Question on Electrical Codes Course

[gsurface]

Hello again all,

At the school I teach in, we offer a course dedicated to electrical codes. I am thinking that other schools also offer and entire course just for codes. Our terms are 5 weeks so this class goes on for 5 weeks. At the moment, I am trying to diverge from the whole lecture atitude in teaching this class and rather relying on visual aids such as powerpoint slides of code violations and applications. My question is this. We have an instructor which actually does wiring in this course. I have suggested against that since it is a 5 week course and we are rather tight on time to teach as much code as possible to these kids. But this instructor has said that he only covers before article 250 and just a bit on grounding. To quote him exactly, he says he only explains the difference between bonding and grounding. I guess that is his way of capturing the ensense of article 250. At the moment, I am up to article 250 and am only 2 weeks into the course. Meaning that I have 3 more weeks of code explanation to these kids. So, am I wrong in assuming that the more code they learn the better, or is this instructor correct in teaching them only before article 250 and have them do wiring learning from their example. How would you approach teaching this class?

 

[caosesvida]

Re: Question on Electrical Codes Course

how many classroom hours a week do you have to work with? and how old are the students? and there level of experience?

 

[bphgravity]

Re: Question on Electrical Codes Course

It all depends on the goal of the course. Your method appears to provide a greater range of information but perhaps not as detailed. The other instructor is providing a smaller range of information but probably in greater detail.

My experience with apprentice level students is that retention level is low for most. Meaning, sometimes they have to see and do it several times before it really sinks in. On the other hand, it sometimes gets boring and redundant going over the same topic over and over.

I am of the philosophy that what we all do is a practice. I would prefer to get as much information as possible and then use time a diligence to become proficient at it. I would rather learn a greater range of information at less detail than only a few in greater detail. But the mix has to be just right.

If you are going to have a high-content course, you must make sure that the point and idea is very clear so those students have a good platform to build their understanding of that issue or topic. If you shorten your program to only a few topics, make sure to also explain that many more issues exists that requires comprehensive training and education.

 

[pierre]

Re: Question on Electrical Codes Course

Depending on some parameters such as the students age, level of knowledge, and the goals set forth for the course, I agree that lecturing is the most inefficient method of teaching. Especially for most people in our industry. PPT, short videos and as many illustrations you can use will be extremely helpful.

"Book" knowledge is rarely learned in the field. So teaching this in the classroom setting is very important, let them learn the wiring skills in the field and learn the book end in class.