Quick reflection 7/6

Time has been flying.  I think that a lot of information has tried to hit us all so fast that we ended up taking in just a fraction of it (for some of us, none of it). A few weeks ago I got a job at a workshop, and only then I just started realising how different it is compared to the workshop at Unitec.  I'm not saying that the (like most people) we don't need to know how things work, and that we just need to know how to fix them, because I think that knowing how something works is the best foundation to knowing how to fix things, especially in a world where 50 million cars are being produced every year.  I think that at the very least we should learn how parts work while looking at the part in the car.  We have been doing that for the pasts few months but lately we have been doing a lot of work on engines sitting on stands.  This is a lot different to when it is on the car, because as much as it is basically the same as the engine being on the car, I think students need to learn the very small things about working in a workshop - communication skills, getting on your knees and getting under a car or whatever it is.  Asking or being asked to do favours like cranking the engine while somebody is holding something at the engine bay is a real thing that we need to get used to and to become prepared for the real world.

I think it's a shame that we don't have enough resources for every student, but I think that a class of 16 could at least split into 4 groups and everyone could have a go at pulling out a drive shaft to check the joints or what ever it is.

Personally, I think that 90% of work has been learned from self research, working on my own project car (which I am so thankful to have) and being at work.  I tend to ask a lot of questions to the mechanics there I think they get tired of it haha.

Any ways, overall, I think the small skills are just as important, if anything, more important, than learning how the things work itself.  We can learn these small skills by interpreting working in a real workshop as much as we can, to a certain extent.  I find that team work plays a major role in any job and with that comes through repetitive practice.

Another issue I have found is the way that some of these questions in these booklets are worded out.  I think that the questions are so vague that we do not know what it is asking.  Yet another 'small' but so important thing.  I think that lecturers need to read them through before handing them out.  Preparation is the key!