Date of Award

Spring 3-2013

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Education

First Advisor

Dr. John Henschke

Second Advisor

Dr. Evelyn Hendrix

Third Advisor

Dr. Edward Perantoni

Abstract

The primary objective was to show the important need of academic skills, specifically general education coursework, to the effectiveness of the technician’s expertise in the field of automobile repair. Additionally, I emphasized that one of the keys to the quality of the technician’s education is the method of instruction analyzed through Henschke’s Five Building Blocks. I communicated with 35 diversely selected and cooperative employers located in the Midwestern section of the United States. I obtained this arbitrary selection from the Yellow Pages of this region. I conducted personal visits to their locations at which time I informed them of the purpose of my study. Also, I performed an interview with the appropriate supervisor or manager. I acquired the degree requirements for the automobile repair technology programs at 19 regional postsecondary institutions and analyzed their contents. I listed and assessed the employee requirements the employers conveyed to me. I noted the objectives of the academic courses included in the technical programs. I compared the employers’ needs with the educational institutions’ offerings to determine if and where there was a mismatch between the two entities. I judged and analyzed these findings in accordance with the specifications of the national Work Keys research tools that indicated the following competencies at various levels:  Applied Mathematics  Workplace Observation  Applied Technology iv  Locating Information. Work Keys, the foundation of the National Career Readiness Certificate, is a job skill assessment system that helps employers select, hire, train, develop, and retain a high-performance workforce. I identified specific contributions academic courses provided to the instructional areas of automobile repair technology. Additionally, further research into increasing academic course content is justifiable by the employer representatives’ responses in this study.

Rights

Copyright 2013

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