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SIGLENT TECHNOLOGIES
Siglent_Tech
“Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths pure theatre.” ~Gail Godwin
I couldn’t agree with this more. This is still kind of a partly-baked idea, but I’ve started to think of my classes as “performance art.” I know that may sound kind of sappy, but I want the people in the class to come away not only with a Tech license, but also an appreciation for how much I enjoy ham radio and how much fun that they can have with it.
That’s one reason that I don’t use PowerPoint presentations. When was the last time you saw a PowerPoint presentation at the theater? PowerPoints tend to put people to sleep, and I certainly don’t want students falling asleep on me.
For me, the big thing is telling stories. Telling stories from your ham radio experience really helps get points across. Telling stories is performance art.
One of my favorites is my story about the time I first put up a 40m dipole at my current QTH. The story is better heard then read, so watch the video below from one of my previous classes. Feel free to use this story in your classes if you don’t have a similar story of your own.
Finally, when you’re teaching a class, it’s important that it’s fun for you and that you make it fun for the students. If they are having fun, then they’re more likely to pay attention, and in the end, more likely to pass the test.
Derick Bonewitz AB9PR says
Gail Godwin may believe that teaching is “three-fourths pure theatre” but the test would be to ask her students. I say maybe, maybe not.
Modern teaching theory emphasizes the value of “active learning,” where students are called upon to undertake tasks, sometimes individually, other times in groups, that cause them to recall, question and apply the material they are attempting to master. Such “student-centered” learning is quite the opposite of traditional teacher-centered learning presented by a “sage on the stage.” The danger of the latter approach is that the teacher may think she has given a fantastic performance — it’s exhilarating to hold an audience’s rapt attention for an hour — but that’s no guarantee that student will come away from the class with new skills and knowledge that persist after the next day’s exam.
This should be of particular concern to us (I’m a teacher too) in light of the ARRL’s recent assertion that nearly half of all newly-licensed hams ever get on the air.
Dan, I applaud your efforts to alleviate this problem through your books that suggest projects for new hams to pursue; that’s clearly a student-centered approach. But I believe that in our current system, we aren’t always expecting enough of aspiring hams before we hand them a license.
Dan KB6NU says
What more would you require of applicants before handing them a Tech license? I sort of agree with you, but without a license, new hams can’t really do much of anything, and, therefore, their learning opportunities are limited.
There are many reasons that new hams don’t get on the air and stay on the air. I think one thing that might help is a more formal training program for new hams that want to take the time to do that or a more formal method for assigning Elmers to new hams. Right now, it’s all catch as catch can, and new hams really aren’t getting the Elmering that they need. I’ve written about this many times before.
The ARRL is hinting that these kinds of programs might be forthcoming, but they don’t really have enough staff to pull this off properly. I have Elmered a lot of new hams, and doing it well takes a lot of time and effort. I’m not really sure that there are enough Elmers out there who are willing to put in that time and effort.
Derick Bonewitz AB9PR says
As I mentioned in my initial reply, I expect students in my classes to undertake various tasks applying the material under study.
In my classes, students calculate wavelength of a given frequency (and vice versa), build and trim a UHF antenna, determine the value of an unknown resistor by measuring voltage and current and applying Ohm’s law, simulate making contacts through a repeater, use HTs on the air to simulate operation of a public service net, perform a sample RF exposure evaluation, and so on.
These classroom activities not only let students learn by doing; they also place students within a learning community of fellow students and instructors which has the potential to continue well past the license exam.
There is a downside: these classes take time, and in the past year we have not had enough students enroll to be able to hold the class. Intensive, even one-day classes such as yours, Dan, might be the solution but I would be reluctant to offer a class (in any subject) where students couldn’t move around, collaborate, make some mistakes and get their hands dirty. There is strong evidence that learning is helped when the focus is moved away from the teacher and to the student.
Dan KB6NU says
I applaud you for being willing to teach this kind of class, but as you say, “There is a downside: these classes take time, and in the past year we have not had enough students enroll to be able to hold the class.” In an ideal world, there would be lots of time for people to take ham radio classes, but more and more, people either don’t have that kind of time or don’t want to make that kind of time.
Perhaps your students will know more after the class than mine, but it doesn’t make sense to me to make them wait to get licenses. Why not get the licensing out of the way first and then have the students make real contacts and participate in real nets, not just simulated ones? Building and trimming a J-pole antenna takes on new meaning when you can get on the air with it immediately after soldering the coax to the ladder line and installing the coax connector on the other end.
I don’t just cut the students loose once they’ve passed the Tech test. I tell everyone who attends my classes to consider me their Elmer and to continue learning about amateur radio. Some of them take me up on that and have become great amateur radio operators.
Dave New, N8SBE says
I had a non-ham friend from our local camera club camp with me at the Great Lakes Hamcon this past weekend. He had shown some interest in ham radio, and since he was willing to spend a weekend at the hamfest I took that as a sign to do some Elmering.
A patient walk through the flea market and exhibit area, explaining things and answering questions as we went along, I think went a long way to encouraging him to look into it more.
It also helped that a local ham, Dan, W2PUT, put his ‘porto-peater’ on the air as a 70cm/900 MHz linked system. This provided a nice gathering place for local hams to congregate, and my friend heard many interesting conversations while we were walking around. This let him know the typical patter and flow, including the signing of callsigns, that is involved with the kinds of on-air operations that a new Technician might encounter when he first ventures on the VHF/UHF bands.
He was interested in the main prize drawing, hoping to win a radio. I think he expected that if he won a radio, then he wouldn’t have an excuse to not get a license. No prize, of course, but I’m not done with him, yet. 8-)