The EdUp Experience From Firearms to Drones: Teaching Trades Without Classrooms - with Jarred McNeely, Chief Academic Officer, Sonoran Desert Institute
Nov 5, 2025
Jarred McNeely, Chief Academic Officer at Sonoran Desert Institute, shares insights on online trade education, focusing on practical skills in gunsmithing and drones. He discusses innovative hands-on learning methods delivered from students' homes, emphasizing video demonstrations over traditional written work for validating competency. Jarred advocates treating AI as a tool rather than a threat, and highlights the importance of open-book testing to prepare students for rapid industry changes. His practical approach aims to bridge education and real-world applications.
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Putting The Lab In Students' Living Rooms
- Sonoran Desert Institute runs a fully online trade-school model that delivers physical lab kits to students' homes.
- This approach lets students do hands-on trades training remotely while preserving practical skill verification.
Use Video Demos To Prove Competence
- Ask students to submit video demonstrations of physical work rather than traditional papers to verify competence.
- Use instructor feedback on videos as the primary academic-integrity and assessment mechanism.
Prioritize Faculty Time For What Matters
- Rebalance faculty workload to allow time for watching and commenting on student videos.
- Reduce routine online chores (e.g., number of discussion posts) so faculty can focus on substantive review.