Seminars: Knowledge Without Pain
June 20, 2017
It seems we have been complaining forever about declining student intake for our courses, but complaining isn’t going to change a thing; positive action will. Hopefully by now you will have read the 2016-2020 Strategic Plan that our Board of Directors approved in the fall of 2016; a plan that looks at the problem on five fronts; Education, Membership, Volunteers, Community, and Communication. CPS-ECP is taking a good look at itself to see what changes can be made to satisfy a young boating public with different wants and needs.
We think of the computer age as something that began only yesterday, but there are young adults out there who were raised on computers, and look to the computer as their source of knowledge, because it delivers that knowledge fast without having to spend hours in a classroom. Furthermore, these young adults are now buying boats; big boats, little boats, fast boats, fishing boats, and they need to know how to operate them safely, and that’s where CPS-ECP comes in, because it is the largest boating safety education organization in Canada and it is reacting to these changing needs and wants. The Education Dept. is developing courses that can be delivered online as well as through the traditional classroom, and we are developing seminars that can be delivered in a matter of a few hours or a day, and can be delivered at any time of the year, at any place, such as a marina, yacht club, boat house, or church basement.
Seminars are not new to CPS-ECP; over the years many Squadrons have developed their own successful seminars to satisfy a local need, or have often taken a module such as Electronic Chartplottersfrom a full-sized course like Electronic Navigation. In addition, we now have a committee, whose task is to develop seminars that satisfy the need for quick delivery, at any time of the year, and in any location. These will cover subjects such as, AIS for recreational boaters, solo sailing, and traditional subjects like Collision Regs, and distress signaling. A Squadron can set up a bottomless coffee pot, with a couple of dozen muffins or donuts, and run a short, painless seminar in a sociable atmosphere, and bring CPS-ECP to more of those recreational boaters who are coming onto our waterways.
Brian Reis JN,
ANEO Curriculum and Course Development
Photo by: Don Butt. Gabriola Island Power and Sail Squadron’s Low Light Seminar.
