Instructional Strategies for Welding Educators

• Anyone serving as an educator, advisor, or administrator at a welding program or learning institution with a focus on technical education and/or skilled trades
• Anyone aspiring to teach or serve in an administrative capacity at a learning institution/program focused on welding or other technical skills or trades

There are no academic or professional prerequisites for taking this course. However, a basic knowledge of standard welding terms and fundamental principles is highly recommended.

Students unfamiliar with welding processes and terminology are encouraged to complete the AWS Welding Fundamentals online course before starting this one.

This course teaches students how to:

• Differentiate between several key learning theories
• Integrate learning theories in the classroom
• Apply classroom management practices to maximize learner engagement
• Implement evaluation and assessment techniques to improve understanding and retention
• Address program needs through community outreach and the leveraging of existing partnerships and resources

Upon completion of the Instructional Strategies for Welding Educators course, students will be able to:

• Advocate for welding and technical education
• Explain the history of education as it relates to welding
• Create a curriculum using best practices for instructional design
• Identify the needs of a given educational program
• Analyze key learning theories
• Implement different learning theories in the classroom
• Identify factors that optimize teaching for different learning styles
• Select teaching methods that best fit a given curriculum or group of learners
• Differentiate teaching approaches for education vs. training
• Modify lab activities based on resources and student level
• Utilize Bloom’s Taxonomy to write high-level cognitive and psychomotor learning objectives
• Distinguish between assessment and evaluation techniques
• Develop test questions using the five assessment principles
• Understand standard normal distribution and its use in grading
• Explain the value of certification and qualification

• Module 1 - Course Introduction
• Module 2 - Careers in Welding
• Module 3 - Education: History, Theory, and Practice
• Module 4 - Education: History, Theory, and Practice II
• Module 5 - Education: History, Theory, and Practice III
• Module 6 - Curriculum Development
• Module 7 - Curriculum Development II
• Module 8 - Program Needs and Assessment
• Module 9 - Sources of National Welding Curriculum
• Module 10 - Program & Course Objectives
• Module 11 - Introduction to Learning Theory
• Module 12 - Memory
• Module 13 - Knowledge
• Module 14 - Strategies for the Welding Classroom
• Module 15 - Behaviorism
• Module 16 - Cognitive Science and Bloom’s Taxonomies
• Module 17 - Bloom: Practical Uses
• Module 18 - Bloom: Revisions and Related Frameworks
• Module 19 - Constructivism
• Module 20 - Cognitive Apprenticeship
• Module 21 - Connectivism
• Module 22 - Transformational Learning
• Module 23 - Learning Styles
• Module 24 - Experiential Learning
• Module 25 - Multiple Intelligences
• Module 26 - VARK
• Module 27 - Introduction to Teaching Methods
• Module 28 - Lectures
• Module 29 - Discussions
• Module 30 - Demonstrations
• Module 31 - Peer Teaching
• Module 32 - Case Studies
• Module 33 - Team Formation
• Module 34 - Online Courses
• Module 35 - Improving Teaching
• Module 36 - Laboratory Teaching
• Module 37 - Classroom Management + Lesson Planning
• Module 38 - Evaluation and Assessment
• Module 39 - Fundamentals of Statistics
• Module 40 - Qualification and Certification of Welding Programs and Students