By Andy Wills
Face-to-face training is the standard of Public Safety training. It’s here to stay. From basic academy courses to defensive tactics, to shooting at the gun range, all these must be done in person.
But we noticed a while back how things are beginning to change, for the better. See, a lot of agencies are now using hybrid learning models in the way they teach. With technology being awesome, sometimes you find a solution to a problem you didn’t know you had.
Let’s define hybrid learning. When you google "what is hybrid learning?", this is what google says:
"A hybrid approach to course delivery combines face-to-face classroom instruction with online activities. This approach reduces the amount of seat time in a traditional face-to-face course and moves more of the course delivery online.”
Makes sense right? Now let’s break it down for those of us in public safety:
- If it can be taught in seat, it can be taught online. An example would be a power point presentation uploaded and available from a cloud-based solution. Not a 37 page notebook of printed slides.
- No more thumb/jump drives! While thumb drives remain useful for a lot of things, using your Virtual Academy system to host and update ALL your course Information cuts down on having multiple copies of presentations on different devices. Everyone gets the updated version every time.
- Testing. Upload your test questions ONE TIME and from then on they are there. BEST PART: The system grades the tests for you. IT GRADES THE TESTS FOR YOU.
- System generated certificates. Use the Virtual Academy certificate already embedded into the site OR let our IT team build your agency's certificate with your logo.
- Reporting. Report to your states POST or simply run reports for yourself. Perhaps you have an accreditation visit coming up and you need to show proofs. Guess what, it’s all in Virtual Academy for you.
There’s so much more the system offers, but for now, I’ll stop there. Check back here routinely for more info, or simply fill out this form.