Keep the Discussion on Track

I attended the 2010 HVACR & Plumbing Instructor Workshop at the National Conference Center in Landsdowne, VA this past week. This past couple of weeks has been both tiring and rewarding. I often pick up ideas and teaching tips just by watching other people work. I went to see Wes Davis of ACCA discuss system efficiency and picked up a simple and effective idea for handling questions that could possibly sidetrack the discussion. I am particularly bad about exploring questions and ideas that students pose during my lectures because my lectures are often more discussions than lectures. However, if the discussion gets too far away from the outline, you run the risk of missing important points and losing most of your audience while you are engaging in exploratory oratory. Don’t get me wrong, I believe you should encourage questions. However, it is important to also keep the discussion moving forward in an organized and logical manner. Wes had a large flip chart with the title Parking Lot at the top. Whenever a question came up that did not fit well into the flow of the lecture, he wrote it down in the parking lot. The idea is to acknowledge the question and come back to it, while avoiding a possibly distracting trip down a side alley of thought. I noticed that many of the parking lot questions were eventually answered later on in his presentation. He addressed the ones that were left at the end, and this discussion created more questions and discussion. Putting questions in the parking lot allowed the flow of the presentation to continue while still encouraging questions. Actually writing the questions down insured they would be addressed and showed that he was not just dismissing the questions. Then when the questions were addressed it seemed to get the group’s juices flowing and created lively discussion. There were many good power point presentations that will be put up on the CARE website. You have to be a member of CARE to see many of them, but one good power point presentation is worth the $25 cost of joining CARE. I would recommend that you join CARE and go to the resources they have on their site for their members. The CARE website is http://www.carehvacr.org/

One Down - One to Go !

I missed last week’s posting because I was preparing for and attending the National Instructors & Trainers Conference in Las Vegas this past week. I hope you had a chance to go. It was well attended with a total of approximately 470 instructors and trainers! There was no problem finding interesting sessions to attend. In fact, just the opposite – it was really not possible to go to everything you might be interested in. The power point presentations will be up on the HVAC Excellence web site, and many of them are excellent. Many of them can be used in your classes. However, no power point presentation can possibly convey the excitement that Dave Boyd sent through the room when he addressed the general session. You could not attend that session and not get excited about “greening up” the country’s HVAC systems. If you missed it, you have another chance coming up soon. The HVACR & Plumbing Instructor Workshop is coming up March 24 – 26 at the National Conference Center in Landsdowne Virginia. The list of sponsoring organizations reads like a who’s who of industry organizations. There will be many interesting programs and opportunities to network with other HVACR educators. For me these meetings are like a shot of adrenaline. I will be there. Hope to see you!

Two national instructor’s workshops are coming soon – one on the west coast and one on the east coast. The HVAC Excellence National Educators and Trainers Conference is March 14 – 16 at the Tropicana Resort and Convention Center in Las Vegas Nevada. The following week is the HVACR & Plumbing Instructor’s Workshop March 24 – 26 in Landsdowne Virginia. This workshop is sponsored by a group of eleven industry organizations, including AHRI who initially started this annual workshop over a decade ago. “Green” is the theme of both conferences, and both have an impressive list of speakers and topics. If you can find a way to attend one of these conferences you won’t be disappointed. They are well worth your time. If you can possibly make both you will not simply see the same presentations twice because the organizers have made a conscious effort not to duplicate presentations. Unlike generic teacher’s conferences that target all subjects, these are specific to our field. And unlike industry showcases like ComforTech or the AHR show, these are specifically for teachers. As a result, everything you see will have a direct application to teaching HVAC/R.

I know that times are tough and getting funding and permission to go is difficult. When presenting the idea to your school administrators be sure to forward a copy of the program from the conference(s) that you want to attend. Both the National Educators and Trainers Conference in Las Vegas and the HVACR & Plumbing Instructor’s Workshop have well done professional programs on the web. Be sure to note the large number of educational sessions. There are literally more sessions than you will have time to attend. Point out that “Green is the New Gold” and “Advancing Green Mechanical Concepts” are the overall themes. School administrators are starting to learn that there is money in green and they are eager to get on board. Point out that by attending you will be better positioned to integrate green mechanical concepts into your curriculum as a result of attending the conferences. However, if you use this argument, be prepared to have some ideas to offer when you return on how your school can go green and take part in the funding that is available for green education.

If all that does not work you can point out that I will be there (GRIN) I will be speaking on Monday and Tuesday at the Las Vegas Conference on how to use practical labs to teach abstract concepts. I plan to actually do some parlor trick type labs during the talk. At the Landsdowne Workshop I will be speaking on Wednesday about the challenges and opportunities presented by the large number of students who are retooling for a new career. I will be at the Pearson booth at both to talk with people about my book, Fundamentals of HVAC/R, and the interactive online component, MyHVACLAb. Come by and say hello. I will be looking for you.