Table of Contents Allow sufficient time for students to learn more difficult or complex skills.
Some of the skills in EDU-1 are larger in scope and more comprehensive than others. For example, the “Return to man overboard (MOB)” skill involves combining several different skills and behaviors to achieve a desired outcome--that is, to maneuver the boat back quickly and safely to a person in the water. This comprehensive skill might be difficult to learn in the aggregate, but it is an excellent learning opportunity that brings together several other individual skills. “Return to man overboard” can be learned and demonstrated on many different types and sizes of boats.
These skills will likely take more design time, as well as more actual time to learn during instruction. Considerations for this include:
• Allowing sufficient time to design more comprehensive skills. • Parsing comprehensive skills into smaller components. • Designing experiences for learning portions of a larger skill prior to other parts. • Using more instructional time on skills that are larger in scope. • Being mindful about the type of boat used for learning comprehensive skills
Reviewing and Updating Existing Programs
Use EDU-1 to review and update existing entry-level powerboating instruction courses. Many of the guidelines written in the preceding section apply, and in this case, take a look at the existing program to see how the course design and curriculum align with EDU-1. Becoming familiar with content of the standard is equally important whether designing a new course or updating an existing one. Additional guidelines include:
Gathering information and ideas from instructors about existing courses and past student outcomes.
Since they are the ones who interact most frequently and directly with students, instructors often have valuable perspectives about existing courses and ideas on how they might be improved. Brief instructors on EDU-1 and ask them to compare the elements with what they have experienced in genuine instructional scenarios. Instructors can help determine if areas of the existing program are missing or need improvement so that they better align with the standard.
Observing practical on-water exams during existing courses to determine if all skill elements are currently included.
Use EDU-1 as a checklist of skills to see if all the elements are included in existing skills practical exams. Using the checklist to observe skills can help quickly determine which are present, missing, or might need improvement in the existing instructional course. For example, students consistently demonstrating low levels of performance on any one skill may indicate a potential problem with the instructional design or approach used to teach that skill.
Creating an alignment matrix to analyze the contents of an existing course.
Place the modules or individual components of an existing course into a column and line them up with the standard elements in another column. This can help compare the contents of a course with the contents of EDU-1. It also may reveal gaps or areas in the existing course that need strengthening.
Determining what changes, if any, to make to the existing course.
After performing the appropriate amount of analysis, as the previous guidelines suggest, assign priorities to the areas that will have the greatest impact on successful student outcomes. Perhaps the course is sufficient as is and requires no change since it already aligns with the standard. Or maybe gaps between the existing course and the standard elements require the creation of additional course content or emphasizing other content. In either case, using the standard helps evaluate the existing program to determine its completeness and whether it should be changed.
This Technical Support Document was produced in part through USCG grant funds to develop National On-Water Skills Standards. 7 ©2022 United States Sailing Association. Facilitated by Think First Serve.
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