Monday, 15 July 2013

Flexible Learning 5


Sustainability in Education

Activity 6

To Sustain - In music, sustain is the length of time a sound continues after the input energy stops. The toll of a bell happens with the strikes of the clapper, and the sustain is what we hear as the sound decays.

So taking what we do in our education field (our Impact) and seeing it continue(the momentum).

If we are teaching a philosophy of a way of learning and working it should be able to continue long after we have delivered it.

In our automotive programs we continue to develop our educational material resources so they can sustain future students learning and be measured against the requirements of the industry.

Such as;

Ø  Use of Moodle and on-line resources for material delivery and learning

Ø  Very little printing

Ø  Reusing of workshop parts and equipment

Ø  Morale responsibilities ( Volunteering Days)

Ø  Environmental Impact ( waste products recycled)

To go to another level on this last item would be to develop an article or documentary on the way that the big car companies have policy to take back their end of life vehicles and recycle the materials into parts for the new models. 

When I am teaching, the strategies I use to highlight sustainability are” Best Practise Demonstrations” showing the effect of quality workmanship and using open discussion around the effects of not living up to this expectation. In industry this equals returning customers that are happy with the service and have peace of mind in the fact that the business they support takes their social, environment impact seriously.

 

Key Learning Areas

  1. Self understanding- developing sustainability values and ethics; developing an ecological identity and sense of place; developing a personal educational and leadership philosophy
  2. View of the world- understanding sustainability issues as interconnected, holistic, and relational; developing systems thinking; understanding and valuing the importance of multiple perspectives
  3. Relationships- developing strategies for working with diverse groups to affect change; understanding how power, privilege and justice impact relationships; developing sustainability networks and partnerships
  4. Tools for change- developing a toolkit for enacting sustainable change; gaining tools for educating for sustainability; developing leadership skills.                                              

While working through this module I have thought about how we incorporate the four actions promoting student learning. And I feel we are strong in all of these areas, but giving the time to reflect on our course and we would find some room for improvement.

· Cooperative Learning - An interactive model for teaching and learning. More than working in groups, it is a process requiring guided facilitation.
- Workshop tasks and demonstrations

· Inquiry Learning  - An holistic, integrated approach to teaching and learning, raising questions to investigate and taking action for a sustainable future.
- Research projects

· Experiential Learning - Developed through personal experience, guided reflection and learning conversations.
- Work experience

· Reflection - Fundamental to supporting student action competence.
- During class time and before assessments

 

References

 



Sunday, 14 July 2013

Flexible Learning 4


Module 3 Trends

Activity 5 Technologies for learning

An idea for using technology in Learning

Computer simulation Programmes

In the automotive industry it is very hard to fully understand the workings that go on inside a component without pulling it apart and investigating the finer detail of the internal workings that complete the component. ( this may be due to the type of learners that are drawn to the automotive industry)

So taking this notion and developing a computer software program that will allow students to disassemble and reassemble a job or task that would normally need time in the workshop to do, they would be able to complete the task in a virtual workshop.

This could be developed in a way to give the user the ability to assemble components correctly as they would in real life, then if they didn’t the program would be able to make a noise or an action that would be similar to the action that would happen in the real world.

For example;  Assembling a gear box and one of the gears was put in the wrong way round, the gear box would make a horrible noise when completed.(If it went at all) And the student would have to go back to that point and start again.

This type of program could help the student go through the practical task step by step as many times as they needed to be able to feel confident enough to work on the real thing.

There would be a great amount of flexibility coming from a program like this as the students would have access to it at all times from any mobile devise, let’s say the student woke up in the middle of the night worried about a workshop assessment, they could log on by way of their smart phone and complete the task. Or on a tablet in the workshop while waiting for access to the equipment.





This type of training equipment could be available to all students from all parts of the world at the same time in any language. Making it a very flexible resource, from every angle.
 

When the Apple iPad was released in 2010, a new category of mobile device was born, distinct from smartphones, ultra-small laptops, e-readers, and other kinds of portable devices. Suddenly people had the ability to download and read books, watch videos, learn foreign languages, and much more — all through a large, high-resolution touchscreen that made the experience convenient, vibrant, and shareable. On these always-connected devices, several people could sit down together and easily watch the same movie and study the same images.

So with this in mind the automotive workshops have moved very quickly in getting technology to the repair technicians and enabling them to use mobile devises to repair vehicles with greater speed and flexibility, by having large repair manuals in a tablet and wireless connection to on board computers connecting the car directly to the manufacturer. It makes sense to try and familiarise learners with this type of equipment so they are prepared for the workplace.

  DuraTec_HE.MPG




References;

http://www.nmc.org/pdf/2013-horizon-report-HE.pdf

Augmented Reality for Maintenance and Repair video. This demonstrates how virtual reality goggles are used for teaching mechanics in the marines. You can see how 3D can be used to help students learn skills.
Ford Motor Company