In order to justify the issuance of a State training certificate, students will generate a portfolio of work by responding to prompts throughout the course. Feedback both instructor-to-student and student-to -student should be emphasized and welcomed throughout the course. 

The pre/post-course knowledge survey below should be administered at the beginning and end of class in an effort to gauge trainee improvement. 

Pre/Post-Course Knowledge Survey

The class will eventually be asked to come together in groups in order to solve problems. Allow the students time to introduce themselves and their interests now in order to facilitate the process of team building. Additionally, use the bad instructor stories as a means to jumpstart student goal setting and reinforce the real-world applicability of the topic to the class.[Pedagogical support for this strategy is offered by Brown et al. (2018) who highlight that creating an atmosphere of community among instructors and instructional support personnel is ultimately beneficial to students.] 

Utilize this opportunity to offer a lesson on the value of the informed learner. Explain that each instructional update will begin with an introduction of the intended learning outcomes in an effort to prime the students. Add emphasis to the notion that the adult trainees the students are soon to teach will be expected to direct a fair amount of the learning process whenever possible. How are they to map out their educational journeys if they don’t know the final destination? [Knowles (1973) notes that Adult Learning Theory mandates that students understand why they need to learn something. Furthermore, Woodard (2007) confirms the applicability of the theory to job training.]

Students in this course are likely to be newly created police instructors in early to middle stages of their careers. They will almost certainly have been indoctrinated into law enforcement and will need to be shown the applicability of the class materials to their instructor duties. Expect them to be inherently doubtful of your presentation. It is appropriate to acknowledge this doubt and express that the application of educational principles to police training may seem foreign. Ask the trainees to engage with the material authentically. Class participation and engagement with the material is welcomed at all stages.

Sinek video commentary: In response to the Start with Why video, ask the class what they do as police trainers. Ask the class how they accomplish their mission as police trainers. Ask the class why they do what they do as police trainers. Bring up Sinek’s application of the principle to Apple. (Question for the class): What product are we selling? (Answer): We’re selling knowledge and skill. It just has to be knowledge and skill our students believe in. The purpose of instructor development is to train our sales force. [Support for a video pedagogy is established by Andrist et al. (2014) who note that videos not explicitly related to or prepared for the topic of instruction may hold special promise.] Offer the above pedagogical support as a lesson to the class. It won't be necessary to explore theory in detail, but be sure to emphasize that instructional aids don't always have to relate directly to law enforcement. Don't be afraid to branch out and engage your learners with diverse skill and interests. 

Benefits of development commentary: Review the benefits of instructor development slide. Highlight frequent complaints regarding the effectiveness of police training and tie-in contents of the slide. (Question to the class): How do we expect to fix this problem internally if we don’t learn how to teach?

Instructional activity:

1. Have the students pair up with a partner not previously known to them. Give the students about five minutes to complete the task and ask them to remain in their pairs when done. List the most common attributes when the groups are ready. [Pedagogical support for working in pairs is offered by Biju (2019) who note that working in pairs affects performance in a positive way, works well for diverse students, improves attitudes, and assists with the filling of gaps in knowledge had by the group participants.] 

2. Now have the students respond to the following prompts as a whole class: How much experience should the trainer have on the job? What is the preferred background for that trainer? List the most common responses when done. Ask how many agencies represented have trainers meeting these criteria. Do they have equally talented personnel to replace them when they leave? It is anticipated that few will have such talented and complete instructors. Note to the class: For success, we must ensure consistent quality instruction over successive generations of officers. Instructor development allows us to accomplish this mandate. 

3. Upon conclusion of this activity, ask the class how it enjoyed working in pairs. Discuss the pedagogical support offered under point one of this activity. Ask how working in pairs might be used to improve the learning outcomes of students in each of the class members' instructional disciplines. 

Deci video commentary: Engage the class by asking it to identify implications for instructional design. Note that autonomous and controlled motivation are frequently referred to as intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Facilitate whole class discussion via the following prompts: 1. What extrinsic motivators do we frequently encounter in police training? 2. How might Deci recommend we structure a police training to maximize autonomous or intrinsic motivation in our students?

Types of motivators infographic commentary: (Question to class): Which of the listed intrinsic motivators might we be most able to tap into as instructors? Why? [Pedagogical support for the use of infographics as concise representations of knowledge is offered by Yildirim (2016). It is said they are considered of greater instructional value than plain text materials.] Discuss this pedagogical support as a means to address how we present information. There are times when we have to present text-based content, but it can be done in a more engaging way with only modest effort. "Death by PowerPoint" is a real phenomenon. Let's do our part to avoid it.  

Kopp video commentary: Present the video and engage the class by asking it to identify implications for instructional design. (Facilitate whole class discussion via the following prompt): What are some of the quickest ways we could lose the engagement of our trainees?

Activity commentary: Explain that you would like to give the class a choice regarding the next activity. Participants will be allowed to 1. engage in scenarios emphasizing either adult learning successes or failures that partners or small groups will be expected diagnose, or 2. design an activity with a partner related to a chosen field of instruction intended to enhance intrinsic motivation among trainees. During this time, you should be walking around checking in on groups. Offer assistance as necessary. Attempt to enrich the discussion and work products through thought provoking prompts. [Note that pedagogical support for allowing trainee choice is offered by Adult Learning Theory itself.]

Be careful to monitor your small groups for active participation. Offer scenarios to act out if the group becomes stuck. Possible examples include: an instructor who insists on discussing the technical aspects of an Intoxilyzer machine even though the trainee is not expected to know such information and cannot legally testify to its scientific basis (failure- lacks relevancy), an instructor who spends an inordinate amount of time discussing the application of the Incident Command System to short-term and small scale police incidents (failure- the problem posed is impractical), and the instructor who begins a lesson with a well formulated list of reasons why students should become proficient with a particular topic (success- fulfills the requirement that students know why they are expected to learn a given topic).    

Pedagogical Content Knowledge video commentary: Present the video and engage the class in discussion regarding the diverse possibilities of instructional practices. Again, define pedagogy explicitly as the approach to teaching, the manner in which an instructor facilitates learning. Explain the distinction between teaching and learning. Ensure students know the difference. Focus on the notion that pedagogies can be very diverse and aren’t neatly categorized. Note the possibilities are endless and can be tailored to the needs of the subject or students.

Beuller, Beuller video commentary: Set up the video by explaining the benefit of matching pedagogical practices to the situation. Play the video and engage the class in discussion by asking how the students in the video appear to be receiving the lesson. Explain to the class that this is a particularly egregious example of didactic teaching gone wrong. The pedagogy employed here is entirely teacher-centered and discounts the role of the student. What is being portrayed on the faces of the students can be cited as an absolute lack of engagement.

Authentic ED video commentary: Frame the video by asking that the class focus more on the process of learning portrayed than the students involved or their ages. The age of the students is immaterial in the context of this lesson. Explain that what is important here and in all authentic education practices is that they are student-centered and focus on problems of relevance to the learner. The teacher acts more as a facilitator of learning and takes his/her cues from the students in order to foster engagement and deeper understanding of the subjects covered in class. 

Didactic vs. Authentic comparison slide commentary: Present slides describing didactic and authentic pedagogies. Highlight the primary distinction of teacher versus learner-centered instructional focus separating didactic teaching from authentic learning. Discuss limits of student engagement and knowledge retention inherent in misapplied didactic teaching and contrast those with the benefits the learner-centered ideology adopted in authentic pedagogy. Engage the class in discussion via the following prompt: What kind of pedagogical principle am I using to instruct you now? The students should answer that you are using didactic teaching. Continue the discussion by asking if its as painful or disengaging as the Ferris Beuller scene played earlier in the lesson. Hopefully the students inform you that it is not, and you are able to further the discussion by explaining that didactic teaching (or any pedagogy) can be useful dependent on circumstance. Explain that the students likely had little background knowledge about pedagogical principle before taking the class and that the information presented didactically is the base upon which future student engagement with the topic will be built. This is an appropriate use of didactic teaching. Discuss the danger of over-explaining concepts while engaged in didactic teaching. Allow students to “connect the dots” themselves wherever possible. [Pedagogical support for not over-explaining course content is provided by Janik (2019) who cautions against the didactic liability of stolen cognition.]

Explain how authentic pedagogy is inherently learner-centered and is far more concerned with the learning outcomes of students than the teaching practices of instructors. Authentic pedagogy empowers students to direct much of the learning process which promotes engagement and deeper understanding of the material. Explain how under authentic pedagogy, the student assists in the creation of knowledge as much as its consumption.

DUI problem commentary: Present the class with the problem of newer officers losing DUI cases due to flawed paperwork. (Initiate a discussion with the class via the following prompts): Can we agree this is a potential training issue? How should we go about developing a meaningful solution to this problem?

PBL in less than five minutes video commentary: Play the PBL in Less than Five Minutes video. (Engage the class in discussion via the following prompts): Where should we go for the information we need? What information do we need? Without answers to these questions can we move forward with confidence?

PBL step by step commentary: Present the class with the PBL Step by Step slide and walk them through the lost DUIs problem with class discussion. Provide answers to the specific inquiries of the students. Encourage them to formulate a training plan and ask how they would intend to evaluate it for success. Offer tips along the way tying-in previous class material wherever possible. Attempt to guide the students to a solution emphasizing early learning at the Academy and field training levels. What influence do they have as trainers to effect change? What resources could be tapped to help the students learn? With luck, the class will land on the common sense and highly attainable goal of crafting a field training learning module. The class will be doing exceptionally well if they suggest the State's Attorney's Office participate in the intervention as subject matter experts capable of explaining why the lesson has such significant bearing on DUI cases. [Pedagogical support for the value of scenario-based training in vocational training settings is offered by Sjoberg et al. (2019). PBL, in particular, has demonstrated value for learning in police-specific settings as established by Werth (2011).]

PTO video commentary: Engage the class in discussion by explaining the power of teaching this process to all officers. Discuss the transitioning role of police in society. Police now are frequently expected to address problems by examining their causes and implementing creative solutions outside of the traditional structure of criminal investigation and arrest. Explain that police have been tasked with handling a wide variety of social problems and that mainstream police training hasn’t effectively equipped them for. Identify that creative solutions of officers are valued now more than ever and should be modeled in police training practices. Explain that teaching people how to learn and solve their own problems will lead to better and more advanced training in the future. Play the PTO video as an example of PBL in widespread practice.

Scenario development slides commentary: Review slide content giving particular examples of application where appropriate.  

Scenario project guidelines commentary: Ask the students to craft scenarios of particular relevance to their instructional duties. Reiterate that successful final scenarios must adhere to the bulleted requirements and that they will be critiqued by classmates. Give the students the opportunity to complete the assignment and be present to assist as necessary.  

Upon completion and review, give the students a short amount of time to make any suggested revisions. Next, ask them to give a short three to five minute oral presentation on the scenarios they developed paying particular attention to the underlying educational theories they use to support their work. This represents the final opportunity students will have in this class to benefit from each other's contributions. 

Prior to dismissing the class, be sure to have them complete the Post-Course Knowledge Survey below. You can compare them with results from the Pre-Course Survey to gauge trainee improvement. 

Pre/Post-Course Knowledge Survey