Design a Training Program For Your Firefighters
TRAINING
Design is an essential element in the development of effective firefighter training programs. It is the second major process of the instructional development algorithm (see “Technical and Skill Training—Develop a Program for Your Firefighters” FIRE ENGINEERING, March 1986). The purpose of design is to create a structure from which a training program can be developed. The design phase uses the products developed during the analysis process and structures them to meet departmental needs.
Here are five major questions that a fire service instructor must answer during the design of a training program:
- Who will receive the instruction?
- What are the objectives of the training program, i.e., to what extent, under what conditions, and how will the objectives be evaluated?
- What firefighter-participation strategies will be used?
- When will training occur?
- What tools, materials, supplies, and equipment will be needed to execute the training program?
In this article we will discuss the following elements in the design process:
- Develop and validate objectives,
- Develop and validate test items,
- Sequence objectives,
- Describe entry behaviors.
DEVELOP AND VALIDATE OBJECTIVES
Training program objectives identify the knowledge, behaviors, or performances that firefighters must demonstrate as a result of participating in the training program. There are two types of objectives: performance and enabling. Specifying performance objectives and their respective enabling objectives allows you to select the media/medium categories that you will use. After you have specified your objectives and selected your media/medium categories, you can construct a realistic training budget.
Performance objectives
Performance (terminal or task) objectives identify and record:
- The prescribed behavior or performance expected from the firefighter at the completion of the training program,
- The conditions under which the task is to be performed,
- The minimum performance level of the firefighter that can be accepted at the end of the training program.
A sample performance objective is: “A recruit firefighter will select a Class D extinguisher from a grouping of six different extinguishers without any assistance in 10 seconds or less.”
A correctly worded performance objective is both observable and measurable. When stated in this manner, performance objectives:
- Clarify what the firefighter is to learn,
- Tell the firefighter how he will be evaluated,
- Assist the fire service instructor in sequencing instruction,
- Assist line, staff, and executive officers in determining the amount of time required to learn the new performance.
Enabling objectives
Enabling objectives explicitly describe a specific step, identified in the performance objective, that the firefighter is required to perform. Enabling objectives identify and record each step of the procedure that the firefighter is to demonstrate and the level of acceptable performance, if less than total accuracy is required.
An example of an enabling objective could be “Pull one tier of hose from the hose bed onto your right shoulder and extend it down onto your chest where it is held with your right hand.”
Media/medium selection
Media and mediums help the instructor to motivate the firefighters and increase their retention levels. Media includes movies, video recordings, and computer-based training. Medium refers to charts, graphs, and pictures. At this point, media and mediums are selected with the following goals in mind:
- To identify the best media/ medium to present the instructional content,
- To determine if the identified media/medium is affordable,
- To provide sufficient data for developing a realistic training budget to cover design and development expenses.
When selecting the media/medium for your training program, remember that no amount of lecture-discussion instruction alone can teach firefighters “how to” apply the information and master the skills to be performed. Effective firefighter training must be an all encompassing learning experience, such as is provided by movies, charts, graphs, etc.
When choosing media/medium, you must consider the following:
- Will the media/medium be used for a large group, a small group, or individualized instruction?
- Does the firefighter need to interact with the media?
- How much performance latitude does the firefighter have in order to accomplish the objective?
Budget
The budgeting process of your firefighter training program must include the number and complexity of the media being used. This will provide a more realistic picture of the true costs of developing the training program and can assist the fire service instructor in being an efficient and effective manager.
Strategy selection
Instructional strategies should emphasize firefighter participation during the training program. To maximize interaction, it is important to select methods that encourage two-way or multi-channel communications. Interaction can take place through individualized instruction, instructional gaming, and instructor-controlled instruction.
Individualized instruction occurs when a firefighter learns through his own effort. This type of instruction is used to transfer basic facts and skills that each firefighter should be able to execute without assistance from another firefighter or line officer.
Instructional gaming is used to reinforce specific tasks, fine tune proficiency of a given skill, and motivate firefighters to learn. Gaming places one firefighter in competition with another firefighter or against himself, while he is evaluated on accuracy and speed of performance.
Instructor-controlled instruction allows the firefighter to practice team skills and develop group social abilities. This type of instruction helps the firefighter develop and refine information and technical skills, problem solving abilities, and team efforts. Instructional gaming and instructor-controlled instruction can be practiced during interactive classes. During these sessions, the fire service instructor tries to involve each firefighter in the training program as much as possible by providing the maximum amount of assistance. For example, in a training program with 34 firefighters and one instructor, there are really 34 instructors (33 other firefighters-in-training and the fire service instructor) who can share their experience and skills with each other.
Two other types of instructorcontrolled instruction frequently used in the fire service are the lecture-discussion and the panel-ofexpert strategies. During the lecture-discussion a speaker presents information or describes a technology. After the presentation, the speaker encourages the firefighters-in-training to ask questions. They are then often assigned to do independent studies.
The panel-of-experts strategy involves 2-6 speakers who discuss a specific topic. After the presentations, the firefighters are invited to question panel members.
To get the best results from the instructional efforts of the training program, you should have a mix of individualized, gaming, and instructor-controlled strategies supported by a variety of training aids. Fire service instructors will have to determine the right mix for their department in order to maximize firefighter efficiency and effectiveness.
DEVELOP AND VALIDATE TEST ITEMS
Evaluating firefighter performance involves more than just writing test items. To ensure an effective evaluation, make sure that instructor bias and misinterpretation of the objectives (performance and enabling) do not creep into the test items.
Try to compose test items as each objective is written. This should keep instructor bias and misinterpretation to a minimum. To facilitate the writing of test items, each objective is classified as either information or a skill. The evaluation of information and skill performances are discussed below.
Evaluation of information gained
Behaviors that require the firefighter to learn and retain new information are evaluated by asking direct questions on paper-pencil examinations. These examinations measure the firefighter’s ability to recall and comprehend specific information by asking questions pertaining to facts, concepts, procedures, and rules (see Figure 1).
Recall. A recall test measures how well a firefighter can recall a specific piece of information from memory. The recall of specific facts is evaluated by asking the firefighter to state or recognize an explicit fact. The recall of a concept is evaluated by asking the firefighter to define or recognize examples of the concept. The recall of a procedure is evaluated by asking the firefighter to state the steps of procedure in the correct sequence. The firefighter is also asked to state a rule or related set of rules to demonstrate his ability to recall rules. The minimum levels of acceptable performance for each question can be rechecked for accuracy at this point.
Comprehension. A comprehension test measures how well the firefighter understands a specific piece of information. When constructing a comprehension test, it is important to have the firefighter restate in his own words, or explain the significance of, a fact, concept, procedure, or principle.
Evaluation of skills gained
The evaluation of skills is used to improve the quality of training evolutions, individualized instruction, and firefighter performance. Therefore, the evaluation must be sensitive enough to identify which part(s) of the skill have or have not been mastered.
During a skill evaluation, a firefighter executes a specific task under real or simulated conditions. At the same time, the fire service instructor uses a detailed checklist to identify the steps that are executed correctly, incorrectly, and/ or out of sequence. Skills are evaluated through the use of perception tests and performance tests (see Figure 2).
Perception tests. Perception tests determine if a firefighter understands a specific problem and if he can identify relevant information from the data presented. These are paper-pencil tests that evaluate the firefighter’s application of information and performance of technical and interactive skills.
To test his information skills, the firefighter is presented with a specific problem and then asked to:
- Restate the problem in his own words,
- Identify or solve the unknown quantity,
- Recognize the hazards or difficulties that could be encountered during problem solving.
- To test his performance skills, the firefighter is given a case study and asked to:
- Tell why he selected the procedure used,
- Identify the relevant information from the data presented.
- To test his interaction skills, the firefighter is also given a case study and asked to:
- Describe how he would react to a specific person,
- Describe how he would handle the emotional state of an injured or trapped person.
Performance tests. Performance tests determine if a firefighter can execute a given skill under actual or simulated conditions. Performance tests also evaluate information, performance, and interaction skills.
To evaluate his information skills, the firefighter is presented with a real or simulated problem. He is then asked to:
- Assemble all necessary information,
- Evaluate the information,
- Make a decision.
To evaluate his performance skills, the firefighter is asked to demonstrate a specific skill by using the necessary or most appropriate tools, materials, and equipment. His performance level is assessed by the accuracy of his execution and the time it takes him to execute the task.
To evaluate his interaction skills (role playing), the firefighter is placed in a situation where he must interact with other people or systems. His performance in this category is measured by the frequency and effectiveness of his interaction in the situation. This is usually determined by how well the firefighter communicates while on the scene.
Validation of test items
Before the test items are organized into an evaluation instrument, they must be validated. To simplify the validation procedure, each test item should have its own audit trail. The audit trail at the end of each item in Figures 1 and 2 identifies a department objective number, the department reference manual used, and the page number where the answer is located.
To validate each test item with its respective objective(s), ask another instructor or line officer to answer the following questions:
- Does the test item measure the behavior or performance identified in the objective?
- Can you locate the answer in the identified resource?
- Is the resource page number correct?
If the answer to any of these questions is “no,” you must correct the test item and the objective. You should also further evaluate each test item to determine if the behavior or performance is in conflict with any company policy or procedure. If it is, you must revise the objective, test item, policy, and procedure.
It is important that there is more than one test item per objective. Each additional item allows the fire service instructor another opportunity to measure how well the firefighter has mastered that particular skill. This also enables the instructor to better identify the material that the students did not retain and therefore must be retaught.
SEQUENCE OBJECTIVES
Objectives are sequenced in order to:
- Improve the efficiency of instruction,
- Reduce the amount of time that is spent reteaching an already presented task or piece of information or technology,
- Minimize the amount of instructional time.
To accomplish these goals, three sequencing strategies are used:
- Simple to complex,
- Frequency of use,
- Performance ordered tasks.
A well designed training program will use each of these sequencing strategies to accomplish the objectives of the training program in a cost-effective manner.
Simple to complex
This sequencing strategy implies that it is easier to learn a simple task, sub-task, process, or application first before progressing to a more complex task. An example is identifying hose sizes.
It is easier to learn to recognize hose sizes first, before learning how to recognize types of hose. This strategy allows the firefighter to build on successful accomplishments instead of experiencing failure by attempting to learn a complex task first.
Frequency of use
The sequencing of tasks, sub-tasks, processes, or applications according to the frequency of performance depends on the training emphasis. If a firefighter is to be overtrained on a particular task, that task would be taught first and used in each of the subsequent tasks.
For example, if the firefighter has learned to recognize hose size, he is already overtrained on that particular task. Therefore, all tasks that require the use of different size hose will be taught next.
Performance order
Performance order sequences a group of tasks that have been already learned. This builds a smooth flow between executing one task and starting the next related task.
For example, let’s say the firefighter has already learned how to: drive an engine, spot an engine for pumping from a street hydrant, connect pump to hydrant, engage pump, check static and residual pressures, and charge 1.5-inch handlines. The challenge to the fire service instructor is to orchestrate these tasks for a smooth, efficient execution from start to finish.
When objectives are efficiently sequenced:
- Instructional time is maximized,
- The firefighters are challenged and motivated,
- The knowledge, skills, and attitudes presented have been efficiently demonstrated during individual evaluation.
DESCRIBE ENTRY BEHAVIORS
When designing, implementing, and evaluating a training program, always keep in mind the firefighter, our consumer. In order to set the criteria for those who wish to be in the program, you must describe the target population, program prerequisites, and firefighter selection.
Target population
The target population describes those firefighters who could be screened and selected to participate in a training program that is being designed. You can write a description of the target population after each potential participant reads a list of proposed performance objectives and answers these two questions:
- What job performances do you have that are related to the training program?
- What do you know about the information and technology being presented in this training program?
If a group of firefighters is not easily accessible, you can also interview line officers and use firefighter observation strategies to obtain relevant data on individual performance, knowledge, skills, and job attitudes. In either case, the data gathered will be used to determine the breadth and depth of the pre-requisites test.
Program prerequisites
A pre-requisite test identifies the starting point of the training program and serves as a diagnosticprescriptive instrument to recommend pre-training preparation activities.
The pre-requisites test evaluates the firefighters knowledge, skills, and attitudes before they enter the training program. Pre-requisite evaluations may be either paperpencil and/or performance tests.
SUMMARY
Many executive officers, staff officers, and fire service instructors think that the design phase is an unnecessary expense. However, by systematically organizing a structure for training programs, fire service instructors can help their departments increase firefighter effectiveness while reducing operating costs. In addition, the audit trail now extends from the tasks performed by a firefighter into the structure of the training program.
In order to maximize morale, performance, and safety, a carefully designed training program is the instructor’s best strategy.
