Teaching FEMA/ICS - a new approach - help needed

[MikeD]

We've got a new crop of cadets, and I'm trying to get at least some of them qualified for IS-100 and -700.  A decent number has already passed CAPT 116.  The DCS and commander want to go over something at a squadron meeting, but (possibly poorly) regurgitating the CBT does not seem like it'd be a good use of anyone's time.

What I'm thinking of doing instead is trying to go over the absolute core material, why the ICS system was created, and why it's important for CAP to learn and use it for about 10 minutes, and about 10 minutes on the mindset for doing computer-based training and how to take open-book testing.  I'm hoping that since that's an area new to most of the cadets, a little bit of guidance will go a long way. 

How does this sound?  I knocked them both out pretty easily, and I'm having a hard time understanding why this has proven so hard for my cadets to pass.  But very few of my cadets have managed to pass just -100, and I don't think any of them has passed both. 

Mike

[coudano]

Try to login to the actual course and click through it right there in the class if you can.
With the thing up on the projector where everyone can see.
If you don't have internet access, maybe screen shots?

I have found two issues
1) cadets have a hard time with the technology
2) that course is stupid long, and cadets have trouble with attention span

Ultimately, the ones that REALLY want their ES qualification get it done.
The rest never do.

I have the same problem with cadets and their online testing for promotion.
Though it is (slowly) getting better with the cadets that i've had for over six months now...
I have lost some of them before they even got their first stripe!!!
I hope to 'fix' this problem with my next batch of recruits, but I don't know exactly how (we're going to try more information up front, before they join)

[Spaceman3750]

Try to login to the actual course and click through it right there in the class if you can.
With the thing up on the projector where everyone can see.
If you don't have internet access, maybe screen shots?

I have found two issues
1) cadets have a hard time with the technology
2) that course is stupid long, and cadets have trouble with attention span

Ultimately, the ones that REALLY want their ES qualification get it done.
The rest never do.

I have the same problem with cadets and their online testing for promotion.
Though it is (slowly) getting better with the cadets that i've had for over six months now...
I have lost some of them before they even got their first stripe!!!
I hope to 'fix' this problem with my next batch of recruits, but I don't know exactly how (we're going to try more information up front, before they join)

Your observations on FEMA courses mirror mine to a "T". What I have to keep reminding myself is that if a cadet isn't mature enough and have the attention span to get two simple FEMA courses done, they aren't mature enough for our ES program, as much as I would like to see my resource report "fill up".

[Al Sayre]

+1

As an IC, I really don't want a bunch of people who had to be spoon fed the basic ICS information for whatever reason on my mission.  The courses were developed as self study computer based training.  I'm willing to make allowances for not having internet available at home etc. by making it available at Squadron HQ, but if they can't handle the material being presented in the way it was designed, then what are they going to do when they get handed a scenario folder to prepare for a mission briefing?  We need trained people, not just warm bodies to fill out the rosters...

[Eclipse]

I go with AL.

Cadets can't handle the technology? Time to logoff Facebook, put down the phone, pause the xbox and
actually use the interweb pipes for something useful.

These are online, open-book tests, if that is too much of a gateway, they don't belong in ES.

Truth be told, most adults, including myself, have/had issues with ICS when they first encounter it.  The concepts are simple, but the terminology doesn't really match anything in the "real" world. 

The goal should be to make it through the root canal, then put those ideas into practice at the unit.  Use ICS for everything from unit meetings to bivouacs.

After one or two times, it starts to make sense.

[Tubacap]

This is an interesting topic to me.  I am embarking on trying to understand why we have a little over 1300 GES qualified personnel, but only approximately 700 with specialties.  I think ICS courses may be a point to consider.

Two distinct problems exist as I see it:  Knowledge and Course formatting.

In regards to knowledge, I find that doing a class with 100 and 700 is a great way to actually learn the material.  The self study method online does not always provide the best knowledge retention.  A classroom environment using the supplied powerpoints from FEMA are a great way to start the discussion as to why and how everything was developed.  Also as an IC, I want my personnel to have a thorough understanding of the topics, not just a cursory one.

The second issue that I often times see is working with the computer.  In my day job, I am a public school teacher, teaching students in 5th through 12th grade.  It astounds me daily how many people can facebook, hook up an xbox, and navigate to a single website that someone showed them, but that's about it.  I asked a junior high student to email me a question they had, and they told me they didn't know how to use email, and from this student, I believe them.  I think this may be the case with many of our cadets as well.  Not all, but many lack basic second level computer functioning skills.  They are able to manipulate the system, but they don't know how to use the system.

I would be very interested in others viewpoint as well!

[Eclipse]

This is an interesting topic to me.  I am embarking on trying to understand why we have a little over 1300 GES qualified personnel, but only approximately 700 with specialties.  I think ICS courses may be a point to consider.

GES is a 15-minute exercise of the F3 key, qualifications take actual initiative and effort.

There's nothing wrong with enhancing the training or making it more friendly, but ICS 100 & 700, the not pinch point to quals.

The second issue that I often times see is working with the computer.  In my day job, I am a public school teacher, teaching students in 5th through 12th grade.  It astounds me daily how many people can facebook, hook up an xbox, and navigate to a single website that someone showed them, but that's about it.  I asked a junior high student to email me a question they had, and they told me they didn't know how to use email, and from this student, I believe them.  I think this may be the case with many of our cadets as well.  Not all, but many lack basic second level computer functioning skills.  They are able to manipulate the system, but they don't know how to use the system.

This is sadly way too true, which is why I find it amusing when people assert that age is a factor in the adoption of new technologies.
VCR's flashed 12:00 for nearly 20 years because setting the time required more that the PLAY and PAUSE button.

That is also one of the reasons why "social" media is so dangerous, because it puts people in the deep end of the pool before they
even recognize swimming as a concept, let alone knowing how themselves.  They simply sink to the bottom and then wonder why
the "air" is so thick.

[EMT-83]

When 700 first began a requirement, we had classroom sessions using the course material from the FEMA website. I related ICS components to CAP situations that the cadets are familiar with – encampment, SAREXs and bivouacs, for example.

When they discovered how many ICS elements they use on a regular basis, such as flights to maintain span of control, the concept wasn't foreign any longer and they did just fine.

[MikeD]

When 700 first began a requirement, we had classroom sessions using the course material from the FEMA website. I related ICS components to CAP situations that the cadets are familiar with – encampment, SAREXs and bivouacs, for example.

When they discovered how many ICS elements they use on a regular basis, such as flights to maintain span of control, the concept wasn't foreign any longer and they did just fine.

That might be the kicker to an insightful thread.  I need to take a look over the material and think about parallels like that to point out. 

Thanks to all for your thoughts.  I'll post once I come up with a game plan, and on how well it goes...

[bosshawk]

Having been through 100,300,700 and 800, I can attest to the FEMA courses as being too long and too complex for the average bear.

What would seem logical to me is that cadets have no concept of what FEMA is or how it fits into any ES puzzle.  Neither do most of them have any concept of what an incident is, what does command mean and what the Hell is a "system"?  Remember that you are dealing with folks who simply don't have these terms in their lexicons.

Teaching ES concepts is likely a whole lot easier.

Suspect that getting cadets through FEMA stuff and ICS is going to require a real basic start with definitions and concepts that are completely alien to them.  Neither of these things are really all that easy for the average senior.

You cadet program guys can flame away, but that is how I see it.