Empowering Students
Empowering Students
Electrical Instructor Embraces Teachable Moments
By M. Churchwell
Mr. Gilland helps us retrace and asks us questions until we figure it out for ourselves.
- ZACARY HALL,
STUDENT
In Bryan Gilland’s Electrical Level I program, students were challenged to execute a comprehensive commercial wiring project. Mr. Gilland’s goal is to simulate a real-world scenario encountered by electricians. Students were placed into teams and assigned a “room”—in this case, a training bay. Each room required an electrical system design and installation. Next, teams collaborated as a whole group to design and install the electrical panel for the entire “building.”
After three weeks of hard work, the big moment came for Mr. Gilland to power the whole project. Excited students gathered around their training bays, anxiously anticipating lit bulbs and green lights on their testers. In a flurry of activity, each team flipped their light switches and tested their outlets.
Light bulbs did come on, but not where anticipated. Testers did display some green lights, but also some red. In some bays, nothing happened at all.
After the time and effort poured into the project, one would expect at least some signs of frustration. Instead, teacher assistant Eli Betancourt’s voice rang across the shop, “Kill the power! Let’s figure it out and fix it.” Without missing a beat, students immediately launched into troubleshooting mode, communicating with their team members and across teams, and the shop was once again a hub of activity.
In Mr. Gilland’s class, mistakes are teachable moments. In fact, Mr. Gilland’s eyes actually light up when something goes wrong. He and Mr. Betancourt know the best learning happens when things don’t go according to plan. Students have to analyze the problem, regroup, and determine a solution, all of which are everyday occurrences at a work site.
Let’s figure it out and fix it.
- ELI BETANCOURT,
ELECTRICAL TEACHER ASSISTANT
The instructors’ positive attitude and flexibility are contagious. Rather than giving up, students welcome the challenges, knowing they will be better equipped to handle situations on the job. Student Zacary Hall says, “When things don’t come together, we have to figure out how to fix it. Mr. Gilland shows us the problem, but he doesn’t give us the solution. He helps us retrace and asks us questions until we figure it out for ourselves.” A running joke among students is that if they ask Mr. Gilland one question, he’ll ask them ten in return.
The issues on this particular day were not the first students had encountered, and each problem became an impromptu lesson. Mr. Gilland says while they weren’t part of the plan, these lessons are every bit as valuable as those in his lesson plan book.
During the early stages of installation, Mr. Gilland noticed students needed a mini-lesson in device box makeup to ensure tidy work. When a transformer blew, the class got a lesson in analyzing how much it would cost them in time and profits if they were on an actual job site.
Mr. Gilland—who has 25 years of industry experience as an Electrical Contractor and business owner—says he strives to apply what he does in the field to activities in class so students are well-prepared to enter the workforce. He wants them to understand all technical aspects of the field, but he also equips students with dynamic skills honed only through real-world work: problem-solving, critical thinking, professionalism, and collaboration, among others. His approach is working. Mr. Gilland says he would hire many of his students right now to work for him.
Mr. Gilland is confident his students will find and fix the issues they encountered and the next time he powers up the project, all bulbs and outlets will work as designed. If they don’t, however, we are just as confident that he and Mr. Betancourt will continue to help their students develop skills and strategies to succeed with this project and in their careers.
For more information about our Electrical Level I program or any of our other programs, visit Great Plains Technology Center.
