Hi to all, my name is Kevin O’Neill
I am an automotive lecturer in A block.
I am married with 1 little girl who is 18 months old.
I have been in the automotive trade for about 16 years. I started my trade in Dunedin once I was finished my apprenticeship and gave the employer 2 years of being qualified my wife and I moved to Christchurch and I worked for a local garage that I ended up managing.
After 5 years there we decided to go do our big OE we moved over to Perth and worked over there for a year. In that time I worked in the mines and in Perth, it was a big eye opener working over there.
After the year my wife and I decided to move back to New Zealand buy a house, settle down and start a family.
The automotive industry has changed a lot in the last few years and the technology that runs these vehicles is incredibly interesting and complicated which makes it an exciting subject for me to teach and learn more about.
I am really enjoying working for the polytechnic and the challenge that teaching modern students brings.
I am looking forward to this flexible learning course and to develop my skills in modernizing our current teaching practices and keeping tried and true approaches alive. I believe that it’s not about “leaving the old ways behind” and more about understanding the modern student and integrating the old with the new to create a modern learning platform.
Attached is a video of how modern technology is being used to prevent accidents from happening.
As you watch this think about knowledge that your "mechanic" has to understand to be up with modern vehicle systems.
