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The
Hobart Institute Welding Instructor Course
Can it really make you a better instructor?
By Ron Craig,
Instructor
Ryerson
University Theatre School
Instructors
never forget their first teaching experience.
Standing in front of a group of students, armed only with
knowledge and a desire to teach is a significant challenge.
In fact, teachers have used the words “intimidating,
intense, chaotic” to describe the first time they taught a
class.
But experienced instructors face a different challenge: how
can they learn new teaching strategies and better assess the
quality of their instructional techniques?
How do they ensure their technical knowledge is current
and keep up with advances in teaching technology?
No matter whether you are a novice or veteran, one way to
overcome these challenges is to attend a professional
Instructor’s Course.
When I was asked to teach a Gas Metal Arc Welding course, to
15 students at the Ryerson University Theatre School, I had
absolutely no idea how to structure a welding course or what to
include in the curriculum.
Although I was a teacher, with over 10 years of
university teaching experience, I had never taught a welding
class.
I
decided to approach the challenge of teaching my first welding
class by attending the Welding
Instructor Course at the Hobart Institute Of Welding
Technology.
As
I drove to Troy Ohio, I didn’t know what to expect.
For years I had read the Hobart Institute Course Catalog,
but I had never taken a course.
Would the Instructor Course prove to be a valuable
learning experience and prepare me for teaching a GMAW course?
Would it be worth the expenditure of time and money
(including an eight hour drive), or would I be disappointed?
I arrived at the Institute on Monday morning and located my
classroom. The
course material (contained in a binder) was neatly laid out in
front of each chair, along with pencils, pens and papers.
I was immediately impressed by this attention to detail. It was obvious that we were attending a course that was
organized and professional.
The students in my class represented the complete spectrum of
welding instructors, from vocational and technical teachers to
industrial instructors, instructors from correctional
institutions and high school teachers.
Every student had a different reason for being there, but
each shared a common goal: to become a better welding
instructor. I
remember thinking, “How will the course instructors meet the
expectations of such a diverse group?”
The
Instructor’s course is a “Technical Training” course, in
contrast to the “Welding Skill Training” courses.
Technical Training courses are 80% theory, and 20%
supervised welding practice /laboratory demonstration.
I asked one of the instructors why there was an emphasis
on theory, instead of practice.
“When an individual takes this class, they usually have
significant welding experience,” he explained.
“What they are looking for is to improve their
knowledge of welding so they can become a welding instructor in
their organization, or improve their instructional skills.
To do this, they require a good knowledge of theory.”
We
began by studying welding safety, which included both a lecture
and a video presentation. Safety,
and compliance with the regulatory and legal requirements has
become an essential responsibility for every
organization. The
videotape provided a concise explanation of the hazards of
welding plus ways to manage this risk.
This
instructional technique -- a lecture combined with videotape
presentations -- was frequently used in our classes.
The old “talk and chalk” method of instruction --
using a blackboard and a dull lecture to illustrate complicated
technical points -- is not the most effective way of
communicating technical information.
By using video presentations, complicated technical
information can be communicated effectively to students with
different learning styles and abilities.
However, class time is not limited to lectures. Every day,
students take part in exercises which simulate a “real
world” teaching situation.
This portion of the course, “Role Playing For
Instructor Training,” requires each student to deal with a
problem that they may encounter as an instructor.
Students are assigned a problem, and another student acts
out the problem: these problems range from an inability to
adjust a welding helmet, to a student believing he is making
good welds when he isn’t.
Role-playing is a very effective tool for teaching
instructors how to deal with problems.
In fact, this method of learning is one of the models of
teaching that is taught in advanced education courses.
What makes role-playing so effective is the fact that it
represents the reality instructors will face, but the complexity
of events can be controlled.
This permits the instructor to build a series of skills
from actual experience, rather than from a lecture or
presentation.
My problem was one of the most complex.
For my scenario, I was challenged by a student who read
the material safety data sheet (MSDS) for welding wire and was
concerned about the health risks associated with welding.
The student who volunteered to challenge me was an
industrial welding instructor.
He had encountered this problem while teaching and wanted
to assess other approaches to solving the problem.
As my scenario approached, I re-read material on safety data
sheets and tried to frame a response to what I knew would be a
very challenging experience.
I was not disappointed.
The student confronted me in an aggressive, concerned
manner, just as his student had in the plant.
I immediately used a strategy designed to diffuse a tense
situation: agree that the person has a legitimate point, and
express concern about their safety.
I had learned this technique-agreement, instead of
confrontation, at a teaching seminar and had used it often in my
own teaching.
Once I had convinced him that I was concerned for his safety
and health, I asked him, “Do you know how to read an MSDS?”
When the student pretended that he didn’t, I was able
to offer a solution that would help him understand the real
health risks involved when welding, and help control these
risks.
Following each role- playing scenario, Elmer Swank, one of
our instructors, asked the students for comments. This provides additional strategies for dealing with problems
since some of the students had faced similar challenges in their
teaching. By
using the collective experience of the group, students are armed
with real-world problem solving strategies. This is important
for both experienced and inexperienced instructors.
The practical welding sessions provided me with another
important instructional lesson.
When I learned how to weld many years ago, my instructor
was a great welder, but a very poor instructor.
His method of teaching involved letting students weld,
then looking at the weld bead.
If there were problems or faults with the weld, he would
instruct us to run another bead. I was anxious to see how the Hobart instructors actually
taught students in the welding booth.
Although I was about to teach a GMAW course, I decided to try
SMAW. It had been
years since I welded this process and I was certainly out of
practice. This would provide a challenge to the Hobart
instructor, and I was anxious to see how he would respond to my
welding.
One of the instructors entered the booth to watch, as I ran a
bead. When I
finished, he immediately told me how to improve my welding.
“You need to read the weld puddle to run a good bead.
Look at how your electrode is positioned.
You can’t see the weld pool that way. Why not try this
stance?” I
applied the corrective action and my welding immediately
improved. This was
light years ahead of the instructional method used by my first
welding instructor, so many years ago.
That night I reviewed my progress.
Since arriving at the Hobart Institute I had learned a
great deal about welding and instructional techniques.
We had studied welding theory.
In fact, I had certainly increased my knowledge of
welding substantially. But
more importantly, I knew I would be able to use it in my
teaching. In
addition, I was learning about the technology of welding, from
welding machines to filler material.
But how did the more experienced instructors like the
course? And did the
course curriculum really provide them with information that
would make them better instructors?
The best indication of whether a course is achieving the
student’s objectives occurs at the coffee breaks. During these informal chat sessions, I listened to the
students’ comments. The
consensus was that they were learning a great deal, and they all
felt that they would be better instructors after finishing the
course. Comments
ranged from “I think I will start using that in my
teaching,” to “When I get back, I intend to add that to my
course.”
However, experienced instructors all face the same problem:
how can they integrate new material into their courses when many
of them are being pressured to train an ever-increasing number
of welders? In
addition, many of the instructors I spoke to said they are
expected to train welders to a high standard, utilizing less
instructional hours. This
does not leave them time to include new material into their
courses, or revise the course content.
The
answer may be the Hobart Institute Welding Training Materials.
Steve
Houston, Director of Curriculum Materials Development at the
Hobart Institute, made a presentation to the students of the Welding
Instructor Course that highlighted the advantages of this
unique, modular instruction system.
Welding training materials are available from the Hobart
Institute for all the major welding processes, from SMAW, GMAW,
and GTAW to Oxyacetylene Welding, Cutting and Brazing.
Curriculum materials are also available for Pipe,
Aluminum, Safety, Non-Destructive Testing, Weld Defects -- in
fact, virtually every arc welding process or skill, including
blueprint reading!
Each of these training programs includes a student workbook,
videotapes and instructor’s guide.
All of these materials present information in an easy to
understand manner, with concepts or procedures actually
demonstrated in the video.
The same material is included in the student workbook,
which the student refers to in the welding booth -- like a
recipe for recreating the welds demonstrated on the video. The result is a convenient, information-packed curriculum
that offers the highest level of instructional technique, plus
theory.
The
instructors guide is an important resource for welding
instructors. To
begin, the Instructors
Guide provides a lesson plan that helps instructors prepare
a detailed course outline.
This significantly reduces the amount of labor required
to set up a welding course.
But the Instructors
Guide provides another major benefit.
A series of questions, keyed to the videotapes and
student workbook are included in the Instructors
Guide. This
facilitates interaction between the instructor and the students,
and helps the instructor to evaluate how well the students are
mastering the course material.
In addition, multiple-choice welding tests are also
included in the package, making testing an easy task.
The value of any instructional material is determined by how
it helps students learn. During his presentation, Steve Houston
told the class that a community college in New Mexico conducted
pre-and post-tests to measure the effectiveness of HIWT
curriculum materials.
“Before
training with the HIWT materials, the students scored an average
of 47.7%. After
using the videotapes and student workbook, the same students
scored an average of 87.9%.
Not only that, but the instructor attributes the fact
that his students swept the state SkillsUSA-VICA
competition for two years in a row, in a large part, due to the
use of the our curriculum materials.”
Steve pointed out that these results “are a pretty
strong testament to the effectiveness of HIWT curriculum
materials.”
In fact, my experience confirmed this conclusion.
I used the Hobart GMAW curriculum when I taught my course
at the Ryerson University Theatre School.
Students were required to write a final exam that tested
their knowledge of theory, welding technology, welding machines
and safety. The
results showed a very high level of retention, and mastery of
key concepts. In addition, the HIWT training material was the most
professional, easy-to-use training material I have ever used!
Finally, as every experienced instructor has discovered,
communicating complicated technical information requires more
than knowledge. In
order to teach a subject, for example distortion caused during
welding, the instructor needs hours of preparation to generate a
lecture. The Hobart material provides a concise, professional
presentation of technical subjects that frees the instructor to
teach welding.
By
the end of the Welding Instructor Course, I had increased my knowledge of
instructional welding technique, technical knowledge and welding
technology. The
other instructors felt the same way.
Comments from the students were very positive: one
instructor told me, “I can’t wait to use the new ideas I
learned here in my classes.
The course has been a great experience!”
As I drove away from the Hobart Institute, on Friday
afternoon, I was a much better prepared welding instructor.
It also provided me with an intangible advantage --
confidence. I was
ready to teach my welding class!
During my first class, a student (in front of all the
students) expressed a concern regarding the potential dangers of
welding after reading a material safety data sheet.
In an episode that was like a flashback to my
role-playing exercise at the Hobart Institute, I was able to
deal effectively with the student’s concerns.
I
showed the students the videotape portion of the GMAW course -- Safety
and Health of Welders, and as they watched, I reflected back
to my experience at the Welding Instructor Course.
Was
the school worth attending?
Absolutely! The
training I received at the Hobart Institute made all the
difference by providing me with the skills I needed to teach a
professional GMAW course at the Ryerson University Theatre
School.
Would
I recommend the Welding Instructor Course to other
instructors? Without
question! Whether
you are a first time instructor, or a seasoned veteran, the
Hobart Institute will make you a better instructor.
It is simply the best way to improve your teaching
skills, or the quality of your welding course.
The
one-week Welding Instructor Course at the Hobart Institute
begins July 12, 2004. For details or to register, check the web site http://www.welding.org
or call 1-800-332-9448, ext. 5215.
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