The River Kayak Committee was very busy in late summer and early fall of this year with a complete review and edit of River Kayak curriculum. Following extensive discussion and editing, the committee held its annual business meeting via conference call on August 28, 2012 and voted to take all the curriculum edits forward for approval by ACA’s Safety Education and Instruction Council and the ACA Board of Directors. See the approved minutes of this meeting here.
At the same time, the committee voted to take an amended River Kayak Committee charter forward for approval. Besides a few typographical changes, the amendment increased the allowable maximum number of voting members of the committee, a move we believed would increase the potential for River Kayak Instructors to participate on the Committee and help shape the future of River Kayak Education. The River Kayak Committee may now have as many as 13 voting members, raising the potential voting quorum of the committee to a minimum of 4 members (i.e. 30% of the total voting members.) Text of the newly approved charter can be viewed here. We invite any ACA member to join the River Kayak Committee as an Affiliate member and invite any River Kayak instructor who would like to actively serve as a member of the committee to contact one of us. We invite participation from our discipline. Likewise, be sure to let us know of any ideas, concerns or questions you have.
River Kayak curriculum edits were, in large part, editorial and typographical in nature and tried to harmonize language and concepts among all levels, as appropriate. A few substantive changes are worth noting:
- Introduced a “River Kayak Instructor Update Sample Outline”
- Made consistent a statement on the use of personal judgement in skills curriculum at all levels
- Modified “Kayak Rolling Endorsement” to explicitly disallow the endorsement for L1 instructors with the logic that L1 curriculum excludes the use of sprayskirts and the endorsement is therefore not appropriate.
- L1 assessment: changed self-rescue language to “swim self and boat to shore for 50 feet”
- L1 venue language was changed and made consistent across all L1 courses (including that of other disciplines, through a proposal from the Introduction to Paddling Committee). The new venue is: “calm, flat water, protected from wind, waves and outside boat traffic, with no apparent current, within swimming distance of shore.“
- L2 skills course: added discussion of sprayskirt
- L5 skills assessment: rewritten to include additional criteria
- L5 instructor criteria: changed prerequisite of 2 years as L4 instructor to minimum of 2 L4 courses taught/reported. Added criterion of perform rolls on both sides in class conditions.
- Though the River Kayak Committee recommended changes to the maximum allowable instructor:student ratio, the SEIC voted to table that recommendation pending an opportunity for other committees to consider this change at L5. (Please see and vote on the poll on the RKC home page and sidebar)
- The SEIC Standards Committee passed two proposals, one dealing with waiver procedures for IT/ITE candidates and the other clarifying instructor, IT and ITE certification and maintenance procedures. The SEIC Executive Committee will be working with the SEI office to update the SEIC policy manual addressing these changes. Watch for changes in the SEIC policy manual on the ACA site here.
At the end of the SEIC meeting, the following work products for SEIC before the next SEIC meeting were generally outlined:
- Generating agreement on time requirements for IT, ITE, and Level 5 as well as ratios. Target Date: March meeting. This is tasked to the discipline committees.
- Develop classroom credentialing. This is tasked to the discipline committees.
- Generate more online resources as tools for instructors. Target Date: March meeting. Requires everyone’s involvement.
- Generating effective coaching material. Target Date: March meeting. This is tasked to Todd Wright.
- Generate an ACA/BSA FAQ. Target Date: March meeting. This is tasked to Chris Stec & Keith Christopher (BSA Liaison).
- Continue course refinement. This is tasked to the discipline committees.
- Work on a DIF plan. Target Date: March meeting. This task should be assigned to the Vice Chair Todd Wright to coordinate.
- Continue work on metrics the SEIC would like to see. Target Date: March meeting. This task should be assigned to the Executive Committee.
The ACA Board of Directors passed the SEIC-approved proposals two days later during the November, 2012 Board of Directors Meeting in Folly Beach.
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