Date of Award
2003
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Programs for Higher Education
Advisor
Warren H. Groff
Committee Member
Larry N. McCarthy
Committee Member
Barbara Packer
Keywords
automotive electrical system, automotive technician, automotive technician population, awareness, collaborating, conclusions, course outline, design document, diagnosis, electrical systems, engineering specifications, evaluation, formative committees, General Motors Corporation, industrial education, knowledge, literature, model, pilot training program, preparedness, procedures, proprietary information, readiness, recommendations, repair, research, results, standards, substandard, summative committees, survey data, survey instrument, technical education, technical training, technician awareness, technician knowledge, technician training, technology, trade education, training, training manual, training materials, vocational education
Abstract
The 42-volt power system will comprise the next generation standard for automotive electrical system. The problem is that there is limited technician awareness, knowledge, and training materials to provide the technician with adequate skills to diagnose and repair 42-volt power electrical systems.
The research questions addressed automotive technician awareness, preparedness, and knowledge of 42-volt power systems and the appropriate valid content and model for developing a 42-volt power system training manual. The procedures included analysis of literature, collaborating with formative and summative committees that produced established criteria, valid content, and training manual design model.
The substance of the results for the first 3 research questions was that there is deficient technician awareness preparedness and knowledge of 42-volt power systems. The substance of the results for the final 2 research questions was that there is an appropriate valid content and model that can be selected to develop a 42-volt power systems training manual.
The results provided corroboration for the conclusions that the overall readiness of the automotive technician population for 42-volt power systems is substandard and that a training manual could be developed to close the gaps identified by this project. The recommendations are to forward the 42-volt power systems training manual and course outline/design document to the General Motors Corporation technical training team, utilize a pilot training program to evaluate the training manual product and course outline/design document, and continue further research on the 42-volt technology as information becomes available.
Detailed engineering system specifications of the project are the proprietary information of General Motors Corporation. The 300+ pages of engineering specifications contains information relative to the engineering of 42-volt power systems, technical training course design, automotive technician survey instrument, and survey data. Hence, the proprietary engineering specification information is not available in this document and can only be acquired from General Motors Corporation through formal request and approval processes.