ISU instructor helping students get hands-on experience from home

POCATELLO, Idaho (KIFI/KIDK) - An Idaho State University automotive instructor is working to give his students the hands-on learning experience they need to learn from home.

Brock Gunter, an instructor and coordinator for the university's automotive program, said the last few weeks have been lonely. His class, usually full with six to eight students, is now empty.

With everyone learning from home, Gunter felt he needed to get his students under the hood, no matter where they are. 

"In the automotive industry, the hands-on part is the most important part and it’s repetitions and it’s not something you can just learn out of the book and then go and do it and you’re gonna be good at it," He explained. "It’s something that takes a while."

Normally during the eight-week capstone course, students would be working in the shop six hours a day. No longer a possibility, Gunter is trying to simulate the experience while he works on the cars that remain in the shop. 

“I’ll do job. ... I’ll go and test drive, prepare a bid, verify the concern and then I’ll video doing the repair," he said. "If it’s a big job, I’ll do a time-lapse and then I’ll embed it into a PowerPoint to where we do a Zoom meeting." 

Using a GoPro, Gunter can show students each step of the process as if they're the ones under the hood.

With illustrated lessons and assignments on simulators, he is trying to give his students as much preparation as he can, though he still feels bad that they can’t be there.

"We’re definitely not getting out of this class what normally they would and that’s why I’m trying to do this is I’m trying to give them as much as I can," Gunter said.  

While the experience is by no means the same as having the students there, Gunter says it will have some benefits down the road.

"What’ll be nice is I’ll have a lot of these videos and demos that I can use in future classes."