Fostering a safe space for students to communicate and express themselves gives the students the courage to engage in daily classroom activities and discussions. In our class, I've always encouraged students to participate in our classroom talks; in the beginning of my tenure, I would use the technique of encouraging questions during the lecture or instructor (me) speaking, instead of waiting until the end. That way, they could get the answer in the moment, for better retention, instead of running the risk of losing train of thought by waiting until the instructor was done speaking. Also, my colleague encourages participation continuously, but couples that with personal encouragement as well, telling the students that they can have bright futures with this knowledge of the drone industry and having the know-how of flying drones.
I have learned through teaching here how to encourage and uplift the students as well, thus providing the safe space for the students to ask as many questions as they may see fit, and also try the assignments and flight exercises we ask of them with minimal, if any, fear of crashing or damaging the equipment, i.e., the drones. The safe space thereby nurtures their curiosity, and gives them courage to seek more to learn
