Whiteboard briefings
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Whiteboard briefings
I am preparing a preflight briefing. This may seem like an odd question but what colours do the FI community use as protocol? I get that Lookout Mayday etc are always in red but how about aims and objectives? Green / blue? This may seem like a very pedantic (!) question but there appears to be some hard wired views on this. Many thanks / cheers.
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I like black for the title, red (as you say) for the TEM/Airmanship points then blue for the aims and objectives.
I take it you're preparing this for a test of some sort. Personally I use the excellent CD Powerpoint slides produced by a well-known supplier. This fits with our syllabus as declared to the UK CAA in our DTO submission and reviewed by the inspector during the audit earlier this year.
My whiteboard writing isn't very good, so I'm glad to be able to use something presentable. Also, it gets the briefing done more briefly.
TOO
I take it you're preparing this for a test of some sort. Personally I use the excellent CD Powerpoint slides produced by a well-known supplier. This fits with our syllabus as declared to the UK CAA in our DTO submission and reviewed by the inspector during the audit earlier this year.
My whiteboard writing isn't very good, so I'm glad to be able to use something presentable. Also, it gets the briefing done more briefly.
TOO
Avoid imitations
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This brings back memories of my CFS course where we were closely assessed on our board briefs. The assessor watched the lesson while the other instructor candidates acted as stooges for the erstwhile QFI under test.
On one particular assessment occasion I tried to surreptitiously signal to my nervous colleague because he was inadvertently using thick permanent markers instead of the special erasable ones for the whiteboard. It soon became obvious that he had written far too big and was running out of space so he was going to have to rub some of it out, which was going to cost him some marks as it was. He just scowled at me.....then he tried to rub out part of his brief.....and smeared it irretrievably across the board, ruining the whole shebang!
I think he had to do that assessment again....
On one particular assessment occasion I tried to surreptitiously signal to my nervous colleague because he was inadvertently using thick permanent markers instead of the special erasable ones for the whiteboard. It soon became obvious that he had written far too big and was running out of space so he was going to have to rub some of it out, which was going to cost him some marks as it was. He just scowled at me.....then he tried to rub out part of his brief.....and smeared it irretrievably across the board, ruining the whole shebang!
I think he had to do that assessment again....
It really doesn't matter if you brief off the back of a fag packet, its the content and understanding it that matter. With the advent of computerised presentations with a glossy appearance, presentation appears to have replaced knowledge as the important factor.
Thread Starter
Many thanks for the replies so far. Thought provoking...
I'm on the same page as TOO. I've been using this method for many years with a budget (but high def) 42" screen and the PPS he mentions on the PC. Before that it was the same screen with pictures of the A3 briefings simply taken with a phone (all with the permission of the same well known company) The whiteboard is used to answer questions that can't be pointed to on the screen and for very short briefs!
When he or she comes to audit, I'm confident the inspector will be ok with it too (sic).
When he or she comes to audit, I'm confident the inspector will be ok with it too (sic).
"Death by Powerpoint" is a sad way of giving a pre-flight brief. The preflight brief must be kept simple and allow for some student interaction: i.e. this is what we are going to do, this is how we are going to do it, and this is what you are expected to learn. Anything more than this should have been covered previously during a long brief. The lesson itself should follow exactly the same format as the brief for the brief to be of any use. Use of the model during the brief are more effective than words or pictures on the board. Use of the model is of the greatest importance but too often done poorly owing to lack of learning or lack of practice.
All students are very different in how they learn and the rate at which they learn. The instructor must be adaptable and be able to adjust the lesson to the individual. The instructor must be able to use the whiteboard effectively if and when required. The problem with a bought in powerpoint presentations or similar is that they are rigid in words and format. They lend themselves well to long briefs. Those instructors who use the powerpoint type pre-flight presentations, ask yourself if you then teach the lesson in the same way in the air - you probably don't. These presentations make things easier for the instructor but may do little for the person who matters, the student.
All students are very different in how they learn and the rate at which they learn. The instructor must be adaptable and be able to adjust the lesson to the individual. The instructor must be able to use the whiteboard effectively if and when required. The problem with a bought in powerpoint presentations or similar is that they are rigid in words and format. They lend themselves well to long briefs. Those instructors who use the powerpoint type pre-flight presentations, ask yourself if you then teach the lesson in the same way in the air - you probably don't. These presentations make things easier for the instructor but may do little for the person who matters, the student.
Maybe I misunderstood the question. Because it sounded like that required before an instructor AoC, I thought the OP was asking about long briefings, although pre-flight was stated. Which is why I mentioned white board for short briefs. Personally, I prefer wearing surfing baggies...........
Personally I use the excellent CD Powerpoint slides produced by a well-known supplier. This fits with our syllabus as declared to the UK CAA in our DTO submission and reviewed by the inspector during the audit earlier this year.
I made briefs for my school for every aspect of the syllabus, just with my iPhone camera in and out of the cockpit, and Keynote (Mac) on a Macbook Pro, converted to Powerpuke for the Windoze people. Gotta add yer own touch to the basic bones.
Thread Starter
Great answers guys and much appreciated. You are correct that I have an assessment at a large UK school. I am experienced enough generally but I am aware that assessing instructors is a very different ballgame to assessing pilots. I am sure that the assessor will be a pragmatic and fair chap but I am aware that there are some hard wired views out there in terms of briefing style. I came across this a lot in a Very Large airline in the Middle East whereby if your style differed from trainer X you were hung out to dry or could be... The use of colour being a highly controversial subject(!). I am amazed that I have got an interview in the current climate but we have to get our industry moving. Thanks again.
Thread Starter
Ps I wish my briefings were as neat as Ascend Charlie!
Re colours for white board briefings. I use what ever colour the one non dried out, crusted, smooshed actually working marker is. Last time it was pink......errr I mean salmon.
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Board brief one on one bit of a waste. I always brief across a desk writing everything down on A4 paper, then give it to the student. Have a few that said that they went back to my briefs when they did their FI course.
