Have advice for your fellow safety professors, or want to share a great activity that you have used to engage your students? Send your stories, advice, or sample activities to [email protected].
Have you ever had trouble with coming up with good case studies? Case studies can be a good learning tool, but they need to be directly applicable for the subject and key points that need to be made. Here is one technique to get students more involved in the subject and to get case studies. This is the first assignment because I can then use these case studies throughout the course.
--Prof. David Fender, Murray State University
The Robert W. Campbell Award aims to demonstrate the business value of EHS management systems to future business leaders. To meet this objective, winning case studies are converted into educational materials including case studies, teaching notes, PowerPoint presentations, and informational videos. Access all of these materials and incorporate them into your next lecture.
Active learning is a way to infuse predictable lecture-based training and coursework with attention-grabbing techniques that is often preferred by adult learners. These techniques can make the classroom come alive with hands-on activity, open or guided discussion, and peer engagement; all of which helps us learn by doing, through discovery, or through collaboration.
--Dr. Wanda Minnick, Indiana University of Pennsylvania
We use the APM: Engineering & Technology for two semesters. We typically cover the first half of the text in the fall and the second half in the spring. I have a term project that I assign in the fall semester. The feedback that I get from students is very encouraging. Generally, they are happy not to have to write yet another research paper and to actually be given a chance to start applying what they are learning. In terms of active learning scenarios and what we call "immersive learning", this project works really well. Download the term project and evaluation criteria.
--Dr. Katy Ellis, Northeastern State University
I have always believed that students majoring in safety-related programs must have quantitative skills to evaluate and assess problems and recommend solutions. That’s the best practice in this field because the students learn to document facts and numbers and use them in their decision-making processes, which will be unbiased and robust. That’s why I always use a variety of quantitative methods in problem solving in my industrial hygiene, fire protection systems, human factors and ergonomics, biomechanics, system safety analysis, and other courses.
--Dr. Farman A. Moayed, Occupational Safety Management, Indiana State University
I’ve been teaching an IH course for about 15 years and only recently incorporated an assignment where students perform sampling and monitoring at local industrial sites. Students work in groups as a consulting team and write up a report about the data that they gathered, which is presented to the facility. The activity has allowed students to apply the knowledge and concepts learned in the classroom. I hope to add more hands-on components to the course in the near future.
--Dr. Michelle Homan, Associate Professor, Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Gannon University
