Cockpit Resource Managment for teachers?

In reading the chapter titled "Staying on the same page: Choreographing Team Coordination", Vicente writes of the development of Cockpit Resource Management (CRM) within the airline industry. In a nutshell, CRM is a training program that was developed in response to the problems that arose from poor communication that was happening in the cockpit. Pilots were not being trained prior to that on how to communicate and delegate roles effectively in a crisis situation. He recounts the dramatic but tragic the story of a flight crew trying to figure out if a light bulb on the control panel in the cockpit was burnt out. Meanwhile the plane is not being flown by anyone and disturbingly enough the plane crashes killing 99 passengers. The concept of CRM has been applied to other fields including; the operating room and the control room of a nuclear power plant. Although these are very different fields than education, are there not components we could include in the training programs for teachers?

From my experience, training for teachers is a lot of theory and not a lot of practice. The most important part of my teacher training was when I actually ended up in the classroom. Situational type of learning provided me the opportunity to try and put theory into practice. For the most part I did not experience any crisis nor did I encounter too much difficulty as there was always my partner teacher to count on. Can teacher training be improved? Is it possible to incorporate some of the ideas that CRM introduces for teachers? My thought is yes.

What types of situations could a teacher encounter that may require some training? Here is a list of a variety of situations that a person who was designing a teacher training program might consider:

1. dealing with a defiant student,
2. being a sub and dealing with a defiant class,
3. being a sub and teaching outside of your area of expertise,
4. being a sub and not having a lesson plan,
5. planning a lesson in a particular setting/ booking the setting and then not have the setting available,
6. an accident in the lab,
7. an accident while on a field trip,
8. an incident on a field trip that is to happen over a number of days,
9. having a lesson planned and not having access to technology that you thought you would have access to ( Internet down, projector not working) etc. . .

There are so many situations as a teacher that you face that you do not have any training for. You muddle through, do your best and hope for the best. For the most part these are not life and death situations and thus teacher training does not pay attention to these situations.

There are other aspects of CRM that could be applied to teacher training. The idea of involving the video camera, and video taping a teachers lesson should be integral to the training program as well as part of an ongoing self evaluation of teacher practice. School leaders could have colleagues, or leadership video a lesson that a teacher presents and then debrief with the teacher immediately following the lesson. The teacher could take the opportunity to reflect on the video in the presence of the colleague or leadership. Initially there may be some reservations on the part of the teacher, but given the potential that this could become a part of  regular practice then it would gain greater acceptance particularly if there is a sense of  improvement in teaching practice as a whole.

CRM was a great idea for the airline industry and has applications much further abroad. I am not sure that CRM has been applied to the field of education but the potential is there. Improving teacher practice, providing greater training and as a result improving students outcomes. Teacher training needs to be constantly evaluated. Applying CRM to the field of education and teacher training could be a really good thing.

Vicente, Kim J. (2004). The Human Factor: Revolutionizing the Way We Live with Technology. Toronto: Vintage Canada

Cell Phones and their use in Schools

Always Connected, Always Distracted

Cell phones and their use in schools is something that the entire field of education needs to consider. Recently Dalton McGuinty, priemier of Ontario was quoted at in the Globe and Mail commenting on the use of cell phones in schools:

“Asked for his comments on the Toronto District School Board's plans to rethink a policy that restricts cellphones to lockers during the school day, Mr. McGuinty observed that there is a “right way and a wrong way” to use technology in schools. “Telephones and BlackBerrys … are conduits for information today, and one of the things we want our students to be is to be well-informed.” To paraphrase the Premier: Given the ubiquity of wireless technology, we might as well figure out how to use it effectively in schools.”

Donald Norman writes on the use of cell phones and the impact that it is having on people in general. He writes of the benefits in terms of the availability of contact with friends and family over great distance.
". . . today we can be in continual contact with friends and relatives no matter where we are, no matter the time of day." (p.149) He also writes of the isolation that these devices create. "Walk down the street of any large city in any country of the world and watch the people on their cell phones: they are in their own space, physically adjacent to one location and one set of people but emotionally somewhere else." (p. 152) The contact that is created through the use of the phones and instant messaging in general appears to have a very superficial aspect to it. Norman writes: "We can hold continual, short interactions with numerous people, thus keeping friendships alive. But the more we hold short, brief, fleeting interactions and allow ourselves to interrupt ongoing conversations and interactions, the less we allow any depth of interaction, any depth of relationship." (p. 156)

Keeping in mind Norman's thoughts and the movement to use them in schools what implications does this have for education? Personally I think that cell phones are going to be allowed in the classroom in the near future. How are teachers going to deal with the influx of these phones? Are students going to be able to handle the responsibility of using the phones appropriately in the classroom? Will other issues such as FOIP become more and more apparent? What rights with the teacher and the other students in the class have as well? Schools are going to need to plan for this on slot. School leaders need to begin to prepare for this and initiate discussions with their staff about how to deal with it. School leaders are going to need to have their staff aligned, providing a unified voice about the use of cell phones.

Cell phones are going to provide a great opportunity for teachers and school leaders to talk about character development. When is it appropriate to use a phone? There are obvious times when it is not. Conversations about there use need to happen with students to help educate them about appropriate use. For instance, a teacher may converse with the student, talking about a variety of different times when it is not appropriate to use a phone. Students could be asked: Is it appropriate for you to use your phone while you are driving? Why not? (It is distracting to the driver and not safe)  Is it okay to use it when you are at the movies? Why not? (It is distracting to others) Is it okay for you to pull your phone out at a family dinner? Why not? (You are not being present with your family) Is it okay for you to use it on a first date? Why not? (You are not making a good impression with the person you are on the date with)

Cell phones have their place in society. They keep people connected with each other not unlike anything that we have seen before. The difficulty is clearly establishing what it's place is and having students learn it. Cell phones can be distracting to the user as they multitask, distracting to others as they observe their use, they remove the user from the situation in which they are physically and finally they impact they way others perceive you. Given this students will learn to recognize the times when it is appropriate to use a phone and when it is not.

Norman, D. (2004). Emotional Design: Why we Love(or Hate) Everyday Things. New York, NY: Basic Books.