Technical Knowledge
This is something that should be brought with the instructor,and should not be on the job training? Crosstraining is not sufficient enough to make a person a Respected or qualified athority on a skilled subject matter.
Teaching a technical subject w/out technical knowledge is non-optimum. It can be done, but what of the quality? When students ask questions that the non-tech trained person is stumped by, and they could be very simple questions indeed, students can sniff out someone over their head quickly and then credibility wanes.
Hi Ryan,
It is always good to have a balance between technical skill/knowledge and the ability to communicate that technical skill/knowledge. This way the students know you the instructor know of which you speak plus you have the ability to share that knowledge with them in a clear and interesting way.
Gary
I think that a person with technical knowledge who has skill as an instructor will always be better than a skilled instructor who is weak on the technical end. This dosnt mean he/she cant teach the course it just means the students will get the most out of the course from the 1st instuctor in my opinion.
I agree with your statement that technical knowledge should be brought to the classroom with the instructor because with out is critical component it is very hard to respond to the questions that are going to be asked by the students. When the students get too many “I don’t know” or “I will get back to you on that question” they will just quit asking questions altogether because the instructor does not know the answers. To me the more questions the more information will be shared with all.
Hi Bob! This is on target; an instructor talking about his/her workplace experiences, in reference to the learning objectives, not only gives credibility, but makes it more personal and motivational for students; we are in fact representatives of the disciplines we teach. Thanks!
Jay Hollowell
MaxKnowledge Facilitator
I also believe that there is no substitute for experience. anybody can read apower point but you need to use your experiences to talk about. this also gives you credibility.
I think this should be brought with the instructor.
The students thrive on work experience stories you tell them.
They can sense when you are talking about a real experience or a made up one.
I feel Technical knowledge and real world experance is very important when instructing a class just reading a book and then tring to teach some one to rebuild a automatic transmission would prove to be very difficult
Hi John,
It probably is possible but will not be that rewarding or productive. In theory courses as well as academic content courses it is much easier.
Example-history. Instructors can teach about it even though they did not live in that era.
With skills classes it is much harder due to the fact if the instructor is ask a question about something around which they have no knowledge or experience they will be hard pressed to answer the student.
I would not want to teach a course in which I had no practical experience because I know I would be very unsure of myself. I'm not saying it can't be done, but I am saying it would be hard to do.
Gary
Yes they can i have done it
True but its not always the case. Can someone who does not have technical knoledge of the subject but is a good instructor be trained to teach that course?
