FOI's question

[budman]

Hi everyone, what is the best and easiest way to learn FOI's for CFI. They are so dry and boring.. Thanks for your help.

[Marc D]

Hi everyone, what is the best and easiest way to learn FOI's for CFI. They are so dry and boring.. Thanks for your help.

 

Personally I enjoyed the FOI's. By I also enjoyed teaching. As for helping with remembering them. Go through them with an experienced instructor and come up with real life practical stories for the subjects. It can be fun to "hangar talk" with an instructor and learn how they saw the FOI's come to life and how they overcame some of the obstacles to learning. If you really take the time to get a grasp on the FOI's, you will be a much better instructor. They are not "rocket science" just plain common sense. I have seen guys blow off the FOI's because they didn't care about them and then I would see them pull their hair out while instructing. Their response, "I'm only instructing to build time". Sad.

 

Marc D.

[helonorth]

The easiest way to learn it is to memorize the questions. I guarantee you will do well. But if you go

back and read the book, it will tell you rote memorization is a low standard of learning. You are

simply repeating things back with little or no understanding.

The FOIs are a brief course in psychology. If you instruct very long, you will see most of the

behaviors described in it. If you want to be a good instructor, spend some time with it. At the time

I was studying them, I didn't realize how relevant they would be. Some people may be natural born

teachers. I am not.

[slick1537]

whats an foi?

[aclark79]

Fundamentals of Instruction.

[FlyingDodo]

I also enjoyed the FOI's. But I do have two years of a psychology major behind me (way behind), so maybe I'm already a little off balance. If nothing else, I found the FOI book to be an interesting exercise. Granted, the writing sucks, so it is pretty hard to just plod through the stuff. With every principle of learning or method of instruction or defense mechanism I read about I'd take a minute to look back at my private and commercial training and realize what kind of student I'd been, and how my instructor could have (or should have) done things differently. I think Marc D has given some excellent advice. If you can see how these ideas can be put to a real world use they might become a lot more interesting to you, and therefore easier to learn and remember. I always thought aerodynamics or weather would be pretty dry and boring subjects if I weren't able to apply them to my flights.

 

 

-my 2 thoughts

[Superman]

Like all have said, there isn’t an easy out with the FOI study. It seems like a lot of worthless information, until you find yourself using it, and you will if you’re any kind of instructor at all. If you have, or have access to the King video on the FOI, they are a big help.

When I did my initial CFI, (with the FAA) a lot of the oral was on the FOI, so you need to have it down pretty good.

 

Fly safe

Clark

[budman]

Hi everyone, what is the best and easiest way to learn FOI's for CFI. They are so dry and boring.. Thanks for your help.

 

Thanks all, your feedback has been helpful. I'm halfway through the book and seem to be grasping it better than I thought.

[Scott83]

At first when I cracked open the FOI book, I had an incredibly difficult time reading it. I found myself more than once waking up with the book on my chest.

 

The whole trick is while reading the book, constantly be saying to yourself "how does this relate to me?".

 

I highly recommend reading one section at a time and then typing up in your own words what you just read. Include a personal

experience that you've had that relates to the specific topic. When you start instructing, you will find you can sit there and talk..talk...talk till you're blue in the face, but what really grabs someones attention is when you have a story. It will also please the examiner during the checkride.

 

 

Hope this helps!

 

 

 

Scott

[joker]

The FOIs can be a real bore for aspiring CFIs. I think this is in part due to the way they are approached at every level in CFI training. I'm talking about the FAA, in the questions and materials (which are often inadeqate and gray). School's that devote minimum time on the subject. I'm also talking about the CFI trainers, who portray the subject area as being a minor part of the course, and one which is the most boring.

 

Naturally then, students (who want to fly and talk flight related stuff) approach this subject with a low motivation from the start. They will go on as CFIs with the same attitudes and so perpetuate the problem.

 

This is a real shame. I have long said that education in aviation is generally poor. Remember, the 'F' in FOI stands for 'Fundamentals'; the basics of instructional theory. If we can't get this right, then how are we ever going to improve the standard and efficiency of aviation education?

 

 

My advice to Budman is along these lines (similar to Scot83s):

 

Enjoy learning a little about people. Take interest in those around you. Look at other students and instructors and study how they interact with each other. Look at your own instructor and how you interact with him or her. Then (as mentioned) look for examples of the FOIs being applied (or not applied) in your own real life. This can be pretty interesting to see how we humans (for all our differences) are a pretty predicatble bunch. So much so that people can study us and write things like FOIs. You'll be surprised at how you will fit into so much of what you read about.

 

Think back to your school days; remember the day when your teacher told you your art was great / rubbish, or that you had improved / or could do better. How did that feel? Have you ever had a poor grade, but not known how you could improve? It's frustrating right? Do you like diagrams or words? Remember the teachers who enthused you, and those who bored you sensless. Can you study from a book, or do you like someone teaching you face to face? All these relate to FOIs. You are your best example of FOIs at work or not at work.

 

Go further than the rote learning required to pass the exams. If you try to go beyond the rote and into the realm of understanding and application and eventually correllation, you will be a good instructor. A minority in aviation.

 

Most CFIs unfortunately rote learn, then forget their FOIs (disuse). Like any skill, you need to use your knowledge and apply it. If you can successfully spot when to alter your style to suit a student's need you are at the correllation level. This is where you ask yourself, "How can this benefit my student's learning experience?" for everything you do. Strive to do that - to get to that level. As you do, it will become easier.

 

Well, if I have gone any way towards helping you realise the importance of the FOIs, then I might have helped you to approach the topic with a more positive attitude. I have tried to 'motivate' you a little - as they say Motivation is probably the most important force that governs a student's progress and their ability to learn.

 

Joker

 

http://fergworld.com/cfi/pdf/FOI_Quick_Reference.pdf

www.aerosports.org/foi_study_guide.htm

Edited December 20, 2007 by joker

[budman]

First of all thanks to everyone for all your inputs. Joker thank you for you deep explanation, that really helped me alot to understand the FOI's better. I do wanna be the best instructor I can be so I am putting alot of time and effort on this. This is exactly the response I was hoping to get. Thank you all.

 

Gilabender