Imagine getting dropped into the flight deck of a spacecraft moments before departure. You’ve heard about spaceflights, maybe read a bit about them, or seen a documentary about how they work. But the endless rows of flashing, blinking buttons and eardrum bursting sounds of the rockets overwhelm you. You can’t remember a single thing from your reading.
Getting randomly dropped into a NASA space launch might seem far-fetched, but it’s how a lot of young professionals feel in the early years of their career. They’ve attended lectures, read the required textbooks but new problems, a fast-paced environment, and a fear of failure can paralyze them when just starting out.
So how do astronauts stay so calm, cool and collected and how can you tap into that same level of confidence? Through the benefits of experiential learning, otherwise known as hand-on training. When your education is built on hands-on learning, you step into your career ready for the challenges ahead. Let’s explore how practical skills training better prepares you for a rewarding career.
Hands-On Training Develops Deeper Understandings
In a technical career, students need to learn not just the conceptual foundations of the field but how to apply them to everyday tasks. While textbooks and lectures can help introduce students to core concepts, they may not be enough on their own to prepare the student for the rigors of the career ahead.
Where traditional teaching methods fall short is in applying those concepts to real-world scenarios in a way students can participate in. A specific example in a textbook or lecture may provide a way for the student to grasp the concept but it doesn’t enable them to see the concept playing out in real-time or outside the confines of that specific example. A student may perform well on tests and graduate, but enter the workforce unable to apply their learning or worse, even know where their learning applies.
Thankfully, practical skills training can fill in the gaps traditional teaching methods leave behind. When students have the opportunity to experience the concepts they’ve been learning about, they can better understand why a particular process, tool, or design works. This allows them to stack their learning, furthering their knowledge. Students with technical education hands-on experience, don’t just know proper welding techniques, for example, they understand why those are the proper techniques and what can happen when they aren’t followed.
Practical Skills Training Promotes Problem Solving
But the benefits of experiential learning go beyond just a better understanding. When students have hands-on learning in tech education, they know when and where to apply their knowledge and skills to solve problems at work. They can break from the rigid confines of the textbook examples to solve problems that appear in the workplace.
The reason for this advantage is that students with practical skills training have already encountered similar problems in the learning environment. Studies show that hands-on activities help develop problem solving skills because students rely on evidence they personally gathered to find solutions. Rarely do we encounter problems at work that are exactly like those in the classroom, which can lead to that feeling of paralysis when the problem isn’t what we’re expecting.
But with a hands-on learning experience, you see far more problems than you otherwise would in traditional classrooms. You can begin to draw connections between problems, find the patterns and the common solutions. That way, when a new problem arises in the workplace, you can quickly compare it to problems you’ve seen in the classroom, craft a potential solution, and test it, all in short order. That level of creativity and quick-thinking will make you an invaluable asset in the workforce.
Experiential Learning Grows Competency and Confidence
Behind the ability to think critically and quickly to creatively solve problems are two other important skills in today’s workforce: competency and confidence. On their own, neither skill can get you very far. A competent employee without confidence won’t show off their skill. Meanwhile, a confident but incompetent employee will likely underperform expectations. And neither skill can be cultivated without practical skills training.
When students participate in hands-on learning, studies show that their belief that they can complete the task increases. In other words, hands-on learning helps students become more confident. One reason may be that the hands-on learning environment encourages students to try, fall short, and try again until they succeed. While so many young and career-transitioning professionals fear failing at work, professionals with practical skills training already know what it takes succeed.
The very same environment that’s encouraging students to become more confident is simultaneously growing their competency. When students have hands-on learning, they perform better at related hands-on tasks when compared to students that are using traditional learning methods. But the success doesn’t stop at testing. Simulated work-environments develop knowledge and understanding they need to immediately succeed in their actual workplace. The combination creates a graduate that feels self-assured and ready to tackle the career ahead.
Experience Orlando’s Best Hands-On Learning In Tech Education
If you’re looking to reap the rewards of experiential learning while saving or even earning money, look at the leading programs Orange Technical College offers. Since 1933, we’ve been equipping students with the knowledge, skills, and resources to succeed in the economy.
For those looking for a completely immersive hands-on learning experience, look no further than our Apprenticeship Programs. These programs span various disciplines and professions and offer students a chance to gain on-the-job experience (and pay) while deepening their knowledge with classroom instruction. Students graduate from the program not ready to start their career, but to advance it.