Effective methods of delivering information (AFF specific)

[FallloutboyDAoC 0]

Summary paragraph is at the end.


Hello, my name is Jarryd. I started skydiving in 2008 when i was 18 years old. I'm a month away from 25 now. I've made about 600 skydives and have packed an estimated 15,000 parachutes, mostly tandems. I've worked at 3 different dropzones full-time. 3 dropzones with completely different environments with one recurring element of EGO/ARROGANCE/NARCISSISM. I've struggled with this one element, of which i just articulated with 3 words, in myself my whole life.

I'm very interested in teaching. I need to start from the ground up. I'll admit i'm going about this the lazy way, starting my own thread and asking for direct information, but maybe this can be made a sticky for general informational purposes for instructors/aspiring instructors.

The biggest concept i've learned in the art of teaching is that less is more. Baby steps. Building blocks. Simplicity. This isn't just in reference to skydiving but in every aspect of life/sports/disciplines.

I was hoping for the best information to be provided specifically by moderators/instructor examiners/seasoned instructors in reference to the proper training methods of students just entering the sport. This is my personal request because as i've stated before, i'm starting from the ground. Everyone has their own teaching syllabus, i understand this. I understand that nothing beats real world experience. I understand the absolute need to go to proper instructor examiners to obtain the proper ideas of how to teach, what teaching methods people respond to, and what teaching methods people are turned off from. That's who i am hoping to hear from here. Instructor examiners/instructors who have experienced damn near every personality, every concoction of emotional traits.

On top of this, i'd like to learn of the obstacles that instructors will face throughout their careers in terms of shaping skydivers who have made it through the aff/static-line/IAD hurdle. Most of all, i want to learn how to deal with/properly guide the most difficult and sensitive element in this sport. The ego.

To sum it up, i want to learn how to teach safety at every stage of the learning to skydive process. Most importantly, i want to learn how to properly teach/guide the people who have the largest ego. To be direct about this whole post, i want my arrogance/ego to be in reference to how good of a teacher i am. And i'd like to learn from the instructors/instructor examiners who feel as though they have a right to be arrogant in reference to their ability to teach/deal with the egos' within this sport, including mine.

[sammielu 3]

USPA Coach course covers a lot of this material. Start by buying or borrowing an IRM, look through the coach course material, and take a coach course. This first USPA rating (essentially) teaches you how to teach. The rest you will learn through teaching experience, whether at the coach level or after you get a method-specific instructor rating.

[riggerrob 558]

Dealing with over-confident (huge ego) students is similar to teaching arousal control.
We start by rating arousal on a scale form 1 to 10, with 1 being barely awake and 10 being so excited that they can barely see anything.
By arousal control, I mean teaching the student how to get his/her arousal level in the 5 to 7 range where the best learning occurs.

Under-confident students can be encouraged by reminding them that they just performed most of the steps correctly and will improve the last skill if they just focus on "variable X."
If an over-confident student keeps missing key steps during the later steps of ground training, you need to remind them that they are not going to jump until they can do the ground rehearsal (aka. dirt dive) perfectly - without prompting - before they will be allowed to jump.

The most important instructional skill is knowing which students to refuse.

I can count on one hand the number of first-jump (static-line or IAD) students that I have refused, but I have refused dozens of tandem students because they were too fat or too weak or had old injuries that never healed properly.

[riggerrob 558]

The best method teaching varies with the student. Some students learn best by listening. Others learn best by reading. Others learn best by staring at pictures. Others learn best by watching video tapes. All students benefit from ground rehearsals (experiential learning).
Good instructors glance at students and quiz them to discern which teaching method works best for each student.

When teaching a class including several students, good instructors encourage students to read the key points before entering the classroom, then he/she shows pictures and video, then tells them, demonstrates and finally has the student practice a few times on the ground before they ever get near an airplane.

For example, yesterday a surgeon told me to do "five finger exercises" to rehabilitate my knee. I stared back at him blankly. Then the surgeon drew some numbers on the board, asked me some simple math questions and counted on his fingers. Because the surgeon took the extra time to describe a bit of theory, his explanation stuck in my short-term memory. I copied his white-board notes onto paper. The next day I took my new knowledge to the gym to burn it into mid-term memory.
It also helped that the surgeon took the extra time to teach the concept to a medical student.

[jackwallace 3]

Back in psych 101 they taught that people learn three ways.
Pictures, most guys learn like this, and these are the people that if you tell them directions they don't hear you. But give them a map and they are good.
Reading. People that learn from a book.
Verbal. Also called sleeping through lecture classes.
Then there's the mule skinner method: Hit them in the head with a 2x4, tell them what you want them to know, then hit them again to impress upon them the importance of what you just told them.
Then there is the most important lesson I ever got. I was asked if I wanted to teach the class. No way I said. "Who you going to jump with next year?" I always taught every student with that in mind.

U only make 2 jumps: the first one for some weird reason and the last one that you lived through. The rest are just filler.
scr 316

[adagen 0]

It's not just how you teach, it's how the individual student learns, as riggerrob says. Try googling 'learning styles' to get an idea. When teaching anything, it's important to recognise and accommodate the full range of learning styles, not just the ones which fit with your own learning style. Also, different people process and absorb information at different rates, so you need to be able to distinguish between someone who hasn't understood, and someone who needs a bit of time and peace and quiet to sort things out in their own mind.

Teaching isn't a routine process, it's about empathy and communication. All of this applies to teaching in general, but it's even more important when you need to evaluate whether a student has learned something well enough to do it safely.

I've coached in other sports and non-sports situations, not skydiving, but teaching principles are the same whatever you are teaching. And whatever the topic, you need to be able to assess the student's ability to perform successfully without you there to hold their hand.

Anne

[obelixtim 100]

Having trained many first jumpers (SL), many who spoke little or even no English, I had to think carefully how I was going to get the message through to allow them to jump safely.

When you have a class of 20 first jumpers, sometimes with nationals of 4 or 5 foreign countries in the same group, the most important thing was to train using the fewest and simplest terms, thus lots of demonstrations, pictures and diagrams, and lots of repetitive drills.

It worked out fine.

Simplicity is the key.....

My computer beat me at chess, It was no match for me at kickboxing....

[FallloutboyDAoC 0]

Outstanding replies, thank you everyone.

[riggerrob 558]

"... When you have a class of 20 first jumpers, sometimes with nationals of 4 or 5 foreign countries in the same group ...

Simplicity is the key....."

.....................................................................................

Also remember to confirm that the student has learned something.

For example, many times after delivering the tandem speil to Japanese students, I have asked "wakureemashta?"
They all nodded and replied "Hi!"
But when I asked them to demonstrate and arch, they just stood there ... blank stares.
Part of the problem is cultural. Many Japanese students are reluctant to admit that they do not understand a lesson for fear of embarrassing the instructor.

[pchapman 261]

obelixtim

Having trained many first jumpers (SL), many who spoke little or even no English,

Oh that's a challenge.

In other places, that combination (assuming an English speaking instructor) usually results in students being guided gently and carefully to what we call in English, "man-i-fest for tan-dem reg-is-tra-tion"

Some good headscratching would be needed to figure out how to work a S/L course with little verbal communication. Interesting for an instructor to think about even for normal courses, as even then, one has to prioritize information, and students need to be able to demonstrate responses to particular commands and particular situations.

[ufk22 32]

EGO/ARROGANCE/NARCISSISM
If you really want to be a great instructor, you need to get over/past this.
Very few students have these traits, but a lot of experienced skydiver/instructors do, and any or all of these traits will make you a frustrated, poor instructor.
Bottom line, grow up and get over it.
When you've grown up and realize how much you DON'T know, that's the moment you'll become an effective instructor.

This is the paradox of skydiving. We do something very dangerous, expose ourselves to a totally unnecesary risk, and then spend our time trying to make it safer.

[stayhigh 2]

You have to beat them with sticks time to time.

Like this, at least that's how it was in my elementary school. It works.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMTXnf7mnZI

Bernie Sanders for President 2016

[stratostar 5]

Quote

Then there's the mule skinner method:

All good instructors have a rolling pin in the bag of tricks....

you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

[obelixtim 100]

Quote

Interesting for an instructor to think about even for normal courses, as even then, one has to prioritize information, and students need to be able to demonstrate responses to particular commands and particular situations.

Absolutely. If you can simplify your training to suit people who have little English, then this becomes valid for everyone, because when you are putting people into a stressful environment, then the simpler the drills and instruction, the easier it is to instil and make understandable, which means the less there is to misunderstand and screw up in a live situation.

A particularly useful example is radio instruction. My radio instructions have 8 different commands, which are practised on the ground with accompanying arm movements where applicable. They are:

Good canopy. (Confirming Canopy OK)
360 left or 360 right.
Left or right. (90 degree turn, either way)
Up. (toggles up)
Down. (Toggles down for the flare, I don't use "flare", its jargon)
Look. Grab. Pull. (SOS system, EP time, pull the handle)

The students are trained to fly and land the canopy without radio, using altimeter and waypoints, which are pointed out during the training, on the airfield, with diagrams, and immediately prior to the jump, also pointed out during the climb by the JM.

I've had students with radio failure land themselves in the pea gravel on their first jump. They are told if the radio works its a bonus, and the radioman will say little or nothing if they appear to be flying the canopy properly themselves.

The radioman is trained to keep his trap shut unless absolutely necessary, and keep commands to a minimum.

Nothing worse to cause confusion is a radioman with verbal diarrhea.

My computer beat me at chess, It was no match for me at kickboxing....

[riggerrob 558]

I always wait to mention radios until after I have taught students how to steer and land on their own.

[obelixtim 100]

riggerrob

I always wait to mention radios until after I have taught students how to steer and land on their own.

That's how it is done, when conditions, exit point and waypoints for the day can be pointed out, last thing before kitting up, and they can see how other jumpers fly their canopies..

My computer beat me at chess, It was no match for me at kickboxing....