Ireland's Most Popular and
Best Selling Teaching Aid

The Colourfile Professional®

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If you understand that three quarters of your pupils' knowledge is gained from visual stimuli you can understand why the RSA and the ADI unit recommend the full use of visual teaching aids.

The Colourfile Professional is a high visual impact product designed to attract your learners’ attention, stimulate interest and interaction and eases the learning process which saves on teaching time. Original concept and design and written by Des Cummins & John M Wells.The Colourfile ® Professional promotes a structured approach to teaching by means of specified learning outcomes, making it the preferred resource for driving instructors and driving instructors trainers.

It assists Essential Driver Training (EDT) learning / training and follows EDT numbers where as best it can.

Ireland's Best Selling Teaching Aid
Since the Colourfile ® first appeared, learning to drive and becoming a driving instructor has seen many changes. In an effort to stay ahead of these changes and the needs of the profession the Colourfile ® Professional is continually updated. This way the Colourfile is  always ahead of its time. The Colourfile Professional may also be considered as a self- development tool for ADI's.

A Teaching Aid for the ADI & Pupil Alike
Today it’s no longer “5 and Drive” the ADI is expected to teach not only to L-test standard, today's instructor must be an instructor, coach, teacher etc., They must be able to train new and not so new drivers, they must be able to justify and reason why, they must be able to give remedial or advanced tuition and need the tools to do so. With this new Colourfile ® edition ADI’s can equip themselves with a modern training aid designed to serve them now and well into the future.

How to Use this Excellent Teaching Resource
Without exception, the training diagrams are free of instructional text. This is because text on a diagram distracts both teacher and learner! Whilst you should heed the prompts given in the lesson plans it is not our intention to direct you in what to say or how to say it.        You are encouraged to develop your own professional skills by using this product.
 
The Colourfile Professional
Has been designed with the pupil in mind, simply select the lesson in hand, place the training aid on your knee or clipboard so that the pupil can see the diagram without sight of the lesson plan. When you are familiar with the training aid you should be able to keep the lesson plan page covered/folded back with minimal reference to it. Try not to cover the diagrams you are referring to with your arm or hand. It is better to use a pointer (a pen or pencil for example). Another useful tip is to turn the page round on occasions to present the information from another road user's point of view or so that the approach to a junction appears the same as the driver's view ahead.
 
Visual Briefing Guidelines
Once you’ve given a recap and agreed the target learning outcomes with your client it is time to commence your briefing. The briefing is your explanation of how the learner should achieve the set objectives.

You must cover the topic by tailoring your instruction to the learner. In the early stages of learning you may need to give a full briefing containing step by step instructions. As the learner's skill and knowledge increase you should be able to reduce the amount of verbal explanation required.

As the learner approaches driving test standard you may only need to use a question and answer session to brush up on previously learned material, or encourage the learner to apply what is known to a new scenario.
 
Respond to your Learner’s Needs:
It is not always necessary to use a diagram to teach some driving tasks. Key learning points may be dealt with by a Coaching or Q&A session.

However, if as a result of such diagnostic questions you identify a weakness in your learner's knowledge, it might then be appropriate to refer back to a diagram. With the above in mind, it should be obvious that you will rely most heavily on your Colourfile in the earlier stages of learning to drive. ‘Dip in’ to the Colourfile when teaching new subjects or driving procedures to more experienced drivers, giving remedial tuition to qualified drivers or giving advanced tuition.
 
Workstations: Within the Colourfile are blank road layouts and may be used in several ways:
It is often useful in the early stages of learning to illustrate what the pupil did wrong on approach to a junction or other hazard, for example, being too close to the left and clipping the kerb on a left turn.

You may want to illustrate a particular set of circumstances which may have led to your pupil making an error, or which requires further explanation.
You should make sure that your drawings are at an appropriate scale for the road layout you are using. You may also want to use the workstations independently of the prepared diagrams.

This may be particularly useful during a recap session, or when your pupil is approaching test standard and is 'brushing up' on how to deal with particular hazards. However, it is not possible to provide diagrams that suit every circumstance and you might find it necessary to draw particular road layouts on the 'white board’ or ‘notepad’ also provided.

How to Use This Excellent
Teaching Resource

The Colourfile ® training aid will help trainee and qualified instructors to select the relevant information for their lessons without reference to copious notes. Correct and effective use of Colourfile Professional ® in a part 3 instructional ability test or check test will demonstrate candidates’ awareness of the need for a structured approach to teaching and the use of training aids.
 
The guidance notes that follow were written to help you use the visuals correctly. Remember that there is no single style of presentation or routine briefing for each subject that is suitable for all ADI's or for every learner, nor is this desirable.

Learners differ both in ability and responsiveness to teaching content and style. The good ADI will vary his or her lesson delivery with these factors in mind. It is important therefore to adapt your use of this resource to the needs of your pupil's ability, aptitude and attitude so that lesson objectives may be achieved.

Colourfile Professional aka The Colourfile ® is designed to aid the instructor with lessons given to a 'beginner', right through to a pupil approaching 'test standard' and beyond into advanced driving.

With a few obvious exceptions, the arrangement of the lesson plans within this resource is not intended to impose a strict order in which lessons should be given. This of course will depend on your pupils' needs, ability, confidence, your particular location and circumstances.

The Colourfile ® contains encapsulated colour diagrams and associated lesson plans. Where possible, the diagrams are laid out so that learning outcomes can be covered by the diagrams on the facing page. For some subjects this is impractical and you will find that the lesson can be better covered by reference to consecutive pages.

Using the Lesson Plans:
The best method for lesson planning is to set behavioral objectives, which allow the teacher to measure progress by an observed change in the learner's level of skill.The following key features of a lesson plan form an integral part of this book. The meaning of the terms and context in which they are used in the lesson plans is explained below. In addition the Colourfile ® references EDT lesson plans where possible and relates to other sections for ADI's

Box 1 Recap/Experience/Performance: ‘recapitulation’ is a verbal summary of what was previously learned. It is best practice to remind the driver of what was achieved in the previous lesson, or, if a new client, find out about his/her background and previous experience by means of Q&A so that you can decide on the level at which instruction should commence.

Experience: this is self-explanatory. What relevant practice or tuition has the driver previously had in the subject being taught.

Performance: if the driver has previously had tuition in the subject you need to know the level of skill and understanding achieved in order to consolidate and progress the learning process.

Box 2 Learning Outcomes : the conditions under which learning outcomes (objectives) for the current lesson should be achieved. E.g. when teaching ‘moving off under control’ the range for a novice might include ‘move off straight ahead on a level road’. With experience the range might change to include ‘move off uphill at an angle’. Link: relating what is already known or experienced to what will be taught in the current lesson.
 
Learning Outcomes: or ‘Lesson Objectives’ are specific statements of what the driver should be able to achieve at the end of your lesson. The lesson plans in Colourfile Professional show a number of possible learning outcomes that could be achieved with the help of the diagrams. Other learning outcomes for which use of diagrams may not be appropriate but which should be achieved within the subject area are also listed. Select those you need to set your current lesson objectives.
 
Box 3: Checklist:
Key learning points for the diagrams on the facing page. You may wish to mark those relevant to your current lesson with a dry wipe pen, and tick them off as they are dealt with.
 
Box 4: Key questions:
The pupil should be able to answer these if the objectives have been met. You should select and/or rephrase the questions according to the ‘range’ of your lesson. Rephrasing does not matter providing that the questions you use are structured to aid the learning process.
 
Box 5:
This box is blank for you to add your own notes or questions with a dry-wipe or permanent marker. You may want to print these on self-adhesive labels.You could also use this box to cross-reference your lesson to other pages such as the workstations .

All our diagrams are presented in ‘birds-eye’ or plan view as appropriate for the lesson.     In addition you will find a section containing workstations; these are blank road layouts taken in plan view from the main training diagrams. You can use these and/or the ‘note pad’ to create your own scenarios with a dry wipe pen.

Using Dry Wipe Pens
The use of dry wipe pens are a great idea as you can simply wipe the last lesson away and start again. The Colourfile is encapsulated, so that you may use a dry wipe pen to draw on or annotate the diagrams when in use.
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 The Colourfile ....
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Used by Professionals