Students all learn differently and at times a change of pace will involve them, they listen to different view points and they will be more participative.
Field trips are a great tool, connecting your field with actual working moving parts, feeling, touching, tasting are a few of the positive end results.
Marisa,
What a great field trip. This ties into personal ethics, integrity, judgement, and behavior, as you say, chopices made that can potentially interfere with holding and/or keeping a job. I'm sure this creates a lasting memory.
Barry Westling
I have taken my students to the Board of Nursing disciplinary meetings every semester. In these meetings, nurses whos licenses are on the line because of a choice they made go before the board to discuss the situation and its consequences. This is an excellent experience as the students get to see how important their every action really is.
Jay,
Terrific for your three students. Although I don't think applications is the primary purpose of field trips, it obviously happens from time to time. But seeing clearly and directly waht job duties one will perform as a graduate is invaluable. I've observed so many students who really don't know the foundational parts of the job they're training for, so this the field trip can help clarify and illuminate what it is that the graduate will do when they graduate.
Barry Westling
Certainly, the largest benefit is showing how the classroom actively prepares people for the life as a professional.
Additionally, the students generally garner great information in a less formal setting regarding their instructive career. I think this really puts things into direct perspective and motivates students to "step up".
My last field trip ended up with three of my student getting job applications. Obviously, they demonstrated their knowledge to the point of showing a perspective employer their motivation, their skill level, and their desire to perform.
Tim,
Great. I really like these activities, and I've never had a bad experience with students disliking them either. They are usually quite inspirational and sometimes students get really jazzed over the experience.
Barry Westling
To have field trips to the businesses that perform the work that the students aspire to is to provide focused examples of the actual work and environment that can establish a picture of the goal. Having guest speakers can likewise provide an opportunity for an outside person to corroborate what the instructor has presented and provide perspective that is otherwise being presented by only one person.
Willis,
These are wonderful experiences. Q&A preceding or following is a good way to enhance the experience and also, keeps the students a bit more accountable.
Barry Westling
I have frequently used both guest speakers and field trips throughout the years. I have found that visiting Chefs who come in and share their successes [and failures] open the students eyes and minds to the realities of the Food and Beverage industry. I will allow a Q & A session as well-requiring each student to have a question[s] prepared.
Joseph,
I think these two resources are one of the hiiden gems in vocational education. They inspire and can motivate students in a way unlike most any other resource!
Barry Westling
Yes, I am very much in favor of using both field trips and guest speakers. Field trips provide variety and show the application and practice beyond the classroom theory. Guest speakers can be very reassuring to students.
George,
I have to say that you just turned a light on over my head! I have avoided field trips in the past because of short class times. The typical time frame wouldn't allow for any departures from our campus but I could certainly take the students to our on-campus restaurant.
Thank you for the insightful comments.
Steve Baker
James,
We can't help having our biases and preferences - it's part of the reason we were hired, based on our experience. That said, I agree that a good fielkd trip can be motivational and possibly provide an additional perspective different than possible in the classroom, simply because it's a different setting.
Barry Westling
At my college, we do not get the opportunity to take field trips that often, but when we do, they are really eye openng for the students. They get the opportunity to see a chosen career in action and they get a chance to get away from their usual routine. They also get to see the world through their own eyes, not my eyes and my filters. I try to think of myself as an open minded leader that presents all points of view, but I am not perfect and I do editorialize from time to time.
Leon,
Right. Besides being attracted to an enthusiastic presenter, students get a view of their profession in a way that they can't receive through other methods.
Barry Westling
Guest speakers are able to connect the real world scenarios to the course learning.
They are motivational and provide another voice for the students.
They usually come in with lots of energy!
Leon Guendoo
Thomas,
I have observed that some students have only really vague ideas about the profession they're about to enter. Activities like the field trip and/or guest speaker can open eyes and give a vision of a future that could truely change lives (of the student, their family, workplace encounters, experiences, etc.). Can be quite motivational to the degree that marginal students buckle down, and average students ramp it up a notch or two.
Barry Westling
I like using guest speakers and field trip for a few reasons. They give the students a different perspective then I may give them. During a field trip they see things I discussed in the classroom being done in the workplace.
Melvin,
It definetly gives another viewpoint. I think the opportunity to ask questions from professionals in the field is different from what their instructor can give. And I think field trips can inspire and motivate students in a way that is unique from the classroom/lab experience. I've seen students get really serious with their studies after they have been involved with guest speakers or a really cool field trip.
Barry Westling
I feel it gives the students another point of view on the subject.
