DEAN’S RESPONSE
Planning and Review Committee
Program: BS Technology Education
College: Education, Health and Human Sciences
Year: 2015
Recommendations for the Program Director:
Issue/Concern:
1. Sustain a focus on increasing enrollment, particularly given a supply shortage of future
technology teachers in the state of Wisconsin and the nation. Focus still on developing and
refining marketing strategies to promote the program.
2. Seek funds to support additional faculty/academic staff as needed.
3. Seek funding and identification of an appropriate space for a Microteaching Lab for the Teaching
Methods course.
4. Assess specific areas of critical comment within recent surveys, in light of the low numbers of
responses, to better determine whether more technical coursework is needed in certain areas;
whether more preparation is needed in writing effectively; whether greater attention is needed to
identify, apply, and promote an understanding of career clusters and pathways; to determine if
students need more training in making data-driven decisions about strategies for teaching and
learning; and, to determine if more opportunities are needed for teaching throughout the program,
as well as any need for increased curricular structure in technical content courses.
5. Work with faculty to increase the rigor in the technical courses being used to develop domain
knowledge for the study of technology.
6. Try to structure or administer surveys to obtain more data from students, alumni, faculty,
advisory committee, and employers.
Response from Program Director:
1. I will also continue to work with the University Marketing office and the Director of the School
of Education to implement the marketing plan that was developed during the summer of 2014 in
order to sustain a focus on increasing enrollment.
2. I will continue to work with Director of the School of Education and Dean of the College of
Education, Health and Human Sciences to identify and pursue funding sources support for
additional faculty/academic staff as needed.
3. I will continue to work with Director of the School of Education and Dean of the College of
Education, Health and Human Sciences to create a better space for the Microteaching Lab in the
Communication Technology building.
4. I will continue to work alongside the staff in the Provost’s office to structure or administer
surveys to obtain more data from students, alumni, faculty, advisory committee, and employers.
5. I will continue to work with STEM College and Technology and Engineering faculty and
administration to increase the rigor in the technical courses being used to develop domain
knowledge for the study of technology.
6. See response to 4 above.
Recommendations for the Department Chair/Director of the School of Education:
Issue/Concern:
1. Support the Program Director to sustain a focus on increasing enrollment, particularly given a
supply shortage of future technology teachers in the state of Wisconsin and the nation. Support
the Program Director in focusing still on developing and refining marketing strategies to promote
the program.
2. Support the Program Director by seeking funds to support additional faculty/academic staff as
needed.
3. Support the Program Director by funding and identifying an appropriate space for a
Microteaching Lab for the Teaching Methods course.
4. Support the Program Director in assessing specific areas of critical comment within recent
surveys, in light of the low numbers of responses, to better determine whether more technical
coursework is needed in certain areas; whether more preparation is needed in writing effectively;
whether greater attention is needed to identify, apply, and promote an understanding of career
clusters and pathways; to determine if students need more training in making data-driven
decisions about strategies for teaching and learning; and, to determine if more opportunities are
needed for teaching throughout the program, as well as any need for increased curricular structure
in technical content courses.
5. Support the Program Director in any undertaken initiative to increase the rigor in the technical
courses being used to develop domain knowledge for the study of technology.
6. Support the Program Director in efforts to try to structure or administer surveys to obtain more
data from students, alumni, faculty, advisory committee, and employers.
Response from Department Chair:
1. The Program Director will be encouraged to collaborate with University Marketing and the
Director of the School of Education to implement the marketing plan. Also, I will support the
Program Director in utilizing any “program director” allocated funds for marketing purposes.
2. At this time the Technology/Science Education program is considered to be fully staffed.
Recently, a graduate assistant was hired to support and aid the Program Director. As future needs
arise staffing considerations will be reviewed and supported.
3. I will continue to consult with the Program Director and Associate Dean on needs related to lab
space. Also, I will encourage cross-disciplinary discussions about teaching demo space options
and what current spaces might be utilized for teaching demos. I will consult with the Program
Director and Associate Dean to determine the applicability of a lab modernization request for
updates to spaces for micro-teaching and help identify support for writing a lab modernization
grant.
4. Support will be provided for the Program Director and Disciplinary Work Group on curriculum
revisions that may be necessary based on their assessments of student learning needs. This
includes examining options within professional courses for revisions, considering courses that the
department offers but the major does not utilize (CTE-302), and considerations for cross
disciplinary conversations. With the realities of a goal of a 120-credit program the balance
between breadth and depth will need to be a consideration in any revisions.
5. Ongoing support will be provided for the Program Director to discuss “rigor” in technical
courses. This will include discussing strategies with the Program Director for regular and ongoing
correspondence with technical course instructors/departments.
6. The Program Director will be supported in collaborating with others who develop the surveys for
students, alumni, faculty, advisory committee, and employers.
Recommendations for the Dean:
Issue/Concern:
1. Support the Program Director and Director of the School of Education to sustain a focus on
increasing enrollment, particularly given a supply shortage of future technology teachers in the
state of Wisconsin and the nation. Support the Program Director and Director of the School of
Education in focusing still on developing and refining marketing strategies to promote the
program.
2. Support the Program Director and Director of the School of Education by seeking funds to
support additional faculty/academic staff as needed.
3. Support the Program Director and Director of the School of Education by funding and identifying
an appropriate space for a Microteaching Lab for the Teaching Methods course.
4. Support the Program Director and Director of the School of Education in assessing specific areas
of critical comment within recent surveys, in light of the low numbers of responses, to better
determine whether more technical coursework is needed in certain areas; whether more
preparation is needed in writing effectively; whether greater attention is needed to identify, apply,
and promote an understanding of career clusters and pathways; to determine if students need
more training in making data-driven decisions about strategies for teaching and learning; and, to
determine if more opportunities are needed for teaching throughout the program, as well as any
need for increased curricular structure in technical content courses.
5. Support the Program Director and Director of the School of Education in any undertaken
initiative to increase the rigor in the technical courses being used to develop domain knowledge
for the study of technology.
6. Support the Program Director and Director of the School of Education in efforts to try to structure
or administer surveys to obtain more data from students, alumni, faculty, advisory committee, and
employers.
Response from Dean:
1. The Program Director will be supported in implementing the Marketing Plan developed in
collaboration with University Marketing. CEHHS will pool a significant amount of the funds
previously allocated to programs to support initiatives specifically recommended in their
individual program Marketing Plan. Additionally the Program Director will be encouraged and
expected to participate in related professional development opportunities such as training and
implementation of Hobson’s marketing and management tools.
2. At the current time the personnel profile reflects that the program is fully staffed. As is true with
all discipline areas, this is carefully monitored at the department through college level and
retirements and resignations in this area would be analyzed to determine needs.
3. Associate Dean Bob Peters will work closely with the Program Director, faculty and staff to
determine space needs and support development of proposals to support laboratory needs
including but not limited to the Laboratory Modernization funding cycle. It is important to note
that laboratory and microteaching space needs to be considered more broadly than facilities that
serve individual programs.
4. The Dean and Associate Dean will support continued analysis of the program and course
objectives and content, specifically in response to the student surveys. Strategies to be considered
include focus groups, analysis of follow-up surveys, input from Cooperative Teachers
(supervisors of student teachers), and input from the Program Advisory Committee.
5. In addition to supporting the Program Director, School of Education Director and Chair in
working closely with the College of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics faculty
and staff, the Dean and Associate Dean will discuss this concern with the CSTEM Dean and
Associate Dean.
6. The Dean will support the Program Director and Director to work closely with Career Services
and PARQ to increase the response rate of surveys of students, alumni, faculty, advisory
committee, and employers.