Date of Award
2-1-1989
Document Type
Dissertation - NSU Access Only
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Center for the Advancement of Education
Abstract
A new civilization (the information Age or the Electronic Era) is emerging in the United States of America. The new age j s characterized by a rapidly-changing technology; hence, general knowledge in a field of study soon becomes part of core curriculum in that field of study. In order to survive in the emerging information society, one has to be willing to continually retrain. There is a need to constantly review and update curriculum (particularly in vocational programs). The problem of this practicum was to highlight the rapidly- advancing Fiber Optics technology and to underscore the need for electronics programs within the City Colleges of Chicago (whose curriculum does nae cover this topic) to modify curriculum to include Fiber Optics technology. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to review textbooks and journals on Fiber Optics technology and develop an introduction to Fiber Optics which will provide a novice with answers to very basic questions about Fiber Optics principles and applications as well as provide resources on Fiber Optics. Some: of the questions that were answered in this paper are: 1. What is Fiber Optics and how does it work? 2. What are the applications that have made Fiber Optics important to the information society? 3. What are the advantages and disadvantages of this new technology compared with the old methods? The practicum was the production of an educational product and involved: a) An extensive review of the literature (books in print and journal articles) on Fiber Optics technology; b) Consultation with the instructors and coordinators of Technology and Electronics programs in the Chicagoland area for whatever input they had in this task; c) condensing of the basic essential facts on Fiber Optics Technology into an- easy-to-read-and-understand format ; d) presentation of a resource (an extensive biography) on the topic; and, e) presentation of copies of the completed practicum to all the libraries and Applied Science departments within the City Colleges of Chicago. This work revealed the need for (and started) a dialogue between electronics instructors and coordinators of Community Colleges in the Chicagoland area which resulted in a healthy interchange of ideas and information about fiber optics and curriculum. It was found that fiber optics technology is growing rapidly in the electronics industry. This practicum recommended that: 1. Community College electronics programs seriously consider the need to review and update program curriculum to include an introduction to Fiber Optics; 2. novices in the field of Fiber Optics technology read this paper to increase knowledge and interest on the subject without a lot of effort; and 3. the dialogue between electronics instructors and coordinators be continued in this and other topics and that the instructors be motivated and encouraged by the schools to initiate such dialogues.