Intelligent Hats..and more January 29, 2009
Posted by Bill in : Outdoor Learning , 4comments
Alex Cargill popped into the office this week raving about D3O. It’s an intelligent material that although comfortable acts like armour when it suffers impact - check out this news clip and more info,videos, applications and pics at D30.
I gotta get one of those hats for skiing!
These could be amazingl useful for outdoor learning saftey and a whole lot more.
Duke of Edinburgh Assesor Accreditation Course. January 25, 2009
Posted by Bill in : Outdoor Learning , add a comment
Last week I attended a D of E expedition Assessor Accreditation Course in Edinburgh. There certainly has been a few changes within the scheme and how assessing will be carried out, and the role of assessor and supervisor is much clearer. The expedition now has 20 conditions that have to be met for groups to pass this stage of the award.
Much of the course was spent debating the relevance and practicalities of these elements. There were a few confusing messages (i.e. the award pushing for whole year groups to enter into the award and not allowing inevetable sausage factory exped techniques to occur as a result of capacity issues within a school?!) as this mass production of the award may make it difficult for certain schools to satisfy the 20 requirements.
I feel there has to be more flexibility in the delivery and assesing of expeditions but appreciate the Awards Office wants to promote certain standards. It may however result in schools turning to more student centered awards rather than this D of E outcome based syllabus.
Imagine how bad you would feel if a fantastic group of enthusiastic teenagers were failed due to an over zealous assessor because they had not met one condition of the exped? There new found valuable enthusisaim for the outdoors severely dented! As commented at the course I feel we should always do our best as assessors and supervisors to ensure and facilitate a pass!
