Using the Electrical Troubleshooting Skills Series as part of an E-Learning or Distance Learning course

Teaching Electrical Troubleshooting can be unlike teaching most courses. In order for a troubleshooting course to be effective, it must provide sufficient hands-on practice and feedback in order for the students to develop their skills.

Running a classroom based troubleshooting course has its own challenges, but how about a Troubleshooting E-Learning or Distance Learning course? The main question is: How do I provide this hands-on practice for a student who is not on site?

And even if you do provide the practice how do you assess the student’s practical troubleshooting skill?

Simutech’s Electrical Troubleshooting Skills Series is designed with Distance Learning in mind. It contains a series of computer based training programs complete with highly realistic simulations that allow the student to actually solve faults in their own location. It also includes a complete tracking and reporting system that can be used to assess a students practical skill. Read on to see how you can use these programs in an E-learning or Distance Education course.

• Safety – The computer simulations allow your students to develop their troubleshooting skills in a safe environment. No risk of electrical injuries.

• High quality and effective – These programs have won several awards, the latest being from the Canadian Society of Training and Development for their training quality.

• Can be sent to student – a student version of the program is available and can be sent to the student to be installed on their own computer - great for distance learning.

• Assess your students' troubleshooting skills – These programs have a reporting system that not only tracks the completion of each fault but also records the steps taken to solve each fault. This can be very useful for assessing their troubleshooting skills. This information is contained in a student file that can be emailed to an instructor. Using the tools provided in the instructor resources the files can be viewed and managed.

Other reasons to use these programs?

• Practical hands-on approach - Highly realistic circuit simulations are used throughout these programs allowing the student to use realistic tools to solve realistic faults

• Students learn a recognized troubleshooting process – A systematic 5 Step Troubleshooting Approach is taught in these programs through the use of graphics, animations and practical examples. This approach can be applied to any electrical troubleshooting problem or circuit.

• Students benefit from an expert’s experience. – These programs contain a section where an expert guides them through a number of faults following the systematic 5 Step Troubleshooting Approach.

• Manage the troubleshooting training – These programs come with instructor resource tools and guides that make it easy for you to monitor and manage the progress of your students use of these programs. An admin program allows you to monitor the students progress and print out reports. Instructor guides contain solutions to all the faults as well as other resource materials.

• Cost effective – This becomes a very cost effective way of providing a tool for the student to develop and practice their troubleshooting skills remotely.

Which programs to use?

The Troubleshooting Skills Series consists of three programs:

Troubleshooting – Basic Techniques is the first in the series. It introduces the Systematic 5 Step Troubleshooting Approach and contains a lighting circuit simulation to practice this approach.

Troubleshooting – Control Circuits is the second in the series and builds on the Basic Techniques program. It contains relay logic circuit simulation where you can develop and practice your troubleshooting skills.

Troubleshooting – Motor Controls is the third in the series and builds on the Basic Techniques program. It contains motorized garage door circuit simulation where you can develop and practice your troubleshooting skills.

You can choose the complete series or individual programs. The most common choice of instructors is the complete series, however it does depend on the objectives of your course, the time available for troubleshooting and how your course is organized.

We have created a package specifically designed for using these electrical training programs as part of an e-learning or distance learning course. It consists of instructor resources, instructor copy of the programs and student copies of the programs. Contact us for more information on this package.

How to use the programs?

These electrical training programs assume the participant has an understanding of the basic principles of electricity. They should also have a basic understanding of how control circuit components such as relays, switches, and contactors work.

The best way to use these programs varies depending on the specifics of your inteded E-Learning courses. The following are some general tips for using the Troubleshooting Series as part of your E-Learning program.

Tips for using the Troubleshooting Skills Series in your E-Learning program

• The Troubleshooting Skills Series can be used to provide the practical hands-on portion of your Troubleshooting course. It is designed to work in conjunction with the content you will be providing to the student.
• It can be thought of as the lab portion of your course.
• Single user versions (for the student) can be sent out to the student to be installed on their own computers.
• Review the material in the Troubleshooting Skills Series and determine what materials need to be added. These may be materials you have already developed or you may want to develop additional materials.
• Develop a guide that outlines how you want the students to work through the material incorporating both the Troubleshooting Skills Series and your own materials. In general students should work through each program in the order it is presented starting with Basic Techniques. It is advisable not to skip sections or move on to the next program until the current one is completed.
  

Tips for managing the program

• An Instructor Resource CD is included with the program. Install this along with your copy of the Troubleshooting Skills Series on your computer.
• The Admin program allows you to view all your students' results and print reports. You can easily obtain their results by asking them to email to you the program's tracking file which contains their progress.
• The Instructor Guides are available through the Admin Program. You may want to print them out and include them in your binder. However, please keep this information secure as it does contain the solutions to all the faults.
  

Tips for working through the program

1. Assign certain portions of the program for the students to complete.
2. Assess their results before having them move on to the next section. This can be done by reviewing the student’s tracking file. (See the section below titled “Tips for assessing a student’s troubleshooting skill”.)
3. The "Test Your Skill" section of the program allows the student to practice their troubleshooting skills on a number of faults on a circuit simulation. The following tips will help them get the most out of this section.
   • Start with the basic level faults first. This will allow them to become more familiar with the circuit before trying the tougher faults.
   • To successfully complete a fault, they must repair the fault within a allotted time without replacing any good components or making any safety errors.
   • Once a fault has been successfully completed it is taken out of the pool of faults. Once all the faults in a level have been completed the level will me marked complete. When all levels are marked complete the program is complete and a Certificate of Completion is available to be printed.
   • If they require additional practice, they can choose a level that has been marked complete. A random fault from the already completed faults will be given. They cannot retry faults until all the faults within a level have been completed.
   • Be as efficient as possible when troubleshooting. Some activities such as locking out the circuit add additional time to their score to simulate the time it would take if they were to lock out an actual circuit. Review the “Using the Tools” section for more information.
   • If they are really stuck on a fault they can click on the tips button for information to point them in the right direction. However, if a tip is used, the time penalty will be sufficient to prevent them from solving the fault in the time allowed.
   • The program records the number of attempts made on each fault to successfully complete it. This can be viewed in the summary report.
   • The program records each step taken to solve a fault and is shown in the detailed report. If they are having trouble solving a fault, review the information recorded here to see if you can spot where they are having trouble.
4. If a student is having trouble solving the faults have them review the previous sections in the program especially the “Guided Troubleshooting” section. This section shows how to apply the systematic 5 Step Troubleshooting Approach on sample faults.

Tips for assessing a student’s troubleshooting skill
These programs have a reporting system that can be very useful for assessing the troubleshooting skills of your students.

• The summary report provides a summary of the student’s overall performance. The report shows the students score, which faults have been completed and how may failed attempts were completed. The number of failed attempts should decrease as they work through the programs.
• You may also want to review the student’s troubleshooting steps which are shown in the fault attemp report. Here you can assess their troubleshooting techniques and determine if they are using a logical approach or if they have weak areas in their troubleshooting approach.
• Another option is to assign specific faults (see the instructor guide for information on how to do this). This is useful for assessing someone’s skill without having to work through the whole program. You could also do this at the end of the course. The best process for this is:
  • Ensure the student is familiar with the simulation tools. This information is covered in the “Using the Tools” section.
  • Allow them to familiarize themselves with the circuit operation by allowing them to practice on a couple of faults.
  • Pick an appropriate fault. (The instructor guide has a listing of all faults.)
  • Assign the fault on the simulation.
  • When the student has finished their attempt, review their detailed report to determine their troubleshooting approach.
  • You may want to try several faults of varying difficulty.