9/4/2024 - 10/2/2024
11:00 am UTC-4

Risk Management

Risk Management for Outdoor Programs
Online Training Course for Outdoor Professionals
September 4 - October 2, 2024

Dates
September 4 - October 2, 2024

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, Sep 4 , 11:00 a.m. UTC-4
• Wednesday, Sep 11, 11:00 a.m. UTC-4 
• Wednesday, Sep 18, 11:00 a.m. UTC-4
• Wednesday, Sep 25, 11:00 a.m. UTC-4
• Wednesday, Oct 2, 11:00 a.m. UTC-4

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

Valuable for
Program Coordinators/Managers, Risk Management officers, Risk Management/Safety Committee members, members of Boards of Directors, executive leadership.

https://courses.viristar.com/

Jeff Baierlein
(phone: 206 473 8050)

Course Format
The course is composed of five live video-conference sessions and three independent work periods.

1. 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.

2. 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.

Trainer/Facilitator
Jeff Baierlein, Director, Viristar; past Executive Director at Outward Bound USA​

Language
English​

Cost
USD $649 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

• https://courses.viristar.com/

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