12 AM - 12 AM EST UTC+8
Online Training Course for Outdoor Professionals
February 1 - March 1, 2023
The course is a combination of five real-time video-conference sessions, spaced one week apart, and independent work periods between live sessions.
Five live online sessions:
- Wednesday, February 1, 11:00 a.m. UTC+8
- Wednesday, February 8, 11:00 a.m. UTC+8
- Wednesday, February 15, 11:00 a.m. UTC+8
- Wednesday, February 22, 11:00 a.m. UTC+8
- Wednesday, March 1, 11:00 a.m. UTC+8
Independent individual and group work occurs between live sessions.
Outcomes
- Gain critical knowledge of best practices in outdoor program risk management
- Learn procedures, systems, and plans essential to meeting key outdoor safety standards
- Understand how to apply successful risk management strategies to adventure programs, experiential education, wilderness expeditions, and outdoor trips
Program Coordinators/Managers, Risk Management officers, Risk Management/Safety Committee members, members of Boards of Directors, executive leadership.
Course Format
The course is composed of five live video-conference sessions and three independent work periods:
- Live sessions. Five live, video-conference sessions, occurring the same day and time each week, for five consecutive weeks. These include structured real-time small-group and large-group discussions and participant project presentations.
- Independent work. Between live video-conferences, there are four-week-long independent work periods for individual and remote small-group activity. This work includes:
- Review of pre-recorded slide presentations with presenter video
- Completion of readings
- Participation in online discussion forums
- Participation in interactive video-based decision-making activities
- Completion of writing assignments (including writing risk management plan outline and strategic improvement plan content)
- Peer review of select classmate writing content
- Completion of organizational self-assessment of risk management
- Completion of online worksheets
- Participation in online risk decision-making role-playing scenario
- Structured analysis of case-study examples
- Completion of quizzes and final exam
Independent work is anticipated to take a minimum of 10-12 hours per week.
(phone: +1 206 473 8050)
Trainer/Facilitator
Jeff Baierlein, Director, Viristar; past Executive Director at Outward Bound USA
Language
English
Cost
USD $399 individual enrollment.
Course fee includes five live sessions, materials for independent work sessions, lifetime access to an electronic, online-based copy of the course textbook Risk Management for Outdoor Programs: A Guide to Safety in Outdoor Education, Recreation and Adventure, and certification.
Syllabus
Download a PDF version of the syllabus here.
Textbook
The course textbook is Risk Management for Outdoor Programs: A Guide to Safety in Outdoor Education, Recreation and Adventure (https://courses.viristar.com/book/). This 218-page text is provided to each student in electronic online-based format.
Certification
Participants take four short quizzes throughout the course and a final written exam. Individuals who fully participate in learning activities and successfully complete the final exam receive a certificate from Viristar valid for three years.
Previous Participants Say:
- “Viristar's Risk Management for Outdoor Programs course is intensive, thought-provoking, and designed to make one critically think about the adequacy of the existing risk management...useful for both novices as well as seasoned practitioners.” Syed Ismail, Assistant Director (Training) & Master Instructor, Outward Bound Singapore
- "This was a really beneficial course...it's given me the language I needed to deepen my understanding of risk management." Kate Johnston, Outdoor Education Specialist, United World Colleges, Southeast Asia
- "Viristar's Risk Management for Outdoor programs course is the most comprehensive risk management course I have completed...Highly recommended." Phil Austen-Smith, Expedition & remote programs facilitator/trainer, Oman