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| Chapter 6. Planning Instructional Activity
How To Use a Training Syllabus Any practical training syllabus must be flexible and should be used primarily as a guide. [Figure 6-3] When necessary, the order of training can and should be altered to suit the progress of the student and the demands of special circumstances. For example, previous experience or different rates of learning often require some alteration or repetition to fit individual students. The syllabus should also be flexible enough so it can be adapted to weather variations, aircraft availability, and scheduling changes without disrupting the teaching process or completely suspending training.
In departing from the order prescribed by the syllabus, however, it is the responsibility of the instructor to consider how the relationships of the blocks of learning are affected. For example, if the student is having a difficult time with normal approaches and landings, the instructor might decide to delay adding short field landings, which were originally to be the next step in his block of instruction. To prevent the student from becoming frustrated with his or her poor landing technique, the instructor may choose to review the block on slow flight, which offers the student a chance to do well and regain confidence. This exercise also builds the skills necessary for the student to master approaches and normal landings. Each approved training course provided by a certificated aviation school should be conducted in accordance with a training syllabus specifically approved by the FAA. At certificated schools, the syllabus is a key part of the training course outline. The instructional facilities, airport, aircraft, and instructor personnel must be able to support the course of training specified in the syllabus. Compliance with the appropriate, approved syllabus is a condition for graduation from such courses. Therefore, effective use of a syllabus requires that it be referred to throughout the entire course of training. Both the instructor and the student should have a copy of the approved syllabus. However, as previously mentioned, adherence to a syllabus should not be so stringent that it becomes inflexible or unchangeable. It must be flexible enough to adapt to the special needs of individual students. Ground training lessons and classroom lectures concentrate on the cognitive domain of learning. A typical lesson might include defining, labeling, or listing what the student has learned so far. Many of the knowledge areas are directly or indirectly concerned with safety, ADM, and judgment. Since these subjects are associated with the affective domain of learning (emotion), instructors who find a way to stress safety, ADM, and judgment, along with the traditional aviation subjects, can favorably influence a student’s attitude, beliefs, and values. Flight training lessons or aviation technical lab sessions also include knowledge areas, but they generally emphasize the psychomotor domain of learning because the student is “doing” something. The lesson plan shown in Figure 6-4 shows the main elements of a ground lesson for a flight student. The affective domain of learning is also important in this type of training; a student’s attitude toward safety, ADM, and judgment, should be a major concern of the instructor.
The flight training syllabus should include special emphasis items that have been determined to be cause factors in aircraft accidents or incidents. For example, the instructor should emphasize collision and wake turbulence avoidance procedures throughout a student’s flight training. The aviation technician syllabus should also emphasize what constitutes unsafe practices, such the ease of introducing foreign object damage (FOD) to an aircraft when the location of tools is not monitored. A syllabus may include several other items that add to or clarify the objective, content, or standards. A lesson may specify the recommended class time, reference or study materials, recommended sequence of training, and study assignment for the next lesson. Both ground and flight lessons may have explanatory information notes added to specific lessons. [Figure 6-5]
While a syllabus is designed to provide a road map showing how to accomplish the overall objective of a course of training, it may be useful for other purposes. As already mentioned, it can be used as a checklist to ensure that required training has successfully been completed. Thus, a syllabus can be an effective tool for recordkeeping. Enhanced syllabi, which also are designed for recordkeeping, can be very beneficial to the independent instructor. This recordkeeping function is usually facilitated by boxes or blank spaces adjacent to the knowledge areas, procedures, or maneuvers in a lesson. Most syllabi introduce each procedure or maneuver in one lesson and review them in subsequent lessons. Some syllabi also include provisions for grading student performance and recording both ground and flight training time. Accurate recordkeeping is necessary to keep both the student and the instructor informed on the status of training. These records also serve as a basis for endorsements and recommendations for knowledge and practical tests. Some training syllabi or records may include coded numbers or letters for other instructors to record their evaluation of a student’s progress and knowledge or skill level. [Figure 6-6]
Another benefit of using a syllabus is that it helps in the development of lesson plans. A well constructed syllabus already contains much of the essential information that is required in a lesson plan, including objectives, content, and completion standards. |
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