DavidL



With the quote "facul ty l ooking to create a more learner-centered environment there are always a few bumps in the road" could not be more true and especially difficult. With most of us we were taught with the teacher orientated learning styles and therefore since we were taught this way we employ the same methods with the prenotion "it worked for me so it will work for them." With the trades due to the time restrictions this teacher orientated approch is used due to the fact that alot of information has to be delivered in a short time frame, if a student does not have good time management skills they will suffer and possibly fail. It appears this would be impractical to allow the students to learn the material at their own pace so it would be very difficult to shift the power to the students in this application. On a possitive note with the technology we now have unlimited resources, repetitive lessons can now be saved and easily improved, all with benifits to the students and the instructors. Items which instructors could only talk about and students used their imaginations can now be looked at in detail. A more natural flow can easily be maintained with no worries of details being left out only to be discussed out of topic later. Another possitive of technology in the classroom is in respect of the different styles of student learning, we now can cover audio, visual, and repetive learners by simply inserting a video to a lesson to show, and reconfirm the material with questions added to a power point to insure the material is being retained and the dryness of a lecture can now greatly be improved. Responsibility for learning rests with the learner, a very true statement the drive in the individual is the deciding factor in how much the learner will learn but only with the resources and proper teaching method, which I feel is based on an individual bases. In the trades we teach the students what to do and the outcomes if these procedures are not met allowing the apprentices to "feel out" the methods with deviations of their own in the hope they learn from their mistakes which also at the same time reconfirms the proven methods. In respect to low-stake grading I use this method to evaluate my apprentices the College and Manitoba Apprenticeship need four areas for grades in order to pass or fail an apprentice in my field. I follow this format but have broken down the four areas into three to five quizes per unit and then average them into the unit. This is given to the class and they can follow their marks therefor knowing what they will need on a quiz to boost their averages. Also at the end of a block they are required to write a benchmark which reconfirms the retention of the material and allows me to establish any weaknesses in my material or my presentations which is a surprize to the class since we are always evaluated on a large test and not usually on quizes. In conclusion even though bumpy if we worked more on the time management and less on the material it is possible to convert to a learner-centered enviroment. With the possitive effects of technology, trust in our students and pride in their chosen profession they would be able to achieve a higher level of learning and hopefully exceed any expectations they or we have.
 * Assignment 2**

The "flipped classroom" is a way of using technology in the classroom by instead of spending time on a lecture, the class can now bring a short interactive video provided by the teacher home which allows the student to problem solve and gives more of a practical use which Bloom considers to be a "higher learning". Then to come back to the class with a understanding of the material, now giving the teacher more time on a 1 on 1 basis to insure the material is understood properly essentally tutoring the student. The teacher now can spend time on the material that the majority of the class has difficulty with instead of wasting time on all the material. I personally think I will try to employ this method into my classes due to the fact that we have a lot of material to be taught in aa very short period of time. I never realized that this method is used in the safety courses like C.S.T.S and Rights and Responsibilities. The student watches short interactive videos, problem solves a situation and then is evaluated, the facilitator only is involved if the student is unable to continue. Sources: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flip_teaching www.**flippedclassroom**.com/ [|Cached] [|www.techsmith.com] › ... › [|TechSmith in K-12] www.**facultyfocus**.com/tag/**flipped**-**classroom**/
 * Assignment 4 :Flipped Classroom **

This method of role play works well for me. The first day of classes in entry level through to level four the students pick a shop steward who now just like on the job is responsible for keeping the class running smooth which includes others attendance and test marks, if an individual has a problem with how I am doing something it is the stewards responsibility to confront me so we can resolve the problem which I think builds respect in the class and adds a helping hand to a student that doesn't know how to ask. We also in block four set up the students in different levels of management for example we will have a project in the last week of school in the shop so some of the students are responsible for figguring out the material needed, while others are trying to plan the hours needed to do the job. When the material arrives they now break up in crews with a General Foreman, Foreman, Rigging Crew, Fitting Crew, and Welders. The General Foreman is responsible for the entire project and must report to me on the progress daily, the Foreman is responsible for the crews actions and is responsible to break them up as needed for priority jobs that must be completed before others, the crews are responsible for their respected work and professionalism. I act as a Safety Officer and Quallity Control to ensure that no short cuts are taken I find this is better than just explaining what these positions are the students actually get to understand the dinamics of the positions on the job, and therefore a new respect of the pressures of each. Now if I find the job is running smooth I will introduce a problem which the "workers" will have to solve. On one of the tasks I will give a canvass bag of tools and they must with those tools (not the proper tools) figure out how to make them work inorder to complete the task, so on top of role play I introduce problem solving or troubleshooting and to my amasement they come up with ideas which even myself would not have thought of. This method reconfirms to me that they are ready to go into the field with the knowledge to take on any task, be able to think on their feet and complete the job on time and on schedule which is what the Boilermaker Trade is known for.
 * Assignment 7: Role Play**


 * Elaine - After reading the article and writing my reflection, stating that I can't see any feasible way to use role playing, I read your reflection only to realize I already am! We do the same thing with our students when we go in the shop. Each group has a group leader and there is a shop foreman appointed. We also have one student work with our parts guy when we do faculty oil change days. There is without a doubt huge benefits to the students when they go through this. I was unable to think of ways to role play in the class. When you mention a class Steward, I assume that is for class time and not so much the shop. You mention they are responsible for attendance and test marks, can you explain to me how this works? I have heard mention of a class steward twice now during this CAE course and don't understand exactly what they do. Thanks. BTW, nice bike!

Michele D - After reading your reflection I was somewhat confused about the reading. When I read the article on role playing I understood it to mean something completely different. I thought that it was that the students were assigned a position or topic that is completely new to them and then the student had to research that topic/position. Then once the research was completed all the students would then be given a situation that needed to be resolved through acting the part in which they researched. Upon reading your reflection I thought this type of learning would fall more under either the Discovery Learning or cross between Discovery Learning and Simulation.


 * Barry C -** I'm of the opinion that role playing does not always have to be new material per say, but an extention to what material they have already researched and become familiar with. Since nothing in this world is black and white, students need to be adaptable and creative thinkers. Problem solvers ! I think applying aquired knowledge to different scenarios gives a student confidence in his skills as well as expanding the application of these skills. I personally find that students working as a collective on such role playing simulations is of the greatest importance. The sharing of different perspectives and the resolving of conflicts is a positive indicator that the material and its application is fully understood. Good job David.

The topic that I decided to learn for this assignment is photography. I have no skill in this but have an intrest in photos that are vibrant. I have wondered how and what makes great pictures, hopefully I will with this project get a basic understanding of how to use a higher end camera on the options beside automatic. My goal is to completely understand the settings on my Nikon D3000, use the different lenses and take pictures in different aspects of shutter speed, aperture, and after learning more whatever else the camera can do including proper light, and angle.
 * Assignment 5: Inquiry Based Learning**

Assignment 8: media type="custom" key="23056650"

Assignment 5: media type="custom" key="23139710" width="80" height="80" At the present time a webquest would not work during class time due to the fact that our facility does not have the internet or a computer lab but if we did I would use one for the rigging subject air hoisting (tugger). I had difficulty finding three sites on the matter but in the end went with (1) [|www.youtube.ca] The Crosby Group Basic Principles of Block and Tackle Trainning Video, (2) [|www.youtube.ca] Air Winch DVD (trailer), (3) [|www.boilermaker.ca] Members Only Section, E-Learning, Tugger Installation (this is protected under copyright and is only to be viewed by Boilermakers). The other objects of information needed to create this webquest would be all made on microsoft work with some excel used. An **Introduction** which would instruct the students that they are Riggers compentent in their field. The **Task** which would be a tugger needs to be installed inside a building hoist well on the third floor a load needs to be lifted from the ground floor to the tenth floor and the hook up for the stationary block is stationed on the eleventh floor at the ceiling. The **Process** would include that the floors are 12 feet apart and a 4 part line is to be used, the load weight is 10 ton and has to be pulled in after reaching the 10th floor. The **Evaluation** would be provided by means of a rubric which would show in detail if the proper steps were followed including all math necessery to determine the amount of line required, size of wire rope, type of wire rope, size of the tugger (weight capicity and drum capacity) and all necessary blocks (including snach blocks) with proper shackles. The **C****onclusion** would indicate that they have learned a lot by doing this exercise and alot more can be determined by simply changing the lines, load weight, height of the lift, if the load had to be drifted and so on which would show the students that they can use this in other situations like (addition of other links). During the process of developing the webquest I would introduce pictures of a hoist well, tugger, wire rope, anchorage points, skackles to make the words mean a little more to visual learners and to also dress up the webquest.
 * Assignment 10: Webquest**

//**Elaine-**// Great power point, very well presented, great links in the flipped classroom, rubric completed for graphic, good use of material, good conclusion, class is excited so this is great for the students //**Michele-**// Learner approaches very well though out with clear learner outcomes, great points of how discovery learning works with proir learning, great conclusion of how this benefits students and instructors //**Marnie-**// Well presented, layed-out well, great examples of how the approaches fit into her background, technology based discussion board very simular to what we are doing at this moment, thought of the cons of the system she has developed, //**Melodie-**// First prezi I've seen looks impressive, presentation done well, excellent learner outcomes with examples of her old system, combined flipped classroom and webquest //**Michael-**// Second prezi, interesting way of presenting, background indepth, well done presentation a lot of knowledge in the subject covered, mixing webquest and popplet to help entice the students participation //**Roxanne-**// Appears very excited to introduce the new methods in the class, excellent insight of the methods used with great outcomes and thought out evaluations with both informal and formal, great idea to involve multiple scenarios in the role play, and again multiple assignments in storytelling so a more indepth approach, use of cooperative learning with case studies for a chance to problem solve //**Donna-**// A great example of peer teaching, good outcomes, Think, Write, Pair, Share? Cooperative learning with problem solving maybe with discovery learning? covers communicaton issues for shy students, rubric covered for each learner orientated method, nice coverage of the history through prezi/webquest //**Barry-**// Has observations which are excellent ways of evaluating how he applies the methods to his class, use of visuals to bring points to the class, expections are clearly defined, well done presentation, a lot of knowledge in respected field, humor used well reference to how the technology can be a problem. //**Gil-**// Great introduction with the back ground of the methods, humor used very well, very well explained on the process of how he will apply the new methods, great honesty with student reactions //**Stefan-**// Great quote at the begining of the presentation, good idea for the flipped class with the aspect of making his own video instead of just one that may work for the course, the case study was very well done with pro and con answers //**Brian-**// Safety well covered, students with guide lines search for the info. with only guidance of the instructor, //**Debbie-**// Great beginning with the background, use of the //K-W-L// first used and used as an icebreaker is a great judge of the students, must be alittle more difficult to apply these methods in a one day course well done. //**Tom-**// Great project and concept of applying it into learner based learning, very well presented, great trouble shooting skills involved, great prezi, teamskills are essential //**Brenda-**//Great presentation very well presented,enjoyed the popplet presentation lots of nice canadian icons but missing the Nova Scotian Bluenose lol. //**Wade-**// Clear outcomes well defined with rubric, proir knowledge used with the discovery learning leaving the students in control, great use of role playing getting different sides of the coin, with the observer getting to giive a netural opinion (like that)
 * Assignment 8: Learner Centered Approaches Reflection of other presentations**


 * Assignment 5: Inquiry Based Learning Reflection of other presentations**
 * Elaine-** very intersting process of finding the information for doing the project with trial and error (pryography), the process has different methods which she tried, very indepth I don't think i would want to try the flame branding and wood finishing (I dislike wood work and it dislikes me)
 * Michele-** decision in wine making, research was done at a business (great idea), she run into many isues and had to figure them out, the business actually did the process (wine making) but she does have the knowledge in very well done detail in the power point, hope wedding goes well with the wine (I had champagne and drank 4 bottles myself, yes I was sick wife was mad). This looks very detailed presentation well done.
 * Marnie-** Learning to knit, great objectives with very defined odjectives, reseach done through youtube and a friend, alot of trial and error, tried research again (motivated), there is no way i would have the ability or patience to do this good that she wants to continue to something more difficult, well done
 * Melodie-** making a blog, helps in her employment as most other instructors in her field use them, ended up being a lot of work, very directional with a lot of thought put into the steps, research was done with an expert and the internet, enjoyed the presentation
 * Tom-** very nice prezi, fire pit project using new plasma cam and slip roller, seems easy except for the process of detail of the pictures, uses good software, alot of trial and error, seems like a project in his department, like the humour
 * Michael-** Brewing beer without the kit with all grain, knows a lot of the processes of making beer and the results, did the reseach for the type (ale) with the help from coles, nice detail of the ingredients
 * Donna-** resurface hardwood floor, online research on how to strip and resurface, found out if the floor is even worth saving which needs outside opinion, a lot of detail on the aspects of the different types of material and finishes, good to know my property back east needs the flooring to be refinished I am now sure it is worth it
 * Gil-** nice presentation with all kinds of props, seems very knowledgeable in the ski-doo racing, very indepth, nice that a passion that exists he now can improve upon, great that this is an activity with the family
 * Stefan-** long box conversion to short box, great research, very involved long process, lots of side projects (welding, body work, even a back-up plan) great presentation again alot of passion and wants a challenge
 * Brian-** refinishing a gun barrel cold bluing, very intersting topic, alot of metalurgy topics, well covered topic with great examples showing the bluing, used trial and error in the research, nice step by step process shown on the presentation
 * Debbie-** Laser eye surgery is an interesting topic, good to know before doing it, researched was done with a doctor, and actually contacted people for their opinions, even with all the research done more research is done great motivation, great job I'm still scared to do it!
 * Wade-** nice presentation well documented glad the son also wanted to try, did you do much research, good luck in advancing great job
 * Roxanne-** nice to do a project that is very important to do (change a tire), well illustrated nice to do a "CSI" investigation while learning at the same time, good added touch of actually repairing the tire and then balancing the tire
 * Brenda-** Mehndi? looks like the process takes a long time? great presentation with the health warnings(black), great research with local try first before the you tube approach, nice detail of the process of how to make the paste, very interesting I think I would like one of these artists to do my tattoos
 * Barry-** very well indepth topic of music and how we "tweek" or make it sound better (bi-wiring, bi-amp), very interesting and complex, research of both with the so called advantage in bi-wiring which Barry proves in his system is very invaid for the choice of music he perfers. I like the "buy wire" comment.