The degree in technology and engineering education prepares students to teach technology, engineering, or vocational subjects in middle schools, high school, or trade and technology education centers. The program provides hands-on learning opportunities for students to gain the technical expertise they need, and the curriculum in education helps them learn to be effective teachers.
Emphases:
- Technology and Engineering Education: This emphasis is for students wishing to teach technology subjects in a middle school or high school. Students are eligible for a teaching license in secondary education upon completing the program. Students in this emphasis undergo a more rigorous plan of study compared to other programs across the nation, making them better prepared to teach engineering courses at the high school level. Because they are qualified to teach both subject areas, and because engineering and technology teachers are highly sought after nationwide, students who graduate from USU have 100% job placement in teaching positions after graduation.
- Skilled and Technical Sciences Education: This emphasis is for students who wish to teach a specific trade, such as welding, mechanics, woodworking, and more. Graduates from this emphasis work as teachers of vocational courses in these areas at the high school or post-high school level. This emphasis does not lead to secondary school licensure.
Education Component:
This is for the technology and engineering education emphasis only. In order to obtain a secondary teaching license for grades 6-12, students must complete the 35-credit Secondary Teacher Education Program (STEP), which includes one semester of student teaching in a public school. This program is administered by USUs School of Teacher Education and Leadership (TEAL) within the Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services. Student must apply to the School of TEAL the semester before taking STEP courses. This is usually the fall of their junior year. Students learn subject content through the ETE Department, and spend the last year or two studying education techniques through the STEP program.
Students in the technology and engineering education program do not need to have a minor because the program provides students with knowledge in several subject areas, therefore, expanding their career options.