[CAUT] CAUT Endorsement (was Re: Job Opening, U. of Michigan, Ann Arbor)

[reggaepass at aol.com]

Hi Richard,

There are two points you raised I would like to respond to.  Second one 
first:  Since it is not PTG that teaches classes at conventions and the 
like, but member technicians, the ability of a given instructor to 
reach those in attendance varies quite a bit.  Just like with players 
of musical instruments, doing and teaching are two separate things: 
People are usually better at one than the other.  It has been my 
experience that PTG functions typically feature many instructors who 
are highly accomplished technicians AND excellent teachers.  Not all, 
mind you, but enough to keep me busy learning for several days, anyway.

One of the challenges of teaching at a PTG function is the "one-room 
school house" effect.  The range of experience of the people most 
instructors face runs from total beginner to seasoned veteran.  Lately, 
some classes have started being geared more to one group or the other 
in recognition of this dilemma, which can be so frustrating all the way 
around.

The "school of hard knocks" type of experience you refer to is, I 
think, more about seat of the pants problem solving.  There actually 
ARE comprehensive classes on subjects like dampers (Davenport's, the 
Rappaports' and Karen Robinson's all come immediately to mind--there 
are others, too).  It's all about benefiting from other people's 
experience sorting out the problems we normally encounter.

I think that CAUT work should require as wide a range and as high a 
level of technical ability as possible (and be compensated 
accordingly!!!). To me, the elusive part, the part that can be 
discussed, but ultimately not taught, is how to keep so many plates 
twirling in the air at the same time.  The demands of the situation, 
magnified by the desire to make things better; having hundreds of hands 
to hold simultaneously; handling training and supervising others while 
doing your own work, and then being interrupted; doing a solid job of 
taking responsibility for everything in your job description--and then 
some--while being able to clearly draw a line to keep yourself from 
being sucked into things that are "not your table;" dealing with the 
constraints of in adequate budgets; the politics...THESE are the things 
that distinguish CAUT work in my mind and are ultimately going to be 
learned only through experience and survival in a particular situation.

Whew!

Alan Eder


-----Original Message-----
From: rwest1 at unl.edu
To: College and University Technicians <caut at ptg.org>
Sent: Fri, Oct 19  10:30 AM
Subject: Re: [CAUT] CAUT Endorsement (was Re:  Job Opening, U. of 
Michigan, Ann Arbor)

...as I expanded my knowledge, I realized that repairs aren't always a 
simple symptom/solution question.  Dampers are a good example of what I 
mean.  You have a ringing damper, but a plethora of possible  solutions 
including ones that don't even have anything to do with the actual 
damper you're working on (sympathetic vibrations or a duplex length of 
string).  But with perseverance you figure out where the problem lies 
and learn what to look for.   This becomes an experienced based repair 
that you add to your mental data bank .Experience gives you a bag of 
"tricks" to draw from to help diagnose problems, but these tricks of 
the trade aren't compiled and written down and so it's hard for 
beginners to get what they need to know, without going through the 
school of hard knocks.  

...Perhaps the greatest challenge is getting through to people.  That 
means we need to know how people learn so that our materials reach 
them.  I don't know that PTG has been particularly good at addressing 
this aspect of learning.

  Richard West


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