Having experience in the subject is a must! How can you make it relevant to the students if you don't have personal experience. I use my experience as example to what works and what does not work. Telling the students anecdotes about your experience is entertaining and great learning for the students.
Franklin:
I think that generally the answer is yes, but I also believe that the answer really depends upon the field of study. There are clearly fields where an individual without direct experience could not provide quality instruction; this is particularly true in a technical/career school setting. In more academic fields of study, a good understanding of the historical and theoretical basis of the "subject", and/or a good understanding of related subject matter adequately equips an instructor.
Most definitely. In rare circumstanced that I have to teach material that I have no experience I really struggle with it.
Hi Franklin,
Yes, I do. I have found that at the career college level where students are being trained to enter and succeed in a specific career field they need to have an instructor that has direct experience in the field. There is so much about a field that comes with direct experience and this needs to be shared with students.
Career training has to move from theory to practice and who better to help this along than an experienced instructor.
Gary
I believe the answer to this question should be "yes." There may be times when a teacher is asked to teach in an area they know nothing about. In this case, it would probably be a good idea to gain some sort of experience quickly (if possible). Perhaps the only alternative is to follow a lesson plan/course curriculum carefully designed by someone who has had that experience.
I think students enrolled in voc/tech schools expect their teachers to be experienced in that particular field of study.
