Teaching Philosophy

The Power Engineering program as always been unique in that we use the same set of text books whether you’re doing the course independently while employed, by correspondence or attending a full time program. The full time program is made up of 70% theory and 30% practical training. We cover a variety of topics including boiler design & operation, electrical, instrumentation, welding, pipe fitting, water treatment, air emissions. Power Engineers must understand the basics of all the equipment and processes involved in a power plant, so when a problem occurs we can either fix it ourselves or know what trade to call in. It’s kind of like driving your car, if it doesn’t start you may check the battery or fuel level before calling a mechanic. Power Engineers are trained to troubleshoot a piece of equipment and get it back up and running, we are also responsible for the safe operation and maintenance of power and heating plants.

One of my teaching philosophy’s has always been to use examples students are already familiar with, like the operation of their car or the heating system where they live. We have all adjusted the thermostat at home, which is a single control loop, one of the items we learn about in process control and instrumentation. Another example would be the cruise control in your vehicle or the hot water tank in your home. By giving students an example they can relate to it will help solidify the theoretical knowledge much better.

The program includes a lot of teaching aids, usually in the form of old or broken equipment, where students can see first hand what happens when the equipment fails and how important it is to determine the reason for the failure. Things don’t break for no reason and there is usually a cause that can be determined and a remedy to prevent it from happening again. These are items I collect over time and find them to be very valuable with respect to learning and retention of that information.

Another example of my philosophy is to keep groups small during tours and demonstrations. I find an increase in student participation and questions with this format. Depending on the activity the groups can vary from 2 – 4 students. This does increase my workload but I believe it is worth the extra effort to ensure every student feels connected with the task at hand. With smaller groups it is difficult for students to get lost in the back of the crowd and they feel more comfortable speaking and asking questions. Based on student feedback over the years I know this is a solid teaching method.

When it comes to student operation of the steam training plant, I always involve students independently in as much hands on experience as possible. This is what strengthens the theoretical knowledge they have learned in the classroom. One of the final exams in the program is to safely start and stop the training plant by themselves, this involves preparing the plant valving, adding boiler chemicals and setting up the steam driven turbine generator to deliver electricity. This training is done periodically throughout the year as they learn more operational theory, it’s applied by operating the power plant.

I enjoy making my own teaching aids that demonstrate different processes and equipment. I usually employ new or used “off the shelf” parts, to assemble these demos. I find this has a greater impact because the students can see how useful this knowledge is and what they can do with it. Professionally made teaching aids are well built and “shiny” but they don’t look like something anyone could build. I like to inspire the students by showing them what they can build from simple parts, it has a lasting impact when they can say “Hey I could build that”.

Power Engineering programs have been using Moodle for about the last decade. I haven’t utilized this digital technology to it’s full potential but I now understand how important it is to begin integrating more of it into the delivery of the my program. Incoming students are increasingly connected to the digital world and it is the responsibility of educators to keep up with this changing landscape.

In conclusion, my main objective is to connect with each student and encourage their learning process with memorable examples and demonstrate how this knowledge will help them in their everyday life. I want them to leave the program with a solid understanding of the basics to ensure a lasting foundation of learning once they enter the workforce and begin on the job training.