ACA River Kayak Committee

Cross-Pollination of Teaching Methods

Larry Ausley — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 16:16:46 +0000

I spoke recently with a couple of L4 and L5 River kayak instructors about how our local paddling clubs could increase opportunities for their instructors to “cross-pollinate” ideas, teaching styles and methods with other IT/ITEs and instructors outside of our own instructor corps. I think it’s a pretty common occurrence for a group of instructors to develop within some geographic area, mentored by one, or at best a few IT/ITEs and in many cases go for years in an update cycle within that group.

In the past, one club has hired in external ITs from outside of the area to get some new ideas and perspectives. We have also discussed mechanisms of just getting our instructors together for the expressed purpose of brainstorming teaching ideas and techniques. Suggestions like a weekend instructors-only land and on-river workshop have been brought forward.

I doubt that this problem is endemic to our clubs or our area. It’s also unlikely that it’s a club-only issue. Even commercial instructors frequently learn the ropes within their own organization and rarely get a peak outside of it to bring in new ideas. It’s likely that whatever solutions we could develop would benefit commercial and volunteer instructors alike, and thereby, our sport as a whole.

Jump in on this conversation with successes you’ve had with cross-pollination like this or make a few suggestions here. What can instructors do themselves? What can clubs or businesses do? How could ACA itself, at the national or Division levels do to get more involved with this?

River Safety and Rescue Crossover Certification

Larry Ausley — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 01:58:16 +0000

In March 2011, the SEIC and ACA Board of Directors approved a one-day crossover curriculum (ICE) to allow current L4+ River Kayak (or River Canoe) instructors to achieve L3 River Safety and Rescue Instructor certification after successful completion of this ICE. Contact ACA Safety and Rescue L3+ ITs about Crossover ICEs.

Flatwater Kayak Safety and Rescue

Larry Ausley — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 19:02:33 +0000

In October 2011 SEIC and the ACA Board of Directors approved a change in curriculum now allowing L2 and higher River or Coastal Kayak instructors to teach the Flatwater Kayak Safety and Rescue course.

Unresponsive paddler and “Hand-of-god” criteria

Larry Ausley — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 18:57:32 +0000

In October 2011, the SEIC and ACA Board of Directors changed the wording of L2 and higher instructor criteria to reflect a change in the interpretation of basic rescue techniques. Where previously “Hand-of-god” had been a requirement, the criteria now reflect the need for instructors and instructor candidates to perform an “Unresponsive paddler rescue” with Hand-of-god offered as an example of such. See L2-L5 River Kayak instructor criteria for specific language.

ACA Skills Assessments by all instructors

Larry Ausley — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 18:08:56 +0000

In February 2009, the SEIC and ACA Board of Directors approved a proposal allowing all ACA instructors to perform skills assessments at, or below their certified level. For example, an L4 River Kayak instructor could perform Level 1, 2, 3 or 4 River Kayak Skills Assessment for students (but could not perform an L5 Assessment). River Kayak Skills Assessments can all be found at: http://www.americancanoe.org/?page=Courses_Kayaking

L3 Instructors can teach Trip Leading Assessment

Larry Ausley — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 01:24:45 +0000

In June 2010, the ACA Board of Directors authorized L3 River Kayak Instructors who have successfully completed the River Kayak Day Trip Leader Assessment (RKDTLA) to add that to their certification as an endorsement and to subsequently teach and assess that course themselves. L4 and L5 River Kayak Instructors could already teach and assess the RKDTLA.

Recommended minimum times for Instructor Certification courses

Larry Ausley — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 01:14:23 +0000

In the February 2011 SEI Focus newsletter, ACA presented recommended minimum durations for Instructor Certification Workshops.

For River Kayak, the recommendations are:

L1: 2 Days (1 for IDW, 1 for ICE)
L2: 3 Days (2 for IDW, 1 for ICE)
L3: 4 Days (3 for IDW, 1 for ICE)
L4: 5 Days (3 for IDW, 2 for ICE)
L5: 2 (ICE Only)

New SEI Office Staff

Larry Ausley — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 01:01:55 +0000

In June 2011, Kelsey Bracewell joined ACA as an SEI staffer. More on Kelsey in the June SEI Focus newsletter.

ACA Journal of Paddlesports Education

Larry Ausley — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 00:58:09 +0000

In September 2011, ACA began publication of the online Journal of Paddlesports Education. The journal is intended to be an educational collaboration tool for ACA instructors to offer and exchange ideas on the paddlesports.

The journal premiered with outstanding articles like Robin Pope’s “Teaching Tips for Kayaking” that provide outstanding rescources for River Kayak Instructors. All ACA instructors are encouraged to submit ideas and articles to the journal.

All ACA instructors required First Aid and CPR

Larry Ausley — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 00:48:25 +0000

In June, 2009, the SEIC and ACA Board of directors required all ACA instructors to have and maintain First Aid certification appropriate to the venue at which they are teaching and age-appropriate CPR certification. ACA instructor certification is not valid unless these other two certifications are current.

See the current SEIC policy manual for more details.