At the PTG Technical Institute in Chicago last week, I was really excited to see such a wide variety of learning opportunities available for all of the 500+ attendees.If your idea of a PTG convention class is someone standing up in front of a group pointing to bullet points in a PowerPoint presentation, you would have been pleasantly surprised to find out that that is no longer the norm.
We've been working hard towards raising the bar on our educational programming, so I asked Ed Sutton and John Parham to apply some of our new class planning resources to their Competency Playground program. The Competency Playground is a room full of hands-on stations that feature skills that have been broken down into very basic components (i.e. using a micrometer, making a key bushing and removing a broken vertical hammershank). Not being a technician, I let them talk me into trying one of the stations even though I figured there was a chance I would be a total failure.
I did fail at the task, but I was impressed with the flexibility of the facilitators and their ability to accommodate many learning styles. I'm a visual learner, so I appreciated the opportunity to watch the short video demo. John and Ed let participants spend as much time or as little as they like at each station. You do have to demonstrate competency if you want to a check on your task chart, but it's your choice. No pressure. After I watched the video clip once, I checked for the supplies and tools I needed, then tried to do the task along with the video demo. John, like any good instructor, was keeping an eye on me, so respectfully intervened when I had trouble. As an educator, I was watching for all the different ways they were able to meet the different learning styles, preferences and needs of the class participants. John and Ed did a really good job planning for this while still maintaining the objectives and standards of the program. I know that they will continue to improve and expand upon this concept.
I think the 2013 Technical Institute instructors really made an effort to be creative in how they presented their material and involved students in the process. The very simple Hear, See, Do (Explain, Demonstrate, Practice) formula is hard to apply when you only have 90 minutes and a lot of material to present, but I was really encouraged by the many ways students were actively engaged throughout the 4-1/2 days of classes. Add in the more informal networking that went on between classes, at meals and wherever technicians gathered, and this year's event was full of enough new ideas and skills to just about last you until we convene again in Atlanta in 2014.