TULSA, OKLA. — An Oklahoma aeronautics school is changing how its air-maintenance students learn after seeing the success of a new teaching method in its aviation flight program.
In July 2013, the Spartan College of Aeronautics and Technology changed its curriculum for the aviation flight program, adopting the “flip-learning style” and putting its coursework onto iPads only. Spartan officials said the new teaching method has increased pass rates, shortened the time it takes to earn an associate degree and better prepared students for the flight industry.
Under the teaching method, students take quizzes on their assigned homework as soon as they arrive in class for the day. It requires them to study and watch videos and flight simulations before they come to school.
School officials said the quizzes help teachers identify concepts they should focus on, students who need help and students who didn’t work on their assignment. They say it leads to more student-teacher interaction and increases the amount of time for hands-on learning.
College president Ryan Goertzen said rooting out students who aren’t committed to the flight program is important.
“A pilot has to be all in; they absolutely have to be all in,” he said. “It’s not for the weak of heart, because you can’t pull over at 30,000 feet. You have to deal with it.”
The school is now implementing the teaching style in its air-maintenance program, but is using a Surface pad instead, the Tulsa World reported.
The Federal Aviation Administration requires aeronautics schools to maintain a first-time combined pass rate of 80 percent for two tests aspiring pilots must take, the hands-on FAA flight test and the written FAA knowledge test. Spartan College data shows under the older, textbook learning style, the combined pass rate was 83.9 percent. Under the “flip-learning style,” the rate increased to 96 percent.
Aviation flight students can also now receive their associate degrees in 17 months instead of 30 months.
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