Mike Houghton

Safety instruction needs to be revised in this age of technology and shorter attention spans. The priciples have not changed but our delivery, evaluation and documentation need to be considered.

Produced safety videos with demonstration and access controlled assessments allow for asyncronous learning and self pacing.

Reteaching, when there is a breech of safety protocols, is a neccessity and can be done easily with the same technology. an additional benefit is that the evaluation tools can be integrated, which also documents the student's progress and participation 

Evaluation has often been a struggle. My personal weakness had been in giving clear goals and objectives. I have found that, by making these clear and providing an example of the evaluation tools I use, student performance and cooperation increased. A number of times, student success had a direct correlation to my effectiveness in conveying my expectations. 

While I agree that grouping students by learning styles can make them more comfortable, I have often intentionally regrouped them with a mixture of styles. This has given them an opportunity to experiment with other learning styles, often by seeing them modeled. It has also been very beneficial in cooperative learning exercises.

Bloom's really comes together in a lab setting. This is a rare oppportunity, in education, to incorporate all three domains into cohesive learning. 

I have found that "academic" or core classes finally make sense to many students when they have application that is relevant to them. Subsequently, I see them perform better across the board. Being able to manipulate an object in a way that illustrates a concept really drives hoe the point. Add a sense of accomplishment and other affective aspects and you have a recipe for success, even in many "non-academic" students.