It is important to evaluate where a new student is at in training when a transfer in flight instruction occurs. The first place to look at Westminster College is the student's folder. It will have ground briefings, flights that have been conducted and notes about the students performance.
The next place to gain information on the student is the previous instructor. Asking questions such as how the student appears to prepare for a lesson? Do they struggle with any phase of flight? Are they nervous about any flight maneuvers? Are they confident in both ground knowledge and aircraft control?
Asking a new student questions should not be overlooked. Reviewing cross country procedures, aerodynamics, and weather to see the student's knowledge level can be invaluable in determining what areas the student may be weak.
The way to evaluate the student can come in many different forms. Merely asking questions orally can be one way of determining the students level of knowledge, but things such as a quizes or scenario based training (i.e. having the student plan a cross country) can yield a lot of information to the instructor as the transition happens.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Blog FIA #1
There are many factors that may be affecting the students landing performance. I feel the first step should be to ask the student how they are feeling, and allow them to relax, whether that means spending time doing a maneuver they feel confident in or just landing the airplane and allowing them to relax on taxiback.
Your supervisor should know of this problem if it occurred before this flight; otherwise when you return from the flight, as the instructor you should communicate with your supervisor and the student.
Only after using different techniques such as visualization, other instructors and different explanations of landings, may it be appropriate to communicate to the student that they are struggling a far greater amount than the average and that you are concerned they may not "catch on."
The students performance may be caused by many things, such as home struggles, events that may have happened recently or even anticipation. These should all be considered and evaluated by multiple instructors to analyze whether these are seemingly temporary or permanent obstacles.
Your supervisor should know of this problem if it occurred before this flight; otherwise when you return from the flight, as the instructor you should communicate with your supervisor and the student.
Only after using different techniques such as visualization, other instructors and different explanations of landings, may it be appropriate to communicate to the student that they are struggling a far greater amount than the average and that you are concerned they may not "catch on."
The students performance may be caused by many things, such as home struggles, events that may have happened recently or even anticipation. These should all be considered and evaluated by multiple instructors to analyze whether these are seemingly temporary or permanent obstacles.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
visualization, Mastering Take Off and Landings, Training Future Captains
Seeing the Big Picture: This article was eye opening for me. As a competitor I use visualization all the time, but never thought about how it might be able to help within the cockpit. The difficulty with which our body can determine the difference between real and imaginary is phenominal. It would then make sense to practice this in our minds before we try to go out and fly in reality. This skill might be overlooked but could be very beneficial to the student. It will be very valuable to use in flight training.
Mastering Take Off's and Landings: One big technique or way of thinking I took away from this article was thinking of the roundout in three phases. The first which is the decent, the second which is level off, and the third is the flare. These three stages just "naturally" occur to an experience pilot but are never really explained to a student pilot. Breaking the roundout down in this way will make it easier for the student to know what do do, and when to do it. It takes away the daunting task of all three combined while still leaving the importance of accuracy intact.
Training Future Captains: One thing I noticed while I progress in my flying career is the importance of smoothness. I started flying for the fun and enjoyment. As I move into the professional world of flying, smoothness and comfort is a lot more important than the "fun" of flying for the pilot. I think this is something missed during the initial phases of flight training. Smoothness will definately be something I mention and teach during my instructional career as it is an integral part of professional flying.
Mastering Take Off's and Landings: One big technique or way of thinking I took away from this article was thinking of the roundout in three phases. The first which is the decent, the second which is level off, and the third is the flare. These three stages just "naturally" occur to an experience pilot but are never really explained to a student pilot. Breaking the roundout down in this way will make it easier for the student to know what do do, and when to do it. It takes away the daunting task of all three combined while still leaving the importance of accuracy intact.
Training Future Captains: One thing I noticed while I progress in my flying career is the importance of smoothness. I started flying for the fun and enjoyment. As I move into the professional world of flying, smoothness and comfort is a lot more important than the "fun" of flying for the pilot. I think this is something missed during the initial phases of flight training. Smoothness will definately be something I mention and teach during my instructional career as it is an integral part of professional flying.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Blog #3 Assessment Article
What is the difference between Formative and Summative assessment?
Formative assessment is measuring the learning of students during the learning process. Summative is measurements made at the conclusion of the learning process to see how effective the whole course was.
Norm reference assessments are use when there is no agreement on what a student should know. This is vastly different from Criterion assessment where this type of assessment is used to measure if a student reached an objective to a satisfactory level. Self referenced assessment are used when a person sets personal goals and then evaluate whether or not those goals were met.
Self directed learning is where a student is matured and sophisticated enough that they are able to set their learning goals, how they will learn, and how the learning will be assessed. People who use this type of learning sees professors as colleagues rather than authoritarian and rather get criticism than a grade. These people are able to connect and integrate problems as well as possible solutions being comfortable with a problem that doesn't have only one correct answer.
Formative assessment is measuring the learning of students during the learning process. Summative is measurements made at the conclusion of the learning process to see how effective the whole course was.
Norm reference assessments are use when there is no agreement on what a student should know. This is vastly different from Criterion assessment where this type of assessment is used to measure if a student reached an objective to a satisfactory level. Self referenced assessment are used when a person sets personal goals and then evaluate whether or not those goals were met.
Self directed learning is where a student is matured and sophisticated enough that they are able to set their learning goals, how they will learn, and how the learning will be assessed. People who use this type of learning sees professors as colleagues rather than authoritarian and rather get criticism than a grade. These people are able to connect and integrate problems as well as possible solutions being comfortable with a problem that doesn't have only one correct answer.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Adult learners
The demographic characterisitcs of adult learners have an affect on how adults learn. Age plays a big role, knowing age tells someone a lot more than just how many years they have been alive. Age can clue to how mature an individual is and how experienced they may be. Both of which are uge for tailoring a lesson to an individual. Another factor is gender. Females learn different than males and they both react differently as well. One of the last categories in considering demographics is language and background. How and what language people speak along with their past experiences grealy influences how they learn and the past also shapes what their new experiences will be.
Adults in general learn much differently than a child in school. Most adults are in a classroom by choice. Their parents aren't making them go to school and they usually dont absolutely despise the subject in which they are studying. This can make it much easier for an instructor and in some instances harder. The motivation in an adult learner is usually there and there is no need for the instructor to provide it. The characteristics that make it harder are complex backgrounds, emotional development and experiences. All these combined along with the different type of cognitive styles and learning methods make teaching adults much different from children.
Adults in general learn much differently than a child in school. Most adults are in a classroom by choice. Their parents aren't making them go to school and they usually dont absolutely despise the subject in which they are studying. This can make it much easier for an instructor and in some instances harder. The motivation in an adult learner is usually there and there is no need for the instructor to provide it. The characteristics that make it harder are complex backgrounds, emotional development and experiences. All these combined along with the different type of cognitive styles and learning methods make teaching adults much different from children.
Selecting Methods
Selecting a method in which to teach a subject, many things should be considered. These thing can be summarized by four main categories; The type of learning characterisitics of the student, content of the subject, prefered teaching method of instructor, and the context in which the subject will be taught. The last of the categories is very important. One would teach very differently towards a class of students as opposed to a one on one session. Perhaps a discussion might be more appropriate in a classroom setting where as independent projects may be more appropriate along with an interactive learning approach.
Accounting for the content of a subject is also very important. It is very ineffective to teach a subject such as flight computer computations using a group project approach because the student(s) do not know how to use the computer at first.
Obviously knowing how the student learns best is key in being a successful teacher. Each student has a different way in which they learn best and the closer we can align the subject matter appropriately with the specific learning style, the greater the chance of the student retaining the information.
The last subject we haven't touched on is the teaching preference of the instructor. The instructor must be able to understand how best to present the material and must be comfortable with it. If they are not, increased possibility of errors and misunderstanding can occur between student and instructor.
Teaching students cockpit resource management and flight crew management is very well suited to use role play. The students are put into a situation where they must imagin that they are on a real flight and must work together in order to be successful. The real life experience makes it very a very effective learning style for some situations.
Accounting for the content of a subject is also very important. It is very ineffective to teach a subject such as flight computer computations using a group project approach because the student(s) do not know how to use the computer at first.
Obviously knowing how the student learns best is key in being a successful teacher. Each student has a different way in which they learn best and the closer we can align the subject matter appropriately with the specific learning style, the greater the chance of the student retaining the information.
The last subject we haven't touched on is the teaching preference of the instructor. The instructor must be able to understand how best to present the material and must be comfortable with it. If they are not, increased possibility of errors and misunderstanding can occur between student and instructor.
Teaching students cockpit resource management and flight crew management is very well suited to use role play. The students are put into a situation where they must imagin that they are on a real flight and must work together in order to be successful. The real life experience makes it very a very effective learning style for some situations.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Blog #1 Ask the Cognitive Scientist Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic Learner
I learn best as a Kinesthetic Learner. Being able to manipulate and use all of my senses to learn a new subject is most effective for me. This ensures that I can take in all aspects of that subject in order to store it in as many parts of my brain (visual memory, auditory memory ex.) as possible.
The article was very interesting and I got a lot from it. A common misconception that was discussed was using a students strong modality in teaching any subject. I thought this to be true as well but in reading we began to understand that people learn best by presenting the subject in a way that is best for the subject not the student. Students will learn more if they a taught in a way that is best for a subject then best to them because its more natural which makes it easier for the brain to comprehend and store.
I also learned that the brain can store information as audio or visual but the most common and most effective way to store information is through meaning. This was really interesting to me because I thought that since we have six senses, that's how the brain would store the incoming information. But it turns out that the brain only uses this to gather the information. The brain would rather store correlations of the incoming information and convert these correlations to meanings for long term memory. Knowing this, I will attempt to always highlight the meaning of everything that is taught in order to make it easier for the student to remember everything that is taught.
The article was very interesting and I got a lot from it. A common misconception that was discussed was using a students strong modality in teaching any subject. I thought this to be true as well but in reading we began to understand that people learn best by presenting the subject in a way that is best for the subject not the student. Students will learn more if they a taught in a way that is best for a subject then best to them because its more natural which makes it easier for the brain to comprehend and store.
I also learned that the brain can store information as audio or visual but the most common and most effective way to store information is through meaning. This was really interesting to me because I thought that since we have six senses, that's how the brain would store the incoming information. But it turns out that the brain only uses this to gather the information. The brain would rather store correlations of the incoming information and convert these correlations to meanings for long term memory. Knowing this, I will attempt to always highlight the meaning of everything that is taught in order to make it easier for the student to remember everything that is taught.
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