Many of you have been wondering when BC Rangers’ 2022 training would be happening and what form it would take. Training this year has some substantial changes from previous years.
2022 Training Details
This year, BC Rangers’ training process will consist of two parts:
- An online, video-based self-study portion
Content: What Rangers Do; F.L.A.M.E.; The Art of Radio; Must Reports; Ranger Tool Box; Communication & Conflict Resolution; and more
Time to Complete: 2 hours
Deadline for Completion: take at your own pace, to be completed 24 hours prior to the virtual training session - A virtual training session
Content: Primarily focused on giving Rangers a chance to actively participate and practice handling various scenarios. This will be similar to the in-person training that we’ve done previously, but now using Zoom
Time to Complete:~ 2.5 hours
Both sections must be done in order to complete your 2022 training with BC Rangers, and all Rangers must refresh their training yearly.
There are currently two virtual training sessions scheduled:
- Thursday, July 28 from 7:00 to 9:30 PM PDT
- Monday, August 22 from 7:00 to 9:30 PM PDT
We’re relying on a mix of new and experienced Rangers for training in order to practice scenarios effectively. Please note we do have a cap for how many people we can include in each session.
Training Registration
If you are planning to attend Burn in the Forest 2022 (or if you’re hoping to / thinking about likely going / will go and volunteer if you can get a ticket / etc.), please register for one of these two training sessions. With the event being one day longer than in prior years, we need 33% more Rangers to have the same level of coverage at the event.
Registration for each of these sessions will close 5-6 days prior to each training session, to ensure that participants have enough time to complete the self-study portion.
Why are you doing training this way?
There are a number of reasons that we chose to attempt a virtual training this year, rather than in person as we have done previously:
- Changing restrictions from the provincial health authority make it hard to predict whether we will be able to meet in person
- Some people may not be comfortable meeting indoors at this time
- Outdoors gatherings may not be practical due to weather
- With online gatherings we don’t need to coordinate trainers in multiple locations, given that we have Rangers on the mainland as well as Vancouver Island
There’s also reasons why we’re trying a different format rather than doing the usual 4 hour training session (but over Zoom):
- Videoconferencing fatigue is real and no one wants to be on a call for that long, even with breaks
- Allowing people to absorb some of the material at their own pace may allow for more better retention, and makes the synchronous part of training shorter and easier to schedule for everyone
Are there downsides? Absolutely. We’ve considered many of them, and still decided on this format. It’s the best of the options that we have available to us right now, and we hope that it will be sufficient to train a great cadre of Rangers this year.
Fin
I’m excited that we’re able to try something new this year, and look forward to seeing the turnout from both new and returning Rangers! The BitF production crew is in full swing and I trust that we’ll be able to provide a solid team of well-trained Rangers to support the community this year.
Thank you all for your continued support and patience as we adapt to an ever-changing world.