Learning Vocational Technical Courses During a Pandemic

Lesson Research Essay

Technical vocational schools aim to help address needs in a region's labor market by producing workers that have relevant technical skills in specific fields that demand skilled workers (OECD, 2001). During the COVID-19 pandemic, students enrolled in these schools had to face many challenges regarding their personal safety, as well as their education. Research shows that hands on project-learning from home with a combination of online-learning is the most safe and effective way in which students can learn a technical vocational skill during a pandemic (Widarto et al., 2020). However, for engineers learning a technical vocational skill that requires heavy machinery and equipment, as well as hands on learning, it is not possible for students to learn effectively through remote learning during a pandemic and the students who must attend in person classes face many obstacles due to precautions taken in order to reduce the spread of the virus.

Interview

Janisha Ingram is an instructor at a technical vocational school that teaches a variety of engineering skills, including welding, plumbing, and electrical engineering. The initial shutdowns of the COVID-19 pandemic occurred while she was instructing a welding course to approximately fifteen students. Janisha had to help these students navigate the challenges of the pandemic in order to reach their educational goals. Janisha gave three challenges that students had to overcome in order to successfully navigate the course during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Firstly, the size of the class had to be reduced due to the implementation of social distancing on the campus. There was not enough room in the classrooms for fifteen students to socially distance themselves from one another. In order to address this, the classroom was reduced in size. Another instructor was brought in to teach half of the students, while the other half stayed with Janisha. This was difficult for the students that were given a new instructor because they now had to learn the expectations of another instructor in the middle of their course.

Secondly, because the course involved heavy machinery, it could not be taught remotely. After the initial shutdown of two weeks, it was determined that the course she was teaching was considered essential for jobs in the United States, so students had to return to in person class if they wanted to continue the course. The fears and uncertainties of the pandemic took a toll on the students and negatively affected their abilities to concentrate. Many of the students were distracted and their abilities to learn were greatly affected.

Thirdly, the social distancing and masks made it extremely difficult to communicate while the students were conducting hands on learning. Due to the industrial environment of a welding school, students were already instructed to wear hearing protection, and the social distancing and masks made it difficult for them to hear their instructor as well as communicate with their classmates. This caused frustration and confusion among the students.

Conclusion

While the safest way to effectively learn technical vocational skills during a pandemic is remotely, through hands on home project-learning with a combination of online computer based learning (Widarto, 2020), technical vocational schools exists to provide essential skilled labor to the workforce (OECD, 2001), and for some career fields it is not possible for students to learn remotely. For example, most students can not learn how to weld at home without having access to the resources of the school because it is not realistic to expect students to have personal access to the expensive equipment that they must work with. Students enrolled in a program such as welding must attend in person classes. However, the effects of the pandemic still take a heavy toll on the students in these technical vocational courses, because of social distancing,, course delays and distractions, as well as interference in communication (personal communication). This research taught me that there might be a way to learn what is considered the most effective, but it is not always possible to use the ideal method suggested because of circumstances. During a pandemic, students enrolled in technical vocational courses must be prepared to do whatever is required of them to complete their course successfully, because remote learning is not always an option when learning a specific trade.

References

OECD. (2001). Education policy analysis 2001. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Widarto, W, Sutopo, S, Nurtanto, M, Cahyani, P A, andHonggonegoro, T. "Explanatory of Learning Models and VocationalTeacher Perceptions of Mechanical Engineering during the Covid-19Pandemic." Journal of Physics. Conference Series 1700.1 (2020):Journal of Physics. Conference Series, 2020-12-01, Vol.1700 (1).Web.

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