Education & Pedagogy

In order to teach engineering education, today's engineering and technology education teachers must be equipped with lesson plans to teach engineering design, among other principles, to the 6th-12th grade levels. At Utah State University (USU), curriculum has been developed for preservice engineering and technology education teachers that demonstrates and reinforces how engineering principles can play an integral role in the technology education classroom. As the body of technology and engineering education scholars continues to debate, review, discuss, analyze, and design curriculum and programs for the improvement of the discipline, it is important to remember that, with the incredible speed of technological evolution, change will continue to be the norm. It is incumbent upon educators to adapt to and accommodate this evolutionary process. (Contains 2 figures.)

This paper investigates the effects of higher education expansion on the phenomena of credentialism and gender discrimination in education. Using the survey data of Family Income and Expenditure by DGBAS, Taiwan from 1980 to 2009, we examine the time path of the effect of higher education expansion on household expenditures for children's education in Taiwan for five sub-periods: 1980-1990, 1991-1995, 1996-2000, 2001-2005, and 2006-2009. We show that, surprisingly, although the higher education expansion during the 1990s lowers the requirement of college entrance, credentialism seems to continue to prevail in the Taiwanese society. However, the higher education expansion does change parents' attitude on female children's education and increase the possibility for female children to attain higher education.

Distance education permeates the field of professional and continuing education to such an extent that quality assurance (QA) is a topic no distance educator or administrator should avoid. Quality assurance is an issue not just for continuing education but also for higher education generally. Given the disruptive impact of distance education and technology on understandings of educational quality, this article provides an overview of quality-assurance issues in distance education. In that spirit, the authors examine topics across four general themes: (1) the external and internal dimensions of quality assurance; (2) major initiatives that affected distance education quality assurance; (3) the most promising tools and techniques in the field; and (4) a look forward to what will likely influence the landscape of quality assurance in distance education.

In this study, we examined preservice teacher perception on the modeling of principles of multicultural education at a university of predominantly White students. Preservice teachers (N = 79) at the end of a multicultural education course responded to a survey based on the principles of multiculturalism. The students conducted an 8-week evaluation of the modeling or integration of multiculturalism in their teacher education classes. Statistical analysis indicated that 95.4% of preservice teachers perceived an integration of instructional principles of multicultural education, whereas 69% perceived integration of curricular principles of multicultural education. Findings suggested that diversity is a critical element of multiculturalism in the teacher education program needing attention. (Contains 1 table.)

Reviews three new books about the current political battle over bilingual education, focusing on: bilingual education theory and the importance of transformative pedagogy; political analysis of bilingual education and key issues in indigenous language loss; and politics of multiculturalism. Discusses the maturation of bilingual education since passage of the Bilingual Education Act (Title VII) and implications for American Indian educators. (TD)

From a slogan that, from 1945 to 1954, had limited significance in education practice and, from the 1950s through the 1970s, had a small place in education histories, since 1980 life adjustment education has become, for historians, an anathema representative of the worst reform impulses in American education. By interpreting life adjustment education through the perspective of its contemporary critics and in terms of present-day reform priorities, historians have not only provided an inaccurate representation of life adjustment education as a historical development but also have overlooked other ways to understand life adjustment education and its critics and have missed an opportunity to inform current practice.