Teaching and Learning Strategies

education and encyclopaedism StrategiesIntroduction to the Students and Teaching Environment.I am currently a Lecturer in the Communications Electronics Technical hinder (CETB) at Royal Air Force (RAF) Cosford, The No1 School of Technical Training. I am teaching new entry educatees AC (Air Crafts man), incline number 1932 and carrier bag (Senior Air Crafts man) course numbers 1946 and 1951. The students age range is 17 30 years. I am responsible for delivering training in the subject aras little Electronics, Digital Electronics and Information Technology. The courses range from 90 to 130 hours.SACs 194616 hours Information engine room and 115 hours Computer technology for the.ACs 1932.16 hours Information technology and 74 hours micro Electronics for the The students who come to RAF Cosford are not typical of those who would go to a college of go on education. They are sent by the RAF for either initial or tho training in their especial(a)isation.The education environmen tThe room layouts do deviate barely the majority of rooms are set out in a traditional manor. (see plan) The labs are arranged differently with the students desks arranged almost the walls.E.g.(Room F008)The family unit rooms lead a roller uninfected board, P.C. and T.V. monitor, several(prenominal) course rooms rich person windows to the outside solely not all. light is via fluorescent tubes and heating system is via radiators.The learning environment cont.The research laboratorys have a White board, P.C. and LCD projector. Most have opening windows. Lighting is via fluorescent tubes and heating is via radiators. The desk is set out with a PC and Digiac charmstation, a 6502 and 80286i micro exploitor boards, in extension there are a collection of supporting boards.Teaching Styles and Learning Strategies.Teacher TalkA large part of the course is via instructor blabber, this allows for large chunks of info to be masking pieceed in a oft shorter s cubic yard of whil e. The causa this rule is chosen is due to the shear pace at which the course has to be delivered. The course is equivalent to a BTec Electronics course, victorious approximately two years at a college of further education, however the RAF students have to cover nearly the same amount of material in just six months. Teacher talk is not the best manner of tell information to students as they back tooth actually quickly retire interest and it is arduous to assess how much(prenominal) information the students have interpreted in. To alleviate this situation the instructor talk is broken up with unbelieving secessions. The inquirying secessions help the instructor to assess if the students have understood if learning has taken place, this also gives the students an opportunity to play an active role in the learning process. These manners promote individual involvement, encouragement, reward and a sense of execution to students of all abilitiesThe questions are directe d by the teacher, nominating a student to break up, this is cognize as Pose Pause Pounce this technique is apply throughout RAFs training and is one of the principal(prenominal) tools employ to promote learning. The teacher talk is also begun with a recap of the previous session, some cartridge holders the recap testament be at the end of the lesson. This re affirms the students understood. The level of association preempt be assessed, allowing the teacher to continue knowing that the students understand.Reading The students are effrontery course notes in a printed form manoeuvering both line drawings and diagrams as well as explanations. These notes form the back bone of the course material. They chink the Aims and Objectives for that section of the course, Information relevant to the course and a summary of the books main points. The book jackpot be use as a abduce to during the teacher talk. It can be used to illustrate a point, show other examples and reduce the am ount of complex diagrams that penury to be pinched on the white board.In addition the book has a severalise set of questions which the students are encourage to read. When they have read the book they can answer the questions, this promotes further reading. If they do not understand or cannot answer the questions so this should promote them to ask the teacher for further explanation. The questions are knowing to reinforce the possible action taught in class and promote greater concord of the subject.Practice by Doing.The first thirty hours or so of the course are mainly teacher talk, reading and working though examples on the white board, however once the under lying terminology and theories have been taught the emphasis of the learning style changes dramatically. The location of the teaching now moves to the laboratory where the students are wedded a brief introduction to an exercise, they then work through the exercise at their declare pace and in their own way utilise t heir knowledge. The students follow the exercise answering questions as they go. The questions are designed to point the students in the write direction, if however they are inefficient to proceed, the teacher is close at hand to guided them, this is achieved by question the student and trying to get them to identify the solution for themselves. If the teacher identifies that the class as a whole do not understand then they can bring the class back together to solve the problem. The teacher may need to give further guidance to the students to allow them to drop the exercise. This process is learning by doing and in completing the exercise the student give hope to the full be able to preserve this experience to the speculation section of the course consequently underpinning their theoretical knowledge with operable experience. materializationThis mode of teaching can be used during the theory stage. The teacher could show real components to allow the students to become more f amiliar with them, eyesight what they look like or by working through examples of how to finish a specific task.Demonstration can also be in effect used during the exercise phase of the course. This is precise useful when trying to impart complex information to the students. An example might be when an exercise requires surplus circuit boards to be used or components that have not yet been used. In these situations a demonstration of the exercise can be given by the teacher. This will allow the teacher to identify some(prenominal) areas of special interest and point out any areas that the students might otherwise female child or perhaps not think about.In addition it is by far the best way for the teacher to show how things are to be accomplished. i.e. showing how to connect up a system, what separate are require etc. The demonstration also allows the students to question the teacher about parts of the exercise they do not understand. The student can say so you mean this the teacher can then be sure that the students fully understand what is required.VisualVisual methods of teaching are available, though the prefer method is power point which the students despise and therefore is not used frequently by myself. However it can be a very useful tool for explaining difficult subject material, particularly when the diagram requires trend i.e. information been transferred about a computer system. This would be very difficult to illustrate on the white board as the teacher would need to continually re draw the diagram to show the movement, however using power point allows animation of the drawing which the students can see, thus reinforcing the idea. It can also be re run to allow the students to follow the process until they are confident that they understand. Questioning can be used to smash the understanding. The teacher can run the PowerPoint and ask the students to tell him what is happening and why. secondary Methods of Teaching and Learning Str ategies.DiscussionThis method is not very remove as the subject is technical and requires some under pinning knowledge. Opinions are not normally expressed as the material is factual. However this method could be used at the end of an exercise or at the end of the course. Infact the course does use this method is used to evaluate the feelings of the students and considers any recommendations that they may make as a class. However the course moldiness run in a clearly define way as laid down by the sponsor he Ministry of Defence.(MOD RAF)Teaching othersTeaching others is not generally used as the students would be required to fully understand the subject before they could teach psyche else. As it is most likely the first time they have seen this subject material it would be difficult for them the explain it to a colleague. Although a similar technique is used by the teacher when they ask the student to explain how something works, this method of telling the teacher shows that the s tudent understands fully, also any omissions or errors can be corrected by the teacher.Choice of methods Teacher talk The main reason for using this technique is to cover a large amount of theory over a very short time, a lot of information must be imparted very quickly. This method does not have a good retention rate approximately 5% however when match with questioning technique, and a recap of the subject at the end or prior to the starting the next section, it improves the retention as well as checking the students understanding.Reading As with Teacher Talk the students are expected to cover a large quantity of information very quickly. However this method has a poor retention rate approximately 10%, but when coupled with questions for each book it reinforces the knowledge, this can then be study during a class session. This method is used due to the short time available, students are expected to read the material they cover in class as part of their learning process. This is d one during there own time i.e. out of class hours. The questions should identify to the student whether or not they understand, thus prompting them to request addition information or clarification from the teacher at the beginning of the next lesson.Practice by doing This method is much better with approximately 75% retention rate. It is used due to the practical nature of the job (hands on). However it can only be used after the under pinning knowledge has been taught and understood. The students can apply the knowledge they have learnt to the practical exercise. The other reason for using this method is due to the nature of the subject. Example It is impossible to show the students the internal workings of a micro processor , therefore the operation is illustrated by put to deathing tasks with the micro processor to prove that it functions in a particular way. The students have to relate this to the theorectial phase of the course, in doing so they should fully understand the ope ration of the micro Processor.Demonstration This method has a reasonable retention rate well-nigh 30%. It is used to show the more complex aspects of the course, a picture paints a thousand words. The teacher can use this method to impart complex instructions to the students, the students can ask the teacher questions confirm their understanding, checking and correcting as they go. Visual This method has a retention rate of around 20%. This method is tied up with demonstration as the students will be watching the teacher perform a task. Learning how to perform the task requires knowledge, understanding and the skills to complete that task. The visual method is instant corrode back to the student, they can see how a task is accomplished. This is an important method of teaching as their job will involve watching someone perform a task and them doing the task for themselves to the required standard.SummaryThe unlike methods of teaching are effective, the reason for this assumption i s that the majority of students go on to the next phase of their training, and eventually into a post within the RAF. In addition I have spoken to students that I have taught who have remarked on the course and its content, most all of them say it was a very good grounding for their trade training.