Delivering quality technology education through teacher-written or vendor-written technology education modules

Abstract

Vendors and instructors are creating technology modular education units at a rapid rate. Many of the middle school technology education programs across the country are implementing modular programs to deliver their curriculum. Hopkins Middle School has incorporated both vendor-written and teacher-written technology education modules and wonder if there is a difference. This study researched vendor-written and instructor-written modular technology education curriculum to determine which program is better at meeting widely excepted criteria for a quality technology education program. The study looked at three different module topics. A teacher-written technology education module and two vendors-written technology education modules were compared for each of the module topics. All modules were worked through to see which benchmarks from the Standards for Technological literacy: Content for the Study of Technology were being addressed. The four subjects were then examined individually to see if they met the nine questions raised by Wright (1997) “Presented as a way to evaluate the effectiveness of modules, design-based instruction, or other approaches to technology education” (Wright, 1997, P.6). The study found that teacher-written technology education modules were in fact better then vendor-written modules, although modular technology education was found not to meet the characteristics of a quality technology education program on its own