On May 31, 8:50*pm, "noel.wade" wrote:
Let me try to put a different spin on this topic:

For those of you doing the "platoon" system, two big questions:

1) How do you get around the fact that when a student flies with an
instructor they haven't seen in a couple of months the instructor
invariably asks the student to repeat what they already know, to "get
a feel" for the student? *This tends to burn several hours of the
student's time as they wait around for the launch line and the
instructor to come available. *This creates a great deal of
frustration in our club among students who often only get 2 flights a
day (one of which is purely review)...

2) Relying on students to be "self-motivated" or "design their own
lesson plans" only works if the students know what the hell they're
supposed to be doing next, or concentrating on. *As mentioned by
others in this thread, that works OK with transition students or add-
on rations; but ab-initio students are frequently drifting without a
compass. *How does your club deal with that? *In our club, we seem to
be good at telling new members to go to the launch line on their first
day and chat up an instructor. *But after that it seems all they learn
to do is buy a few books, carry them around, and take repeated flights
with instructors (who's pre-flight briefings take all of 5 minutes and
post-flight briefings consist of a chat while walking the glider back
to the line). *Do those of you with a platoon system find that you
have decent ground instruction? *Do your platoon instructors actually
sit down with students and give them guidance? *Do they make
themselves available at any other time besides on the launch-line?
What support-systems do you have in place? *My experience is that
"platoon" instructors aren't tied to any students, so its easy for
them to not take any responsibility for their students' success or
failure. *How do you avoid that?

[NOTE: For those who want to insist that its the student's job to take
responsibility and that truly motivated students will succeed - I
understand the sentiment but I also point to the high student dropout
rate and declining pilot population as evidence that this is a ****-
poor argument. *Yes, we can see that motivated people are getting
their license; but it doesn't mean that the system is functioning
well. *Most sports or skill-based activities have mentors and coaches
for a good reason - even if someone is motivated they can still use
guidance and encouragement. *This can be seen in grassroots/amateur
hobbies all the way up through the highest levels of professional
athletes.]

3) For those who moved to scheduled training: *Do you do anything
social in your club to support the social-scene other than having a
launch-line? *Do you think events like BBQs or Seminars or Mentoring
sessions would help?

4) For those who talk about scheduled training causing them to come
out less-often: *What about supplementing your in-air experiences with
flight simulators or ground-instruction (in-person, on the phone,
online, etc)?

--Noel

The crucial element to make the platoon system work is a published
syllabus.
Our students get a booklet that lays out all the instruction through
bronze badge
with a prominent space on the front for them to write their names. The
students
always show up with this because this is where the lesson plans are
detailed,
along with the reading assignments and instructor signoffs. Each
lesson plan
includes items to be covered as ground instruction, in the simulator,
and in the air.
An estimate of how many sessions should be required is also listed.

My students always show up with one, unless they're on their first
visit to
the airport, in which case we make sure they get one.

Lately we've gone to a more formally scheduled list. For several
years we'd
just left it up to the instructor, and my preference was to have a
"morning ground"
and an "afternoon group", who all stuck around and helped each other.
(I don't
require my students to hang around all day but I like to see a half
day
helping each other out from everybody.) I haven't seen the new
schedule
in action much yet, but it seems to be OK with the students more or
less
operating in a first half/second half grouping.

In the past we set up an online scheduling system. We had one student
in particular abuse this very badly: he would schedule himself every
Saturday
at 2 for a month in advance. He'd show up at 1:59 and expect to be
launched
promptly, and then disappear once he'd flown. We were glad to be shot
of him.
At least our current system is under control of the instructor, so I
have control
of when I want my students to fly. If they need to do some soaring I
can move
them to mid afternoon, or schedule them early or late in the day if
they're
getting close to solo and would benefit from calmer conditions.

-- Matt