Atari800xl wrote:You know, like giving you a fish, opposed to teaching you to fish (and you teaching others).
Very, very appropriate, as long as the instructions are clear and complete and the understanding on
both sides is such that you don't run into a situation such as ...
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Instructor: Tie the hook on the line, put a worm on it, and drop it in the water.
Student: I tried exactly that and it didn't work.
Instructor: What do you mean it didn't work?
Student: Usually the hook fell off the line. When it did stay on I had a very hard time getting the worm to stay on the hook. It kept falling off. And the one time it stayed on, the fish just took it and swam away.
Instructor: That doesn't seem very likely. Getting the hook to stay on the line when it's tied on to the little loop on the end is usually very secure, and when you put the barb on the other end through the worm it should keep the worm on the hook and make it difficult for the fish to get the worm off and just swim away.
Student: Ohhhhh! You tie the line onto the end of hook with the loop! You didn't say that!
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You get the idea.
Sometimes the student is missing a very, very basic part of the understanding that the instructor assumes that he already knows. Don't get me wrong, I'm not implying that your instructions are faulty in any way at all, but if any confusion occurs, it's usually a good idea to make sure the student hasn't missed something simple early on.
Your point about taking little steps and testing to see if each step worked before taking the next step, rather than trying to do everything all at once the first time, is also a good one, and is a basic tool of troubleshooting. It quickly shows where things are going wrong and catches mistakes early. It might seem to take extra time to do it that way, and the student often will resist, but it often takes less time in the long run. It also makes it easier to modify the procedure later if you want to add or remove anything.
Keep up the good work! Once the instructions are complete, and
skrell has completed the lesson successfully, it might be helpful to others if you could post the complete detailed instructions, perhaps including screenshots and links to other related instructions and any helpful tools, in a single post, that I'm sure
5eraph or
Ryan would be happy to sticky in an appropriate place. I know that is extra work for you, but you might be surprised. I often find that I learn something myself in the process of teaching someone else. And having the instructions laid out in a manner that has been proven that others can understand and follow successfully will probably be handy for you as well as the community as a whole. Just a thought.
Thank you very much for your continued involvement here at RyanVM!
Cheers and Regards
