How Do Teachers Make Hands-On Classes Work Online? With Tech and Innovation

CTE Teachers Adapt to the Times

Romano says her instructors have found workarounds, many of them technology-driven, for teaching such courses in a virtual environment. For their certified nursing assistant program, for example, instructors are helping students learn new skills by observing and coaching via videoconference.

“Instead of practicing tourniquets on a mannequin in the lab, you’re doing it on your brother in your living room while talking with your teacher on FaceTime, Teams or Zoom,” she says.

For programs such as welding that require in-person supervision, the ­district developed new schedules that allow students to take turns with equipment in very small groups. And cosmetology students now receive kits with everything they need to work from home, Romano says.

“It’s the same way with the culinary students,” she says.

The students have the tools and supplies they need, and they record videos of themselves performing techniques their instructor previously taught them over a ­videoconferencing platform.

At the start of the pandemic, Pasco County’s CTE teachers met weekly for a crash course leveraging the district’s learning management system. As the current school year began, they were taught to use the district’s newest instructional tool: a Swivl robot.

“You put it on a tripod with a tablet computer, and it follows you around the room and records you automatically,” Romano explains. Teachers can livestream the video to students.

“If there’s a skills lab where teachers need to demonstrate something with their hands, they don’t have to worry whether students can see,” Romano says. “The robot handles that part for them so they can simply focus on teaching.”

How to Teach Hands-On Skills Remotely

Even before the pandemic, “plenty of institutions were already exploring how they might provide CTE remotely,” says Alisha Hyslop, director of public policy with the Association for Career and Technical Education. Educators, particularly those in rural areas, have used technologies such as videoconferencing, simulation software and virtual reality to expand the reach of CTE programs. Such tools don’t eliminate the need for in-person learning, Hyslop says, “but they can be a good way for instructors to engage with students when they can’t be in labs working on hands-on skills.”

READ MORE: Discover how immersive tech can expand CTE options for students with disabilities.

Arlie Huffman, director of career and technical education at the Boulder Valley School District in Colorado, agrees. In normal times, BVSD offers about 50 CTE classes in everything from early childhood education to forensics investigation and criminology. High school students typically receive practical training at the district’s dedicated technical education center.

Educators had to quickly adjust in the spring. “It all happened at the flip of a switch; nobody was 100 percent prepared,” Huffman says. Before long, his team found ways to improvise.

“Most of the teachers took everything they could and put it in our online learning management system. But the experiential piece was extremely challenging and really required them to be creative.”

An automotive collision repair instructor made videos from his home garage and posted them on YouTube for students to watch. Another teacher sent students in the construction program home with donated lumber and had them help their families with small repair projects. And the instructor for a criminal justice class, who normally would have had access to the program’s crime scene laboratory, made do with a little mayhem in her own backyard.

“She had a tent and fake dead bodies, and she staged an entire murder scene. Then she took video and photos and posted everything online,” Huffman says.

Working remotely, students used additional clues from the instructor to solve the fake crime and produce a report. “It’s not the same as hands-on, but it’s something,” he says.

Moving forward, BVSD teachers will continue “making do with what they have” to deliver CTE remotely, Huffman says. The district may also purchase trade-specific technologies that promise to make distance learning easier.

“The welding simulators are fantastic now,” he says. “And simulators of any kind will always be useful for kids who just want to see if something’s worth pursuing.”

Having to adjust to remote learning also pushed educators to recognize things don’t always have to be done the same way. “That will help everybody in the future,” Huffman says, “even when we’re back face to face.”