Take the lead: How the ETC meets the twenty-first century demands of emergency services training
By A. Abena Sey
Lakeland College Emergency Training Centre
August 8, 2016
Abstract
Lakeland College Emergency Training Centre's (ETC) Firefighter Training Program (FFTP) and the Bachelor of Applied Business: Emergency Services (BAppBES) online degree program exemplify online distance education programming that meets the needs of the twenty-first century. The FFTP and BAppBES applied degree demonstrate that with the incorporation of suitable technology, highly engaging course modules, and the instructor’s efforts to build community amongst the students, online distance education is an effective method to teach pre-service firefighters and experienced emergency services workers in a digital, non-traditional way. This research paper highlights how these programs meet the needs of twenty-first century emergency services students. The widely accepted needs as identified by academic articles that explore the demands of teaching and learning in the twenty-first century and trends in online learning reviewed for this paper include: flexibility, innovative teaching methods, sense of community, access to open educational resources, active learning, and skill development. Furthermore, I will support my contentions with examples of curriculum design, teaching methodology, the use of technology, and the collaborative environment for instructors and students in the blended online FFTP and the BAppBES applied degree program at the college.
Key words: online, distance education, emergency services, training, twenty-first century learning, skills
Introduction
Lakeland College Emergency Training Centre (ETC) meets the needs of vocational students who are looking for flexibility and innovative ways of learning in the emergency services. The ETC offers training for pre-service firefighters in a flexible, online distance education format which gives access to interested individuals across the country who are passionate about the emergency services, and are eager to learn firefighter theory and collaborative, organization, and communication skills in a non-traditional way. The blended online format for the Firefighter Training Program (FFTP) involves students first learning firefighter theory exclusively from digital course modules and assignments. After learning firefighter theory in the online distance education portion of the program, students complete the remainder of the program on-site at the ETC. Students collaborate as members of the platoon in the school’s state-of-the-art training grounds to practice skills and drills required in emergency situations and industry-standard psychomotor skills. In addition to FFTP’s online blended program, the ETC also offers the Bachelor of Applied Business: Emergency Services (BAppBES) applied degree program in a blended online and face to face learning context. The BAppBES program caters to students who have served in the emergency services for a minimum of three years and are looking to develop managerial skills in the emergency services industry. It provides the flexibility students need to further enhance their education and training, while working full-time in the emergency services. Students collaborate, communicate, build and share knowledge by completing course modules and learning activities online. In the digital learning environment created, students are provided the opportunity to apply what they have learned online during the module in their respective places of work. Over the course of the three-and-a-half-year duration of the program, students complete learning modules and participate in engaging learning activities online to fulfill the credit requirements for the degree. In addition, students complete two sixteen-week practicums at their respective places of work. Through collaboration with the practicum supervisor, workplace supervisor, and the instructor, students create and oversee a management project at their workplaces. Through the incorporation of suitable technology, highly engaging course modules, and the instructor’s efforts to build a sense of community amongst students, the ETC proves that online distance education is an effective method to teach pre-service firefighters and experienced emergency services workers in a digital, non-traditional way as demanded in the twenty-first century.
The need for Flexibility
Twenty-first century learners seek flexibility, and because of this need, institutions have an opportunity to create options in their program delivery and assessment methods “to provide varied routes to completion” (Contact Nord, June 2016). Another factor that gives impetus for flexibility in program delivery and assessment methods are the backgrounds of the students, such as those who would like to work full-time and still be able to pursue higher education. Mature students are better able to achieve balance in work, family, and school when their needs for flexibility are met given that “more mature students, who are seeking flexible learning options, seek access to, and success, in programs” (Contact Nord, June 2016). At the ETC, pre-service firefighters have a choice of whether they would like to pursue their training in the traditional route (exclusively on-site at the ETC), or pursue the blended online option. In the latter option, students have the convenience to digitally engage in their learning material wherever and whenever they would like, so long as they meet the deadlines in the course schedule. Along with the flexibility students have in how they manage their time learning firefighter theory, students can enjoy accessibility to quality training at a distance. During the blending online route, students digitally complete the theory portion of the training at home, thereby students have more control over their learning. Moreover, technological advancements have changed the way students learn and institutions need “new models [of organizing education] that allow flexibility, multiplicity, and new ideas about ability” (Gilbert, 2007). For this reason, students can achieve success in the blended online option of the FFTP, highlighting the ETC’s recognition of students’ need for innovative teaching methods to meet their needs.
The need for Innovative Teaching Methods
Twenty-first century learners engage with technology to learn outside of the classroom environment, so there are “greater expectations for the use of technology-rich environments for learning, for access to resources, and for communication and collaboration with instructors and other students” within the classroom (Contact Nord, June 2016). In recognition of this, the ETC seeks innovation in instruction and the resources used to supplement it. For instance, FFTP students learn industry-based practical skills using the school’s state-of-the art training grounds and props. Some of these include the multi-level industrial complex to simulate industrial fire scenarios, the multi-level technical rescue prop to practice rope rescue, laddering, lifting and hoisting, the three-story smoke tower used for search and rescue training in a zero-visibility environment, the seven-story burn tower to simulate rescue scenarios, and the water treatment facility for recycling the water used during training to reduce the environmental impact of the training field.
The use of innovative teaching tools, such as the props used at the ETC’s training facility, enhances students’ learning experience; however, another dimension for the school’s innovative teaching is the curriculum design of the online learning modules. In the online learning setting, designing for connectivity is key. Students feeling connected is crucial, so instructors must ensure that a sense of community is established amongst the students. Therefore, online learning can give learners the benefits of flexibility, while still maintaining the “sense of community (that) allows students to feel connected not only to their instructors and classmates but to the course content itself” (Contact Nord, May 2016). Evidently, “in the online environment, students will feel isolated and frustrated with any ambiguities and can “turn off” if questions go unanswered for too long,” thus, to counter this problem, the design of ETC’s Bachelor of Applied Business: Emergency Services online model uses creative ways for students to have access to these answers and create that sense of community students need when learning digitally (Contact Nord, May 2016).
The need to Feel a Sense of Community
In online distance education learning contexts, the development of relationships with and amongst students is a strong factor for successful program delivery and feelings of personal satisfaction for both the instructor and the students (Contact Nord May 2016). Students seek contact, albeit virtually, in order to feel connected with the instructor and fellow colleagues. To meet this need, online instructors must seek ways to communicate with the students regularly, and ways for students to interact with one another, and this can be exemplified in the model of the ETC’s BAppBES online applied degree program. The ETC instructors understand that “the more actively engaged students are — with faculty and staff, with other students, and with the subject matter they study — the more likely they are to learn, to stick with their studies, and to attain their academic goals,” so included in the program are multiple opportunities for students to connect with instructors and with cohort members as a digital learning community (Contact Nord May 2016). In the program, students connect with peers through videoconferencing during the orientation week so that they virtually meet other members in the cohort, and engage in weekly online discussions, wherein students contribute an original discussion post and must respond to the posts of two other cohort members. The discussion questions are based on management-specific topics to which students share their personal experiences in their respective places of work. Cohort members come from a variety of fields in the emergency services, including fire and medical services, policing, corrections, municipal emergency response, and private/industrial emergency services, therefore, there is rich discussion of experience in these fields.
The weekly discussions from “diverse teams of varying viewpoints” offer opportunities for deeply “exploring ideas” (Siemens, 2004). Teaching-learning roles are reversed, given that the instructor creates an environment of sharing experiences by writing discussion questions that relate to the topic of the weekly readings, and then students substantiate their responses using their experience in the field. Students engage in further discussion and response with each other, and this enables them to learn from one another. Moreover, students can communicate with the instructor through email, the discussion forum, and through videoconferencing. In using a variety of technology to communicate with students in a “consistent, personal, intelligent and encouraging,” way instructors enhance the experience of the students and strengthen the sense of community (Marks, 2016). In the BAppBES program, instructors respond to students’ questions efficiently using technology; however, they also empower their students to research answers to these questions themselves by providing access to online educational resources.
The need for Access to Open Educational Resources
Students in the BAppBES program have access to online resources from The Learning Commons of Lakeland College. This website contains online resources to help students with writing such as, Grammarly, eTutor Alberta, and online writing labs. Also featured on this website are study tips to help students achieve success. One of the learning objectives in the applied degree program is students learning to research and synthesize information in each course module. For this reason, students have access to Lakeland College Library’s extensive digital database to search for articles, journals, or e-books to complete assignments in each module. Students are not just limited to information from the required textbook and reading assignments for the module, but can supplement this information by selecting e-resources related to the module’s learning objective on the database. Therefore, when students share their weekly discussion responses on the forum, it is even more enriched with knowledge gained from their research. Not only can students become independent learners through accessing these online resources, but also instructors can learn to enhance their teaching practice by accessing the online resources available to them at The Teaching Centre. As Trilling & Fidel (2009) substantiate, “in the 21st century, lifelong learning is here to stay,” and this is made possible for ETC students and instructors because they have access to online educational resources. Furthermore, “learning now occurs in a variety of ways — through communities of practice, personal networks, and through completion of work-related tasks,” so actively engaging in the learning material in this way better prepares students for the workplace where they are expected to be competent researchers of knowledge, i.e., knowing where to “find knowledge needed” for problem solving and innovation (Siemens, 2004).
The need for Active Learning and Skill Development
The shift in thinking about online delivery as solely a means to transmit information and assess students’ understanding through traditional evaluation, “is the understanding that the learner must be active in their online learning experience” (Marks, 2016). Students desire opportunities to demonstrate how the information they learn in the online environment relates to their own lives. Consequently, students in the BAppBES program have the opportunity to apply the skills learned online during the course modules to the two sixteen-week directed practicum placements they complete over the course of the program. In collaboration with their supervisor, practicum evaluator, and instructor, students design and oversee a managerial project at their places of work. During the practicums, students develop skills in planning, organizing, interpersonal relations, collaboration, and leadership.
Additionally, students develop skills in budgeting, inventory, and human and equipment resource management during the online accounting and online strategic management modules. Within each respective module, there are assignments for which students compare and contrast what they have learned in the module to the operational procedures at their places of work. Evidently, “learning and work related activities are no longer separate. In many situations, they are the same,” and the hands-on learning activities in the online modules and practicum placements at the students’ workplaces in the program further prepares them for leadership roles in the emergency services industry (Siemens, 2004). In effect, BAppBES students satisfy their needs for finding relevance in what they are learning, while they benefit from gaining experience in “knowledge and applied workplace skills, as well as high-level skills in group work, communication, (and) project leadership” (Contact Nord, June 2016).
Furthermore, students who pursue online studies develop “adaptability, resilience and “grit” — (the) “soft”, non-academic skills (…) essential for individuals seeking to enter the workforce” (Contact Nord, May 2016). Essentially, FFTP and BAppBES students develop these skills from the rigours of online distance education because there is a strong degree of autonomy and discipline involved in pursuing online distance education while also balancing a job, a family, and/or community service. Therefore, students complete their studies equipped with industry-related practical skills along with the skills that demonstrate teamwork, discipline and strong work ethic that emergency services employers seek.
Conclusion
Lakeland College Emergency Training Centre meets the demands of twenty-first century teaching and learning through its blended online distance education program options. Online distance education allows for flexibility, the creation of a digital learning community amongst the students and instructor, and access to open educational resources. Hands-on training at a distance for BAppBES students during their management practicums and hands-on training on-site at the ETC for FFTP students during their practicals provides active learning and skill development for the students in these programs. Students in the blended online FFTP and the BAppBES online applied degree programs are challenged intellectually and physically to take the lead over their education and be active participants in their learning experience.
The online distance education format of both programs gives students flexibility in when and where they learn the material from the course modules. Students, therefore, are better able to achieve balance in their school work and personal lives, because they manage their time for the course work. Though material is learned at a distance, ETC’s faculty create a digital environment that is welcoming and supportive through maintaining communication with their students via email, the learning forum, and videoconferencing. Furthermore, students are connected with faculty and other members in the cohort through engagement with the learning material and activities in the course modules. Students are empowered to control their learning experience because they have access to digital open educational resources in The Learning Commons and Lakeland College Library’s extensive digital database. Likewise, ETC’s faculty have access to digital resources available to them in the The Teaching Centre to enhance their teaching practice.
When students in the FFTP learn industry-related practical skills, they practice rescue scenarios using the ETC’s high-tech, state-of-the-art training grounds and props. Hands-on learning with the props and equipment on the training grounds gives students a value added experience that better prepares them for rescue and fire management when they work in real-life emergency incidents at their respective organizations. These students learn and develop discipline, teamwork, and communication skills as they collaborate with members of the platoon during rescue scenarios.
Similarly, students in the BAppBES program develop discipline, team work, and communication skills at a distance through completing assignments for the online digital course modules. They also gain hands-on management training through their experience creating and overseeing a management project at their places of work during the two sixteen-week practicums. In combining online distance education and hands-on learning opportunities, students from each respective program are best equipped with the skills and experience required of qualified workers in the emergency services industry.
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