Systematic review of engineering technology education literature

Abstract

Few engineering technology education research publications exist; those that do are often viewed through the lens of the engineering education researcher. More specifically, engineering technology education is examined in the same manner as engineering education. The lack of rigorous research focusing on the education of engineering technology students may be the result of diverse engineering technology programs, and smaller research populations as compared to engineering and other STEM fields. Educators in engineering technology programs are challenged by this lack of discipline-specific rigorous research. The lack of engineering technology education research may be attributed to smaller numbers of engineering technology students vs. the larger numbers found in engineering. Regularly researchers include engineering technology students by broadly applying research findings from engineering and at times other STEM disciplines. A cursory review of existing engineering technology education research revealed that existing material is fragmented, most often focusing on course work and discipline-specific methodologies. Reviewing work in this area will provide engineering technology education researchers a source of existing research. This work will offer engineering technology academe a better understanding of authentic engineering technology education research, supporting work in and out of the engineering technology classroom. Following the example set by researchers performing systematic reviews in other fields, the authors intend to perform a high-level systemic review of engineering technology education research literature. Ultimately this work will provide a better understanding of engineering technology education research, providing a clear access to deep conceptual knowledge, understanding of research methodologies used in previous engineering technology education research, concise review to support epistemology of engineering technology, informing of engineering technology practice, and supporting new directions in engineering technology education research. The presentation of this work at the conference using a higher level of initial review is intended to encourage discussion of known literature, and to further the engineering technology education community's understanding of the more obscure or little-known research in this area. Future work, including input gathered at the conference, is expected to contribute to an in-depth systematic review of engineering technology research literature, which is expected to encourage the expansion of rigorous engineering technology research.