The document discusses strategies for engaging students in classroom learning. It describes how the author applied techniques like prior knowledge assessments, learning styles, peer teaching, movement breaks, and technology to make a training on stuck pipe prevention more interactive. These strategies helped ensure students stayed focused and found the material meaningful and applicable to their work. The author encourages other instructors to try similar engagement methods to enhance student participation and feedback.

1. To Engaged Your Students or Not to Engaged
As a trainer or instructor, have you ever watch what your students are doing while
you’re presenting a class relating to some aspect of the oil industry? Are they
spinning their pencils on the table, are they texting, are they drawing geometric
figures on note pads, or do they have that glazed over look in their eyes as you share
how to calculate the equivalent mud weigh for a leak-of test? If you see these similar
signs during your presentation, you can conclude that your students are no longer
engaged in the presentation. So another question to ask yourself is how do I as an
instructor get my students engaged in what I am presenting.
A couple of months ago, I was asked to teach a 2-day class on stuck pipe. I had a
one-day training from a seasoned trainer to prepare me to teach the class in a
couple of weeks. Needless to say, I was a little nervous about standing in front of 8
men expected me to deliver a polished, informative presentation. But you can’t
always have the perfect environment for teaching. Sometimes you have to go with
the flow as they say. A coworker said to me, “Just have fun with it” Now, that got me
to thinking. How and the world can I make this fun for workers that are usually on
their days off but instead sitting in a classroom wishing they were home with their
families.
The last time I had fun teaching students was at Bryan High School with my English
class. So to make a stuck pipe class fun I had to reach into my bag of teaching tools
that I had acquired over 17 years. These tools are strategies that I use for engaging
learners. Here are a some of the strategies I used with my adult learners in the class:
1. Prior knowledge, 2. Learning styles, 3. Class experts, 4. Peer tutoring 5.
Movement, and 6. Technology. I will explain how I used these strategies more fully a
you read further. Hopefully you will find some of these useful as you engage your
adult learners in the future. Like my old driller use to say, “let’s get to the rat killing”.
Prior knowledge is critical to evaluate your class and to determine how you need
to change or customize your presentation to fit the needs of your students. Is this a
seasoned group of students that have years of experience, or does this group have
very little experience? Or maybe your class is a mixture of both. I use what the
teaching profession calls a “KWL” chart. The KWL stands for what I know, what I
want to know, and what I have learned. I assign groups of three to complete the first
and second columns of the chart and have them present their information to the
class when finished. The third column is filled out as the class learns new
information. These charts stay posted on the walls during the two-day class and are
referred to through out the class. This activity also creates buy-in from your group.
They are designing their own class agenda in a sense as they complete the I want to
know section of the chart. This is one of the keys to adult education strategies. Give
them choices and let them have a say in what they want to get out of this class. After
introductions, this is my first group activity.

2. Learning styles are also something I incorporated into the class. Personally, my
learning style is visual, auditory and hands-on learning. I attempt to use all the
learning styles as my students acquiring new information. I tell them that they will
hear it, see it, say it, do it, draw it and explain it. The success of using learning styles
is that you continue to use them throughout the training. The more senses you use,
the more success your students will have. I’m sill trying to figure out how I can use
the sense of taste in my classes. If you come up with some ideas on how I can
include that, let me know.
Class experts can turn a somewhat boring lecture into an exchange of experiences
with your students. Many students will have years of experience to share with
others in the class. This is a time to use prior knowledge of your students to enhance
your class. I heard an experienced instructor of 30 years say that the best
instructors will permit their students to share their knowledge with the class. This is
an example of how I use it. When I talk about gumbo formations, I would ask for
students who have extensive experience drilling to share about drilling in this
particular formation. If they gave me a one-sentence answer, I would say, “can you
tell me more”? Then they would give details about the experience. I would continue
to use leading questions to get more details about their experience. Their personal
accounts make this an exchange of valuable field knowledge. These exchanges turn
the class into real life job experiences, not just another class with an instructor
standing in front of them lecturing using a power point. Let’s move on to the next
strategy.
Peer tutoring is another outstanding way to use your experienced students to help
the less experienced. More than once I’ve tried to explain a concept in different ways
but to no avail. Then the guy next to the student draws a picture or uses a different
example and gets the concept across. Sometimes you need a different approach that
will get the point across and the light will come on. The team approach is introduced
at the beginning of the class to encourage this kind of support with each student.
As adult learners contribute to the learning process, it will become a more
meaningful learning experience for your students. Could this empower them to
extend their experiences in the class to their fellow workers in the field? What a way
to send these workers back into the work place sharing the training in which they
had a hand in creating with their coworkers.
Movement is a critical aspect of engaging students as well. Sitting in a chair most of
the day as the instructor lectures causes most learners including myself to get off
track during the class. Consequently, every chance I get; I have students get in
groups of 3 to create a problem on the board. I model how to do a specific
calculation using a drawing and I couple that with calculations in step-by-step
sequence. As I draw and calculate, I use a strategy called, “think out loud” as I talk
through the problem. Then I form groups of 3 and have the students develop a
problem on their own. I have the group decide on who is going to be the presenter,
the illustrator, and the scribe/calculator. Everyone has a part and everyone is

3. engaged in the process. When the groups finish their problem, they share their
finished calculations with the class. Then I put a similar problem on the board for
everyone to calculate on their own. This is a three-step process. First, I model the
process of working out the solution; Second, the class does a similar problem in
groups which they create; Third, the individuals in the class completes a problem
on their own to show mastery and understanding. Now let’s look at an underused
strategy that can create 100% engagement with each student.
Technology is one of the tools that you can use to include your students in the
classroom learning process. You can almost guarantee that everyone in the class
has a smart phone. I had my students use their smart phones for the final activity.
My final assignment in the stuck pipe class was to locate three mechanisms that
contribute to stuck pipe on you-tube and send the URL to me via text message or
email. The students were completely engaged in this activity and shared videos with
each other. Some of the you-tube videos were absolutely fantastic in visualizing the
mechanisms of differential sticking, well-bore geometry sticking, and hole pack-off. I
encouraged them to share these videos with their co-workers when they get back to
the rig. What a great example of 100% student engagement in the class. No one was
twirling pencils, doodling on notepaper, and no one had zoned out.
Hopefully, with these tools I have shared with you, you will be able to enhance the
quality of training you offer to your students. I challenge all instructors and trainers
to try some of these strategies with your next class and see what kind of comments
you get from your students. You might here words like, the class was interactive, I
had fun, it wasn’t boring like the last class I took. I leave you with this quote that
summarizes my thoughts about being an instructor and a learner. “All the world is
my school and all humanity is my teacher.” George Whitman
Glen Wise Intertek Well Control Instructor