When did you first become an automotive or diesel instructor?

If you’re like many other instructors in the field, you probably spent time as a technician before turning to education and, like any good instructor, did your best to improve your teaching skills. Between a variety of instructor guides to professional development workshops, it can seem like there’s a lot to figure out. But instead of trying to learn all kinds of new processes and terms when it comes to teaching, it can often be just as effective to work with what you already know. 

When it comes to supporting automotive programs, students, and instructors, it’s easy enough to think of large foundations, such as the ASE Family of Organizations. But there are many more organizations with the goal of providing support, scholarships, training, and other resources in the hopes of engaging youth and providing the necessary tools to help the automotive industry address skills gaps and technician shortages. 

What are some of the most important skills an automotive tech needs to learn?

The first things that come to mind might be safety procedures or understanding the basics, but what about the ability to properly use the tools of the trade? 

From videos to virtual reality, technology has brought about quite a few changes to the traditional classroom. One of those changes, the flipped classroom, is becoming more popular than ever. 

From high-performance PC experiences to free mobile apps, video games have become a large market with a wide influence. It’s no wonder, then, that the gaming industry is now looking at new technologies like virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) to increase its market. 

No matter how many bright students, wonderful instructors, and useful resources an automotive classroom has, there’s one thing that can make the learning process more—or less—difficult: curriculum.

Curriculum, which is comprised of the learning objectives, lessons, materials, assignments, and assessments used to teach a course, is the last thing you want to work against your students’ success. In fact, studies show that better curriculum—and textbooks—can improve student achievement.

But how do you know if your current curriculum is the problem?

Service advisors have a unique role as both the face of an automotive shop and the link between customers and technicians. Therefore, it makes sense that classroom training for service advisors should have a good balance between customer focused skills and automotive knowledge.

Instructors play an important role in providing this kind of targeted training. But aside from starting with a good foundation of knowledge, how can you instill the kinds of skills that help service advisors thrive in the classroom and on the job? 

CDX Learning Systems, a division of Jones & Bartlett Learning, is excited to announce a partnership with Tiqani Management Consultancy FZE, a premier automotive talent development firm. Together, CDX and Tiqani will lead the way in offering innovative educational materials and automotive training on a global scale. 

According to a 2013 report by the Seattle Jobs Initiative (SJI), over 75% of employers believed soft skills were just as important as, if not more important than, technical knowledge.