Classroom Management for Teaching with VEX AIR

Flying the VEX AIR Drone indoors is a hands-on learning experience that requires clear roles, shared responsibility, and consistent safety habits. The strategies and guidance in this article are designed to help teachers and students understand how to prepare, operate, and wrap-up drone flights safely in an indoor learning environment. 

Establish Student Roles

Flight safety is everyone's responsibility whenever you are working with VEX AIR. Part of creating a safe flight environment is establishing clear roles and responsibilities for students and adults. When everyone is clear on the expectations, it can help eliminate ambiguity and ensure a smooth flight session. 

Every student should have an assigned role for each flight, so every member of a group or flight team knows where they should be, and what they are responsible for. Each role will have different responsibilities before, during, and after a flight, which are outlined later in this article. The following roles are recommended:

• Pilot(s) - The student in the Pilot Station wearing the VEX AIR Drone Controller and actively flying the drone in the flight area.
• Co-Pilot(s) - A student in the Pilot Station working with the pilot and visually monitoring the drone's position and battery level during flight.
• Observer(s) - Any other students who are not piloting. Observers should stay within or outside the buffer zone, maintain awareness of their surroundings, and may be reflecting on or preparing for a flight.

Students should remain within their roles for one whole flight cycle - before, during, and after a flight - so they are carrying out all assigned responsibilities fairly. Students can then alternate, or rotate through roles so that everyone has an opportunity to pilot the drone.

Create a Flight Schedule

If multiple groups or teams are going to be sharing a central flight area during the same class period or session, it is helpful to plan ahead and create a flight schedule. 

Anyone not currently flying is an observer. Observers should be paying attention to their surroundings at all times, and can be actively engaged in preparing for, or reflecting on, a flight. Observer tasks include:

• Practicing a flight in the VEX AIR Flight Simulator.
• Reflecting and recording flight information on a Mission Log.
• Planning a flight path with their flight team.
• Watching the flight area to see how other teams are approaching the task at hand.

Fit to Fly 

Before any flight, pilots check more than just their aircraft, they check themselves, asking an important question: Am I fit to fly? Being fit to fly means the pilot and co-pilot are focused, alert, and ready to follow safety procedures before taking off. A perfectly working drone can be unsafe if the pilots are tired, distracted, or rushing. 

For students, being fit to fly means they are focused, ready, calm, safe, prepared, and aware. Talk with your students about what fit to fly means in your context. Use the following prompts to talk with students about how to know if they are fit to fly:

• Focused – I am paying attention and not distracted.
• Ready – I understand today’s task or mission.
• Calm – I am not rushed, frustrated, or overly excited.
• Safe – I am following all safety rules and procedures.
• Prepared – I have completed the pre-flight checklist.
• Aware – The takeoff and landing zones are clear.

It is always ok for pilots or co-pilots not to fly if something feels unsafe or unsure. Students can rotate between roles as needed in order to ensure they are only flying when they feel safe to.

Before Flight Responsibilities

Adults and students are responsible for preparing for a flight. Depending on the role, these responsibilities differ. This chart shows recommended before flight responsibilities: 

The Safety Lead is the supervising adult who will be directly responsible for monitoring student flight safety and dealing with safety issues (in accordance with all school policies) as they arise. Be sure that students know who the Safety Lead is, so that they can direct questions or concerns appropriately.

The following resources can help as you are preparing for a flight: 

• For recommendations for setting up your space for flight, see this article.
• To learn more about pre-flight safety checks, see this article.
• Printable pre-flight checklists (Google Doc / .docx / .pdf)
• See this article to learn more about the VEX AIR Drone Propeller Lock.

During Flight Responsibilities

Everyone is responsible for maintaining a safe flight environment when flights are occurring. This chart shows recommended responsibilities for while flights are in progress: 

If an emergency arises during a flight, everyone is responsible for maintaining safety procedures. These can include things like: 

• Calling "Cut" to stop a flight – Anyone (student or adult) may call out "CUT!" at any time if they see a safety concern during flight. All pilots must immediately stop flying when "Cut" is called. Pilots can engage the Emergency Stop (E-Stop) if needed at this time. 
  • To ensure all students understand this responsibility, role play scenarios that would necessitate a "Cut" call to occur, and what each student role should do when "Cut" is called.
• Activating the Emergency Stop (E-Stop) – Pressing the Propeller Lock and the Takeoff & Land buttons on the controller at the same time will stop all motors immediately, and the drone will fall to the ground. 
  • Ensure students know how and when to engage the E-Stop.
  •  Discuss what constitutes an emergency during flight, and what to do after an E-Stop has happened. See this article for more information.

After Flight Responsibilities

Once a flight is over, there are still things to be done. This chart shows recommended responsibilities for after a flight:

The following resources can help you as you wrap up a flight: 

• To learn more about battery charging best practices, see this article.

To talk more about strategies for teaching with VEX AIR that is tailored to your students and setting, schedule a 1-on-1 Session in PD+ to talk with a VEX Expert.