Scheduling a Course over Several Weeks

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by Rance Okada, PCI #246
Westminster (CO) Police Department

IPMBA Instructors face many challenges while planning and conducting IPMBA Courses. They are called upon to deliver our training programs to a wide range of agencies. They often need to be creative and flexible in accommodating work schedules and in ensuring that they deliver a wealth of information into what at times seems like a very limited amount of time. Here are some recent tips from the field.

Scheduling a Course over Several Weeks
It is permissible to spread an IPMBA class out over the same number of weeks as there are days in the class to accommodate work schedules. The author conducted a Police Cyclist course over a period of four weeks and reports back with both pros and cons.

We taught this class on four consecutive Wednesdays over a four-week period in accordance with the guidance from the ITK.
We observed slight skill degradation between Day 1 and Day 2, but a 30-minute skills review at the start of Day 2 brought everybody up to speed.
The six-day break between days allowed the students to recover and heal from minor injuries, fatigue, and soreness.
The six-day break allowed time to get bikes fixed for the next day. Problems such as bent rims, out of true rims, cables stretched beyond adjustment, etc., were easily resolved.
It was a difficult schedule for the instructors, who had a long commute, but a good schedule for the students. It is sometimes only option for small departments which need a majority of their patrol officers certified in one group in a short time period.

Reading Assignments/Homework
The author also tested a reading assignment/homework list developed by Education Director Mitch Trujillo Although no obvious improvement in test performance was observed in this class, students seemed more prepared to go out into the field and it reduced the amount of time spent in the classroom. It is possible that the reading list helped keep the students engaged during the week-long lapses between days of instruction and resulted in better information retention. Mitch reports that his average test scores have improved since he began incorporating reading assignments in his classes. Rance suggests making the Complete Guide available to students in advance.
Reading List Assignments from the Complete Guide to Public Safety Cycling

Day 1 – pp. 22-26, fig. 3-2, pp. 31-33, p. 45 (Personal Protective Equipment), pp. 112-115
Day 2 – pp. 62-87
Day 3 – pp. 187-190

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