As covered in the first article in this series, Principles of Effective Teaching, reliability engineers, FMEA team leaders, and other quality and reliability professionals are often called upon to teach the principles of reliability or FMEA. Whether you are a student who wants to enhance your learning experience, an instructor who wants to improve teaching results, or an engineer who wishes to convey knowledge to another person, this series will offer practical knowledge and advice.
“Success depends upon previous preparation, and without such preparation there is sure to be failure.” Confucius
Like any task in life, it is essential that instructors prepare well for each course being taught.
What is Preparation?
The definition of “prepare” is “to work out the details of; to plan in advance”
Preparation to teach a course means performing all the tasks, before training begins, that are necessary for success.
The following are some of the tasks related to effective course preparation.
What can you learn about your student audience?
The content of your course, how you go about teaching, what you emphasize or de-emphasize, depends to some degree on the make-up of the student body.
I often use pre-surveys to learn as much as possible about the student audience. For example, you can determine the following with surveys:
- For each prospective student, what is their level of experience with the subject being taught? How many of the students are new? How many experienced? Experienced students will need different engagement than “newbies.”
- What organizational group are the students from? Product design, manufacturing, assembly, test, field operations, service, etc.
- What initial questions or topics need to be covered? What are student expectations?
- Other relevant information that will help with course preparation.
If you are not able to pre-survey your students, you can go around the room at the very beginning of the course, and get to know the background and experience of your students.
TIP: By knowing your student audience, you can emphasize or de-emphasize course content, and add stories or application tips.
Why practice before teaching?
“Give me six hours to chop down a tree, and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” Abraham Lincoln
The purpose of teaching is to convey knowledge to the student. Conveying knowledge requires a connection with your students. This is enhanced by looking at them while you talk.
Do not read slides! I cannot emphasize this enough. You need to observe your students and share each message in your own words. This requires preparation. Practice the slides until you understand the essence of each message, and can explain it in your own words, with your own passion, in a way that communicates.
Tip: If you prepare well, you will be able to teach well.
How can you prepare for the best course timing?
Have you ever been in a class that does not manage time well? It’s not fun and you don’t learn.
When practicing for a course, I always go through the entire course material by myself, as if I’m teaching to a class. I literally time each slide (minutes, seconds), including time for questions. By adding up the total time, you can see if you need to add or remove material, to fit the required course timing. This avoids having to rush course material when teaching.
For a new course, you should do a complete “dry run” at least once, ensuring you are fully comfortable with teaching the material. You need to practice until you understand the message for each slide, and can look at your students when conveying the message, not read the slide. This is essential.
Tip: When preparing to teach, spend as much time as needed on fundamentals. That cannot be compromised.
More on this topic is in article: “Key Teaching Principle # 8: Pace of Teaching”
How can you manage student distractions?
“One way to boost our will power and focus is to manage our distractions instead of letting them manage us.” Daniel Goleman
It is essential to minimize distractions in the course room. If allowed, students will often try to multi-task with emails and internet, resulting in less attention on course material. By following the advices in the articles in this series, students should be interested and engaged. Still, distractions are possible and should be minimized.
Distraction prevention strategies include disallowing personal use of computers during course time, using hand-written notes and exercises, and others.
If teaching remotely, videos must be “on.” I will not teach remotely with cameras off. You should always see your students. Managing student expectations for this is part of preparation.
Learn to read the body language of students, so you can see that each and every student is engaged and not distracted.
Tip: Learning requires focus. Don’t be afraid to be proactive in minimizing course distractions.
More on this topic is in article “Key Teaching Principles #3: Managing Attention”
Balancing theory and practical exercises
In the article “Key Teaching Principle # 10: Application” I write that students need to practice applying the core principles in planned exercises. The key to successful exercises is to create a safe environment where mistakes can be made and discussed as learning opportunities. I allocate more than 50% of total course time to practice and exercises.
Theory is important, but don’t forget that an essential part of learning is doing, Class preparation includes being sure you have allocated sufficient time in the course for students to practice what they are learning.
Summary
Teaching is a wonderful calling. To be successful when teaching any course, it is essential to convey knowledge to the students in a meaningful way. This requires preparation. By following the suggestions in this article, you can successfully prepare for your course, and improve your ability to convey knowledge to students.
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