Continuing Education & Training For Instructors

[slotperfect 7]

Instructors only please.

What courses, seminars, books, videos, experiences, events, etc. do you consider valuable for continuing education and training in your particular instructional discipline - not only to improve your own skydiving skills, but to improve your ability to teach students?

Please include your skydiving instructional discipline with your response.

Me? Two training events in the last three years have improved my teaching skill set a great deal:

-Solly Williams coaching me on flying the mantis body position in the wind tunnel - his techniques on training body flight in general improved my ability to train students on the box man body position for student jumps.

-Scott Miller's canopy piloting course - I changed a lot of verbage, corrected a misconception I had, and adopted a couple of ways of explaining canopy flight (especially flared landings) that are working really well for me.

I look forward to reading your responses.

Arrive Safely

John

[diverup13k 0]

Good question.I am going to take a canopy course this summer(break from tandems)and since my regular job has me traveling alot I am fortunate enough I get to talk with alot of tandem instructors.I watch alot and ask alot of questions.although tunnel time sounds really good.do you know of any good books.Ive read intro to teaching(my copy is from like 1950)

Dave D-27941 coach tandem I

[tdog 0]

Novice AFF instructor and First Jump Course teacher...

I feel my weakest link is teaching canopy flight....

We have mockups to teach exits. We have horizontal trainers to teach body position. We have countdown timers to teach altitude awareness. We have hanging harnesses to teach EPS...

But, of all the instructors I have watched teach - at a few dropzones, I have not seen anyone really harness tools to simulate canopy flight...

So, I am very interested in taking that canopy course you mention...

I also chatted with a rep from a canopy manufacture who asked for ideas on a instructor program - and I commented that I would love training and training aids... Wouldn't it be cool if they had a canopy guru that would teach instructors to be better instructors?

As far as my own continuing education for freefall - I have found that coaching novices in the tunnel keeps me on my toes, and attending Airspeed training camps trains me well...

[diverup13k 0]

I also chatted with a rep from a canopy manufacture who asked for ideas on a sponsored instructor program - and I commented that I would love training and training aids instead of discounts on personal equipment... Wouldn't it be cool if they had a canopy guru that would teach instructors to be better instructors?

What did they say?were they interested in it.ome on give that was a great suggestion

[tdog 0]

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What did they say?were they interested in it.ome on give that was a great suggestion

The chat was via e-mail and they have not responded yet - but it has only been a few days - and I know the rep is swamped... If you are interested, I will pass on the word...

[AggieDave 6]

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-Scott Miller's canopy piloting course - I changed a lot of verbage, corrected a misconception I had, and adopted a couple of ways of explaining canopy flight (especially flared landings) that are working really well for me.

Same here. Infact, the entire DZ instructional staff was so impressed on how Scott teaches, a couple of years ago after the first time he came to Aggieland we completely revamped our canopy teaching to immulate how and what he taught.

Beyond that, I've learned an incredible amount from Mark Futch on teaching using SDU techniques. Its been an incredible help. Especially on how to break down a skydive into many little parts and break down each movement into many little parts.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[LouDiamond 1]

For me, the biggest eye opener I have experienced is the many teaching styles(or lack there of) I have seen over the years both in and outside of skydiving. IMO, skydiving instruction is severely lacking in teaching instructors how to effectively teach and how people learn. The focus is more on the steps or regurgitation of the information and not on how the instructor is actualy interacting with the student verbally and non verbally.

Having seen plenty of bad or boring instructors in the past, we took this into consideration when developing the Birdman Instructor program. The important part is that there has to be a transfer of information that the student can understand and then go on to use for themselves. Recognizing that not everyone is naturally inclined to being a teacher, I hit the book store and did some reasearch on "how people learn". You would be surprised on the amount of information there is out there that is applicable to real world teaching situations and not just scientific speak. Its a mix of psychology and science if you ask me but what I learned was pretty amazing. Based off of my personal research, I compiled 5 seperate papers on "how to teach" to be handed out as supplementary reading during the Birdman Instructor course. The great thing is that the information contained in the papers can be used not only for teaching but in everyday interaction with other people. The subsequent outcome from using it in everyday situations is that one inevitably enhances their ability to effective communicate and teach in a way that the the student understands and retains what you are teaching them. For the instructor who wants to be a better teacher or for those who want to learn how to make better instructors, there is a wealth of knowledge available on this subject, you just have to seek it out. John, or anyone else let me know if this intrests you and I can point you in the right direction.

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[bodypilot1 0]

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What courses, seminars, books, videos, experiences, events, etc. do you consider valuable for continuing education and training in your particular instructional discipline - not only to improve your own skydiving skills, but to improve your ability to teach students?

The most valuable information comes from your past students that continue to progress in the sport.
I have plenty over the years.

Be safe
Ed

www.WestCoastWingsuits.com
www.PrecisionSkydiving.com

[tdog 0]

AggieDave posted to a thread called "Is this a malfunction" the following:

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We teach with the concept of Hick's Law in regards to decisions under high stress.

After googling Hick's Law, I realized I understood and taught to the concept already, but did not know Hick had a formula for it...

So, I thought in the spirit of continuing education - I would post a link or two...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hick's_law

http://ei.cs.vt.edu/~cs5724/projects97f/virtschool2/theories/hickslaw.html

The point is... I know a lot of instructors who bash these forums, a S&TA told me once to never read these because they are all wrong... He might be right, but I have learned SO much from DZ.com, not from the content necessarily on the posts, but where the content lead me to research and ask questions of others to make my own educated decisions... So, DZ.com, for me, is a super powerful continuing education source - making the world smaller, bringing concepts from DZ to DZ real time (even if those concepts are wrong).

[peek 20]

My instructional focus is on "primary" instruction, therefore, reviewing basic instructional documents has always been what I have found most useful.

Untill the time that USPA created the BIC they included in JCC and ICC documentation a standalone document call Fundamentals of Instruction, which was taken from chapters of the FAA document Aviation Instructors Handbook (still available).

It contains a lot about how people learn, and things to do and not do. I continue to see instructors skipping some of the basic stuff which would make their jobs a lot easier.

(Granted, there is much to learn past the basics.)

[riggerrob 558]

Last month I attended a CSPA Skydiving School Instructors Course for a refresher.
I did not HAVE to take the course as my primary job rarely involves teaching the first jump course. Also I earned the old CSPA Instructor B rating 20 years ago, but felt that I needed a refresher.
The SSI Course lasted three days. The first day involved Course Conductor reviewing material relevant to first jump students, then candidates spent the rest of the course doing practice lectures. Derek assigned a subject from the FJC to one or two candidates, who then lectured the class on the subject.
Perhaps I should qualify the term "lecture:" practice teaching sessions consisted of introducing material, breaking it down into small moves, then physically practicing the material by climbing out of the mock-up, etc. At the end of every practice teaching session, learning was confirmed by quizzing simulated students and asking them to perform the skill on the ground.
Derek emphasized points like: PSI, PINT, WPW, etc.

PSI = feedback should be Positive, Specific and Immediate

PINT: relates to teaching packing. Students must know how to Pack, Inspect, Name and clear Tangles.

WPW = Whole, Part, Whole.

RIOS = for indentifying good main canopies.
Is it Rectangular?
Is it Inflated?
Is it Operating (i.e. steering correctly)?
Is the Slider more than half way down?

In conclusion, the SSI was a pleasant refresher of material that I had been teaching on-and-off for the last twenty years.
I encourage all profesiisonal skydivers to attend a refresher course or earn a new rating every year, to keep their minds sharp.

For example, this year I earned Rigger B and SSI ratings.
Last year I got re-current on static-line jump-mastering and teaching the first jump course.
The year before that I taught myself how to video tandem students with a camera strapped to my left wrist and earned a Rigger Instructor rating.
The year before that I took the Coaching Association's Coach 2 Theory Course.
The year before that I redid the PFF Instructor Course, after a ten year lay-off.
The year before that I took CSPA's Coach 2 Practical The year before that I took Commercial Pilot Ground School.
And every second year I attend a PIA Symposium to refresh my rigging knowledge.

The worst thing a skydiving instructor can do is stay isolated at his home DZ. That only guarantees that he will become a big fish in a small pond.

[BIGUN 1,051]

Scott,

I agree 100%. Performance-oriented training should require a focused Train-the-trainer course. An ITC prior to an instructional rating would be extremely beneficial.

Keith

Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.