute of Medicine, and the National Research Council, recently concluded that "it is in the best interest of all Americans to understand more about technology." The CTL recommended that governmental agencies set education…

At one time, it was believed that Information Technology (IT) was a specialty in nursing that should be offered at the graduate education level. Programs were offered at some of the more progressive colleges and universities. Graduates of these programs became highly-prized in industry and education. Now, educators and industry recognize that…

Literacy in the home is often judged as an inferior version of school literacy. In multilingual contexts, family literacy practices tend to be characterised as traditional and more reliant on oral than literate practices, with the children being seen as disadvantaged by the lack of parental literacy support. This paper argues that literacy…

The application of the technology acceptance model to a merchandising course teaching industry software was evaluated. Based on technology acceptance research, industry software was presented emphasizing ease-of-use and usefulness. The final course project gave students a quasi real-life experience of combining merchandising skills with the…

As much as 20 years ago, it was commonplace for technology teachers to find a comfortable niche in the school building because they were the "go-to person." Yes, anytime something was in need of fixing or repair, they called on the technology teacher. With the advent of Y2K and computers, that niche slowly eroded to the teachers who…

This article describes how we engaged teacher candidates in an authentic professional learning activity using information technologies as tools, to support both learning to teach and learning to use technology. The assignments in two courses generally achieved the desired authenticity to teaching, and plausibly accounted for the candidates'…

This article highlights several programs at the National Academies that should be useful to educators in biology. These include works under the aegis of the National Academy of Sciences' Office on Public Understanding of Science, the National Academy of Engineering's (NAE's) ongoing work on improving technological literacy, and joint work by the…

Standards are a reality in all academic disciplines, and they can be hard to measure using conventional methods. Technology skills in particular are hard to assess using multiple-choice, paper-based tests. A new generation of online assessments of student technology skills allows students to prove proficiency by completing tasks in their natural…

Students usually enter technology skills courses with varying experience and self-efficacy with technology. Teaching classes with mixed-efficacy at the same pace and level of contents may not ensure that all students would be equally motivated. This qualitative study explored strategies for motivating mixed profile classes by comparing learning…

In this message from the ITEA president, he states that it is imperative that ITEA convey a shared mission and philosophy, foster leadership, and grow a large audience of supportive professional members while remaining agile enough to withstand generational and political changes that naturally occur over time. The strategic plan of ITEA focuses on…

In this article, the author seeks to identify and explain the primary rationale for having the field of technology education direct its focus on engineering design. The basis of this proposal stems from a combination of observations made over a 25-year career as a teacher/teacher educator of industrial arts/technology education and a broad-based…

This article presents the text of a speech given by the author at the Maley Spirit of Excellence Breakfast in March, 2006. In this address, Sanders talks about the characteristics necessary for technology education leadership, and recommends seven leadership initiatives that the profession should pursue: (1) State-level political action; (2)…

Technology affects education at all levels. Children are naturals at using technology. They use technology in all aspects of their lives; for that reason, it is imperative that teachers not only keep up with the latest technology, but also find ways to integrate technology, including the media, into classroom instruction. Media literacy is a…

The Metropolitan District of Lawrence Township in Indianapolis, Indiana, needs a new model of teaching the latest technologies and strategies to teach kids. This paper presents the districts' implementation of the staff development plan. The plan focuses on enhancing teachers' abilities to teach: (a) basic literacy; (b) technological literacy; (c)…

In this article, we have explored the issues that Ministries of Education confront in their large-scale assessment policies and practices as literacy curricula expand to include the new literacies of information and communication technologies. Based on a series of interviews with Ministry personnel, we have described their current progress to…