FROM THE EDITOR

Welcome, Readers, to Volume 45, Number 2, Fall 2008 of the Journal of Industrial Teacher Education (JITE). As mentioned previously in this column, Volume 45 marks the inauguration of the three issues per volume publication cycle with Winter 45.3 to follow as the conclusion to this Volume.

The lead off article for this issue is a conceptual piece from Hae-Young Lee and Gene L. Roth. Their focus is knowledge management and using this strategy to gain competitive advantage.

The essence of knowledge management is to leverage knowledge within work units and organizations, positively affect individual and organizational performance, and improve work outcomes. These are worthy goals for career and technical education (CTE) teacher educators. When the name of the game for many CTE teacher education programs is survival, becoming more efficient and effective can hopefully lead to gains in performance and competitive advantage. (p. 6)

M. Scott Williams has chosen to explore whether or not Career and Technical Educators’ decisions to adopt, or not adopt, virtual reality as an instructional tool can be influenced by a positive or negative disposition.

This pilot study was based on the premise that reluctance or willingness to adopt an innovation may be influenced by the creation of a negative or positive disposition. The purpose of the study was to compare the disposition toward a desktop VR presentation of CTE educators who received neutral, negative, or positive primes. If disposition can be altered then it may be possible to influence the adoption rate of a given innovation. (p. 39)

Next, Marie Kraska examines learning communities as a possibility for retaining graduate students in our programs.

The purpose of this article is to present information about ways in which LCs are defined, background information regarding the development of LCs, benefits of LCs, reasons for graduate student attrition, and common models of LCs for graduate students. (p. 55)

After all, if we cannot retain students, from where will the next generation of Career and Technical Teacher Educators arise?

Speaking of teachers, or the lack thereof, Luke Joseph Steinke and Alvin Robert Putnam decided to investigate why individuals prepared as Technology Education teachers choose to accept teaching positions. “This study sought to identify effective recruitment techniques by determining the factors that influence technology education teachers to accept teaching positions” (p. 72). Given the difficulty some areas of the country have in attracting Career and Technical faculty, their findings are an interesting read.

We are fortunate to be able to include two book reviews in this issue as well to assist you in making choices for your personal or professional collections. The first, contributed by Henry L. Harison III, provides insights into, Garmire, E., & Pearson, G. (Eds.). (2006). Tech tally: Approaches to assessing technological literacy. Washington: National Academy Press. $43.16 (hardcover), 358 pp. (ISBN 0-309-10183-2). “Career and technology educators at all levels should embrace the text and promote its recommendations to the fullest extent” (p. 95).

The second, contributed by Michael P. Glass, examines, Middleton, H. (Ed.). (2008). Researching technology education: Methods and techniques. Rotterdam, The Netherlands: Sense Publishers. $49.00 (paperback), 228 pp. (ISBN-10: 9087902603).

No recipes for research proposals are presented, nor will the reader find that all methods are appropriate for technology education but technology educators who are searching for different views or methodologies which might be applicable to their research will find this collection worth purchasing. (p. 100-101)

Enjoy!