The Politics of Research in Technology Education: A Critical Content and Discourse Analysis Of the Journal of Technology Education, Volumes 1-8

In the fall of 1987, the Journal of Technology and Society (JTS) was launched as a semi-annual, “scholarly, refereed journal for professionals in technology education” (Blankenbaker, 1987, n.p.). This came on the heels of the change of name from the American Industrial Arts Association to the International Technology Education Association (ITEA). The new journal was intended to give scholarly direction to a profession in transition, and provide an outlet for addressing the increasing publishing demands on teacher education faculty. Kendall Starkweather, Executive Director of ITEA was Editor-in-Chief, and E. Keith Blankenbaker of The Ohio State University (OSU) served as Managing Editor. As the first journal of its kind in the U.S., committed entirely to technology education, the JTS survived in its original form only two years—three issues. Near the end of its first year of publication, the fate of the JTS would be shifted from OSU to Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (VPI).