WEB-BASED CURRICULUM FOR AN INTRODUCTORY AUTOMOTIVE TECHNOLOGY COURSE AT THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE LEVEL by Joseph Alan Mulleary A Project Presented to The Faculty of Humboldt State University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts In Education May, 2011 WEB-BASED CURRICULUM FOR AN INTRODUCTORY AUTOMOTIVE TECHNOLOGY COURSE AT THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE LEVEL by Joseph Alan Mulleary Approved by the Master’s Thesis/Project Committee: _______________________________________________________________________ Ann Diver-Stamnes, Major Professor Date _______________________________________________________________________ Eric Van Duzer, Committee Member Date _______________________________________________________________________ Steve Berklite, Committee Member Date _______________________________________________________________________ Jena Burgess, Vice Provost Date ABSTRACT WEB-BASED CURRICULUM FOR AN INTRODUCTORY AUTOMOTIVE TECHNOLOGY COURSE AT THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE LEVEL Joseph Alan Mulleary Automotive Technology is a subject that encompasses eight different educational areas. Many students interested in automotive have no prior background when it comes to the subject, and they need foundational knowledge in order to ensure success in the program. This project includes the entire curriculum, developed for an introductory Automotive Technology course intended for the community college level. The course will provide a solid foundation into all areas of the trade. A quantitative survey was utilized in order to gain insight as to what topics should be covered during the course. This curriculum is designed as a hybrid, targeting students who live too far away from the school to regularly attend class in person, those who cannot normally attend classes due to their work schedule, and traditional students. It will include a combination of in-class and web-based labs and instruction. Students will be assessed on both the classroom and lab activities, although they will only receive one grade for the course. Specific tasks will be taught in accordance with National Automotive Technicians Education Foundation (NATEF). iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Let me begin by saying that I had not intended to go back to school in order to pursue a Master’s degree. Several years and lofty goals reinvigorated my educational pursuit. There were many important people that assisted me along the way, and I will forever be grateful for their willingness to stick by me during the journey. My major professor Dr. Ann Diver-Stamnes really guided me along with curriculum development and taught me how to write academically. She provided me with inspiring words of wisdom and positive energy when it seemed like I was never going to complete my curriculum project. In addition, Ann was a great mentor. Her enthusiasm for teaching was unparalleled. I can only hope one day to be as dynamic of a teacher as she is. I want to thank Dr. Eric Van Duzer for showing an interest in me and my work in Career and Technical Education (CTE). He taught me how to think critically when it came to all aspects of Education. Not only did he really help me get my quantitative survey off the ground, but he was integral in getting me to dial in the details. Eric was always a calm presence, and I looked forward to his feedback in classes. He has the keen ability to see a different angle that often times was unrecognizable through my lens of thinking. My content expert and automotive mentor, Steve Berklite, has been a guiding light in my entering the field of education ever since being my automotive instructor iv at Cerritos College. He was integral in me being accepted into the graduate program, and it is only fitting that he be a significant contributor to my completion. I have not only learned many automotive subjects from Steve, but he showed me in the process how to be a great instructor in the field of automotive technology. Steve displayed great professionalism, and it was evident by how students and colleagues respect him. I aspire to someday attain the same level of respect in the automotive community. At this time I would also like to thank Dr. Cathleen Rafferty, who not only taught me about qualitative research, but more importantly all facets of teaching in higher education. That class was by far the most applicable course for me during the graduate program. I was so intimidated by the projects and being videotaped during the lesson plan, but I was able to learn so much about the art of actually conducting a classroom discussion. Cathleen, you are a teacher’s teacher, and I will always remember the methods taught in your class. In fact, I plan to implement many of them in my inaugural semester as an instructor. The support from my two colleagues in the Automotive Technology Department at College of the Redwoods, Mike Richards and Paul Hidy has been immeasurable. Mike has been a great mentor and taught me all about how to become an effective instructor, both in the classroom and lab setting. He also gave me the opportunity to co-teach a course with him and was able to provide great feedback in order to improve instruction. Paul has provided me with insights into curriculum development during the construction of my project. I was able to bounce many ideas v off of him and appreciate his willingness to assist me. His knowledge of instructional technology also helped steer me in the right direction when it came to the web-based components of the course. I am lucky to have such great friends and family that have supported me throughout the process of completing my thesis and graduate degree. My Mom and Harold played such vital roles in my graduate pursuit and understood my reasons for going back to school when others simply did not. I love you guys! In particular, my Mom instilled a strong work ethic and determination in me that otherwise would have deterred my path of completion. She kept telling me to plug away at it and eventually I would reach my goal. Harold always treated me like his own son and supported my pursuits with cautionary optimism as we were so very different. He would be proud to know I have completed my thesis, although in his mind it was probably never even doubted. My Dad and Cathy played a great supporting role during my time in graduate school and for that I am grateful. My amazing girlfriend, and love of my life, Elsa Ortega has been my rock throughout the entire journey that is graduate school. She has helped to make things easier for me after I endured difficult days and weeks during the semester by doing her best to reduce my stress level. Elsa has been extremely understanding, especially this academic year, because taking steps to ensure completion of my thesis meant sacrificing countless evenings and weekends spending time together. I applaud her patience and am eternally grateful for her unwavering support. Elsa, I love you with all my heart! vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................ iv CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................................................ 4 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY................................................................................................. 27 CHAPTER 4: CONTENT ............................................................................................................. 34 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS .................................................................................................. 171 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................. 175 vii CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION Students interested in an academic program at the college level need an introduction to the subject area. The introductory course should provide a foundation for the more advanced courses of study. At the same time, it should provide students with enough background of the subject area to steer them towards or away from that particular area of study. While working as an instructional support specialist in an automotive technology department at a local community college, it did not take long to realize that the majority of students could benefit from an introductory course in automotive technology. Instead, students were able to enroll in eight of the ten courses our program offered, since only two required a prerequisite. At some point during each of the courses, I saw students who did not have the theoretical or hands-on background in order to be successful in the course in which they were enrolled. That was troubling. I could see these students wanted to be successful, yet the level of understanding with which they entered the course did not provide them with a strong chance of being successful. I realized that some of these students may become overwhelmed and dropout of our program because they lack the prior foundational knowledge that students with automotive experience have. It has also made it difficult for the two instructors teaching the courses because they have to provide some foundation of basic concepts 1 2 that an introductory course normally provides. This means that instructors spend up to two weeks bringing their students up to speed with such aspects as safety and proper use of tools and equipment. Even with this overview, many students still do not have sufficient understanding of basic principles and hands-on practices of the trade. There were many situations in the lab aspect of the classes when this became apparent, although as instructors we did our best to take time and show students the proper processes they did not know. The disparity among students is heightened due to the lack of an introductory course. We do not know what students’ knowledge level of the subject is when they first take one of our courses. If we provided the foundation of knowledge needed in order to ensure a high level of success in our program with a prerequisite course, then instructors will know the knowledge base of students coming into their classes. For my Master’s project, I decided to address this issue and develop an introductory automotive technology course that would meet the needs of students interested in going into an automotive program. One of the first courses of action I took after researching the literature was surveying high school and community college automotive instructors at the California Automotive Teachers (CAT) Conference in the spring of 2009. Initially I was looking to deliver this course online, due to a lack of lab availability and a district wide push towards providing online courses. After collecting the data and analyzing the results of the survey, I realized that even an introductory course needed a hands-on component. At that point I 3 decided to create a hybrid course that incorporates a blend of face-to-face instruction, remote instruction, and web discussion along with many hands-on activities. Chapter Two of the project provides a history of the community college system. It then looks into vocational education and the ways in which it has changed since its inception before shifting to an examination of Automotive Technology. The chapter concludes with a look into web-based courses in Career and Technical Education (CTE). Chapter Three focuses on my survey, program standards, articulation, a description of the course and the way in which it was conceptualized, and assessment. Chapter Four contains the content and lesson plans for the hybrid course I have developed, and Chapter Five presents conclusions and implications for future research.