Table of Contents Characteristic: Include curricula and course designs that encourage optimal learning.
Best-practice on-water instruction includes the use of a deliberate plan for what topics to include and an overall design for how to ensure students will learn them. The curriculum identifies which topics to include in the instructional approach. Course designs plan how those topics will be taught, including the sequence of activities and experiences that guide students in learning to be proficient recreational boat operators. The curriculum and course design together enable the instructional approach to be explicit, deliberate, and repeatable. They also allow continuous improvements to the approach over time.
Criterion: Using current ABYC recreational boating standards (EDU-1, EDU-2, EDU-3)
The specific content of the curriculum and course design focuses on delivering skills identified within the ANSs for on-water instruction. Subject matters experts determined that the fundamental entry-level skills identified in EDU-1, EDU-2, and EDU-3 apply across the widest possible platforms and environments. Become familiar with the profile of skills contained within the domain specific ANS before designing a curriculum or instructional program. Including additional skills not contained within a skills-based ANS is certainly appropriate. Course developers and instructors are encouraged to add material to their offerings as applicable to their local markets, platforms, or waterways.
Remember that EDU-1, EDU-2, and EDU-3 are not in themselves courses. Rather, they describe the desired outcomes that result from successfully completing one (or more) entry-level boating skills course(s). When the student completes the course(s), he or she should be able to perform some or all the skills contained in a skills-based ANS. Therefore, course developers should weigh the options about how best to deliver skills instruction (e.g., one long course, multiple short courses, etc.).
The skills identified within each standard are all independent from one another. They can be learned, demonstrated, and evaluated in most cases as separate skills without dependency across multiple skills. Therefore, they can be designed into an instructional program without having to link or connect them during instruction. Student performance on each skill can be assessed independently as well. A student can be highly proficient at one skill and have little proficiency in another. Therefore, when designing approach to instruction consider each skill as an individual learning opportunity to be designed, delivered, and evaluated independently from the others.
Familiarity with all the skills in the standards gives a better understanding of the full set of skills students should be able to perform as a result of the instructional approach. This will also better inform the course designer about how best to organize and sequence learning objectives and instructional activities to best meet the needs of students.
Once the high-level design of the instructional program is established, determine the number and scope of the course(s) required to deliver the skills associated with the curriculum. Then, determine which courses will deliver which skills to what level of proficiency.
Criterion: Using experiential education as the primary method of delivery
When skills development is the instructional focus, learning is best accomplished through experiential instruction in situ (i.e., the learning takes place in the actual/natural environment where the boat normally operates). The standards were developed to target the entry-level skills-based outcomes where active on-water, and hands-on approaches to recreational boating instruction are the primary method of delivery.
Experiential learning is one of the most effective ways to enable students to learn skills. Experiential learning occurs when student engage in the process of learning through experiences and then reflect on the learning they achieve.
A powerful application of experiential learning is the use of real (vs. realistic) experiences on a boat during the learning process. As a result, consider all the human senses associated with the experience of recreational boating. Think about designing experiential learning activities so that students develop all their available senses as they learn to demonstrate skilled recreational boat operation. Experiences can take into account the feel of the wind and sounds of other people and boats, as well as the mechanical steps and procedures associated with boat operation. It can also uniquely help beginners develop a better awareness of the speed of the boat through the water, which is often difficult for students to perceive accurately.
Because experiential learning is so potent, the learning of several related skills can be combined into one activity or scenario. This has a synergistic effect that promotes efficiency and effectiveness of the instruction.
To learn more about experiential learning, visit:
www.aee.org/what-is-ee. 9 This Technical Support Document was produced in part through USCG grant funds to develop National On-Water Skills Standards. ©2022 United States Sailing Association. Facilitated by Think First Serve.
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