Teaching 2nd year apprentice class

Status
Not open for further replies.
Minuteman

Minuteman

Senior Member
Location
The Sooner Nation
I was just offered a teaching position with the IEC. It is for 2nd year apprentices and the main course of study is Motor Controls and Transformers. Our IEC school has their own curriculum and material, but i will be allowed to bring in any other material that I feel would be an added benefit. I am aware of James Stallcup's material (and of course MH), but I am interested in input from you guys and gals. What literature would you suggest?
 
Minuteman said:
I was just offered a teaching position with the IEC. It is for 2nd year apprentices and the main course of study is Motor Controls and Transformers. Our IEC school has their own curriculum and material, but i will be allowed to bring in any other material that I feel would be an added benefit. I am aware of James Stallcup's material (and of course MH), but I am interested in input from you guys and gals. What literature would you suggest?
Click to expand...

I have found that most of us who have attended an apprenticeship from one place or another, tend to positively respond to visual stimulus, and practical application. It has been my experience that MH's material is unmatched in accomplishing the two. Stallcup's is an excellent reference but in my opinion may be somewhat overwhelming to the second year novice. It would be an effective supplement to use MH's Grounding Vs Bonding and Delta/Wye for transformers. As far as Motor Control is concerned, Delmars Industrial Motor Control is pretty good. What is your opinion of the IEC provided material?
 
ibew441dc said:
I have found that most of us who have attended an apprenticeship from one place or another, tend to positively respond to visual stimulus, and practical application. It has been my experience that MH's material is unmatched in accomplishing the two. Stallcup's is an excellent reference but in my opinion may be somewhat overwhelming to the second year novice. It would be an effective supplement to use MH's Grounding Vs Bonding and Delta/Wye for transformers. As far as Motor Control is concerned, Delmars Industrial Motor Control is pretty good. What is your opinion of the IEC provided material?
Click to expand...

Just got the news, and so far I have only skimmed through the stuff they have provided me. What I have seen, looks good. Plenty of Power Points and such. Also, the lab seems rather complete. I would say it comes close to what I saw last time I toured the NAJC classroom. They said that there was some MH material available to me as well. I will look into Delmars, thanks.
 
Minuteman said:
Just got the news, and so far I have only skimmed through the stuff they have provided me. What I have seen, looks good. Plenty of Power Points and such. Also, the lab seems rather complete. I would say it comes close to what I saw last time I toured the NAJC classroom. They said that there was some MH material available to me as well. I will look into Delmars, thanks.
Click to expand...

What is the NAJC?

Is this your first time formally instructing? Or first time with 2nd year guys? Obviously if somebody asked you to take on the challenge you can hold your own.....If this is your first time I would suggest that you scan the given material for areas that you feel are most necessary and applicable. Don't cut any corners on the foundational material.....that's how everyone gets screwed up, we want to learn how to fly before walking.
 
NAJC = NJATC (brain fart, stupid cold, wouldn't be up this late if this NyQuil would just kick in).

Yes, this is my time first teaching - electrical. I have other teaching experience though. It's for a fall semester, and I want to get as much prep as possible.
 
Minuteman said:
NAJC = NJATC (brain fart, stupid cold, wouldn't be up this late if this NyQuil would just kick in).

Yes, this is my time first teaching - electrical. I have other teaching experience though. It's for a fall semester, and I want to get as much prep as possible.
Click to expand...

At least its a cold and not the SWINE FLU;)! AHHHH Were all gonna die!!(just kidding, the media sure does add a good hype to everything though).

As you well know having prior teaching experience is a big plus. When I first jumped into the instructor area....it was feet first, or head first,....my point is that it has gotten a lot more comfortable with time (as with most things). I have gained success in the instructor realm by maintaining the position of a student, by this I mean to stay teachable. I have met many potentially excellent electrical professional who create a cieling based on there own understanding. Good luck with the 2nd year guys/gals it is a special skill getting to many of them because that is entering the know it all stage.
 
You will feel overwhelmed to start and you will need to study like you have never studied before to be ready for any question that will pop up. During the first year, you will learn much more than any of the apprentices and will start to feel comfortable when you are almost through the second year of teaching. In the third year, you will be dumping some techniques and adding some that others have said will work and you will love it.

The eight years I taught were extremely rewarding and I still miss teaching. The problem is having time to teach and do other things. This is a real commitment of time because the students expect you to be there and be 'on' all of the time. You can't let them down and live with yourself. Congratulations on being selected for a life changing part time job. Your life will change and you will have the opportunity to change your students lives. :)
 
charlie said:
You will feel overwhelmed to start and you will need to study like you have never studied before to be ready for any question that will pop up. During the first year, you will learn much more than any of the apprentices and will start to feel comfortable when you are almost through the second year of teaching. In the third year, you will be dumping some techniques and adding some that others have said will work and you will love it.

The eight years I taught were extremely rewarding and I still miss teaching. The problem is having time to teach and do other things. This is a real commitment of time because the students expect you to be there and be 'on' all of the time. You can't let them down and live with yourself. Congratulations on being selected for a life changing part time job. Your life will change and you will have the opportunity to change your students lives. :)
Click to expand...

Well said Charlie!

I agree 100%

Chris
 
When I taught motor control, I found nothing beat the hands on. We designed boards with 24 VAC control and a multiple of relays motor starters push buttons and switches.
 
charlie said:
You will feel overwhelmed to start and you will need to study like you have never studied before to be ready for any question that will pop up. During the first year, you will learn much more than any of the apprentices and will start to feel comfortable when you are almost through the second year of teaching. In the third year, you will be dumping some techniques and adding some that others have said will work and you will love it.

The eight years I taught were extremely rewarding and I still miss teaching. The problem is having time to teach and do other things. This is a real commitment of time because the students expect you to be there and be 'on' all of the time. You can't let them down and live with yourself. Congratulations on being selected for a life changing part time job. Your life will change and you will have the opportunity to change your students lives. :)
Click to expand...

Thanks Charlie.
 
what i use

what i use

I have been teaching industrial electricity for two years now and recently went through the same search.One piece of advice I would give you is that you can normally request a desk copy from most book publishers for your review.This is normally free.This allows you to compare and choose your curriculum.Personally I use ATP's (American Technical Publishers-www.go2atp.com) electrical motor controls book which has great illustrations ,easily understandable text and it comes with a cd with tons of extra info like a glossary and video examples.Now as far as motor control/transformer calculations I use Mike Holts understanding for code reference.
 
I received my literature already. They gave me the complete first and second semester set for 2nd year from IEC, the new Delmar's "Standard Textbook of Electricity", and a real cool "Electrical Systems" based upon the 2008 NEC by Michael I. Callanan and Bill Wusinich. The Electrical Systems book seems to closely follow the NEC, chapter by chapter.

Since my IEC chapter already has some freebies fro MH, I wonder if I still qualify for some literature?
 
Awesome! I had 24 students tonight. Some may switch to the other 2nd year class, as the other teacher only had 16. I think I'm gonna like this.

Started on safety. First I went around the room and asked them to introduce themselves. Tell us who they are, about the family, and interests. Then I showed a Arc Flash Video. I told them that they all have someone and something to go home to, and that working hot and without PPE is not worth their life.
 
brian john said:
When I taught motor control, I found nothing beat the hands on. We designed boards with 24 VAC control and a multiple of relays motor starters push buttons and switches.
Click to expand...

I ditto brian. Also I have not taught this cours but when I took a course in college years ago we used this book and I loved it. If I ever teach this course I will use something like this along with a hands on trainer. The book also has a woorkbook that allows students to do motor calcs on every aspect of motors. It has great explinations of all the types of motors, their advantages and disadvantages.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I have a copy of Transformers and Motors by George Patrick Shultz that has been helpful. Had a fantastic instructor for motor controls; he gave prints and sent us to the labs. As close to real-life application as one can get seems to be the most beneficial as well as enjoyable. Used/use the heck outa that book.
 
I taight those classes last year.

I recalled how the second year contained the most difficult, driest, terrifying sections, the ones heavy on theory. So. I set out to address the issue directly.

It's hard to teach about something you can't reall see. The first challenge is to prove it exists. I did so with three demonstrations:\
- an automotive timing light (to prove induction exists)
- a thermin (musical instrument) to again prove the existence of indusctive capacitance in a
musical way;
- a type of 'lava lamp' that has a static discharge within - you can see the effects of changes in inductive capacitance.

Then there is the matter of impedance. For that, I got an ordinary bench grinder, a DMM with an amp clamp, and a "Kill-A-Watt" plug-in meter. I separated the wires in the power cord of the grinder for a short section, so I could fit the amp clamp around them.

You can do all manner of things with that grinder. You can see the amp surge on start-up. You can measure resistance, then compare to actuat impedance (read from the Kill-A-Watt). You can measure the voltage generated after toy unplug it, and the wheels are still spinning. Since the grinder has a work light (incandescent) attached, you can demonstrate the lack of impedance in the light bulb.

The challenge is to get the students to grasp that both time and motion (of the field) have a bearing on how electricity works. If I teach this again, I hope to set up an O-scope so they can see the actual phase angle shift.

There are other things that can also be useful. For example, I had a very old fluorescent light that had but a small transformer and a starter for a 'ballast.' This let them see what's hiding in those gooey black ballasts they've been changing.
 
renosteinke said:
I separated the wires in the power cord of the grinder for a short section, so I could fit the amp clamp around them.
Click to expand...
That's why they make these guys:

ELS2A_App.jpg
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top