Development and Management of a Canoe Instructor Program as part of the Western Kentucky University Outdoor Leadership Program

Water -based skills and specifically, canoe skills are a major focus through much of the Western Kentucky University, Outdoor Leadership Program (OLP). Paddle skills are addressed in the form of a required class that is based in large part on the American Canoe Association (ACA) curriculum. This class and the skills obtained in it are essential for students in the WKU Outdoor Leadership Program.

Additionally, the program philosophy of: “See one, do one, teach one,” is integral to the Outdoor Leadership Program at WKU. The WKU REC 337 (Outdoor skills- water) class is solidly intertwined with the American Canoe Association and the curriculum progression. Students join the ACA and may matriculate through the curriculum with the goal of becoming ACA instructors through this class.

Students in the WKU curriculum complete a number of ACA courses integrated into this experiential-based class. These steps include completion of the following ACA classes: Level 1- Introduction to Canoeing: Level 2- Essentials of River Canoeing; Level 3 River Canoeing; and Level 4- Whitewater Canoeing. Students then participate in Canoe Instructor training following the ACA protocols and may obtain instructor status up to River Canoeing: Level 3. Additionally, students participate in: a River Rescue Workshop, service project with the Warren County Blueways (a water trails system), an instructional service project with young canoeists, and Trip-leading essentials.

Background: The Outdoor Leadership Program Design at Western Kentucky University

The WKU Outdoor Leadership Program is integrated into a Minor within the Recreation Administration Program at Western Kentucky University. The Outdoor Leadership Program (OLP) consists of 24 credit hours. Twelve students comprise a cohort and each spring the cohort completes the Outdoor Leadership Semester as part of the minor. This program has been in existence in various forms since 1992. Originally, the WKU OLP was a WEA Stewardship Program. Stewardship classes were run every May on Federal lands. In 2006, the WEA National Standard Program semester format was adopted. Since that point expeditions have been in numerous locations with students spending approximately 30 nights in the field. In the current WKU OLP design, student take a professional semester with consists of 15 hours, all within the OLP (See Appendix 1).

In order for students to become ACA instructors high standards must be met as set forth by the ACA. This is not a “participate and receive” type of instructor status. Instructor candidates must demonstrate proficient skill at least one level above that level in which they are being certified. Additionally, they must teach numerous times throughout this process. All of this is thoroughly explained to students in the WKU Outdoor Leadership Program. See Appendix 3 for a letter that goes out in advance to the cohort taking this class.

In order to provide the safe and certifiable service established by the ACA, an ACA Instructor Trainer (IT) must be employed in the process. This is standard ACA protocol. The level of the IT is dependent on what level instructor certification is offered. For instance, at WKU, we have a certified ACA instructor at level 4 (Whitewater), who is only an IT at level 3 (River Canoeing). Therefore, WKU can only certify instructors up to level 3. If a higher ACA instructor certification is sought, another instructor would have to be contracted.

Class size is also dictated by the American Canoe Association. ACA classes require a ratio of 1:6 for instructors and 2:12 with a competent assistant. This has been one of the primary justifications for setting and holding our class participant ceiling at 12 students. We have multiple certified canoe instructors on staff at WKU. Instructor certification requires ongoing maintenance with respect to certification level. Having an ACA Instructor Trainer on staff makes this a nice convenience.

One of the benefits with training Canoe instructors in the WKU OLP is the wealth of available students who have become certified canoe instructors. As students matriculate through WKU, there is always the opportunity for students to gain experience through canoe instruction. Often this comes in the existing cohort program. Students who have completed the OLP in previous years will assist in instruction with succeeding year’s cohort. This allows a better instructor/student ratio and builds experience for our instructor graduates. We have also become kind of a regional “clearing- house” for groups seeking canoe instruction. Most of these outreach canoe instructional opportunities are manned by WKU OLP canoe instructors. Another opportunity for student engagement and building experience is additional canoe class offerings at WKU.

In addition to the Outdoor Leadership Semester class (REC 337 Outdoor Skills-Water), WKU offers other classes that incorporate paddling skills. These include kayak roll clinics, a one credit hour kayaking class, a three hour raft guiding class, and five classes that incorporate ACA Essentials of River Canoeing (level 2)- Tandem, and a planned class in River Rescue. All of the canoeing classes utilize the Boat Barn for storage and utilize canoes in the fleet.

Canoe training workshops have been provided through this program for various groups and associations. Many of these programs involved recent students who have become canoe instructors. These opportunities for teaching and leading groups promotes another strong point in our program by promoting networking (contacts) and building experience. These teaching and trip-leading experiences have included canoe activities with: The Land Between the Lakes Summer Institute, Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, Kentucky State Parks, Kentucky Association for Environmental Education, Mammoth Cave National Park, the Kelly Autism Program, the Wilderness Education Association, local park programs, and many more.

The WKU Outdoor Recreation and Adventure Center is in the Intramural Recreation Sport department. This program provides numerous river trips and operates a boat livery on campus. There is considerable “cross-pollination” between this program and the Outdoor Leadership Program at WKU. The programs share equipment when necessary, but each program maintains separate facilities and staff. ORAC provides a recruiting venue for future OLP participants and an on-campus place of employment for OLP students who have completed the minor.

Boats and Boat Maintenance

Obtaining and maintaining a good canoe fleet is an ongoing necessity when offering higher level canoe courses. Unless the program is operating out of a canoe livery, this is usually not something that happens in a short time span. Different types of canoes are required in progressing from Level 1, Introduction to Canoeing to Level 4, Whitewater Canoeing. It is essential to require different craft if students are to receive good instruction. After all, you wouldn’t try to have a drag race with a lawnmower… so why teach a whitewater class with generic flatwater canoes? Rather than purchase new canoes for this class, we have made several purchases of used canoes. This has also allowed our students to be exposed to diverse craft design of varying age.

Another skill developed through this course is boat maintenance. Students learn to set up craft for whitewater and make repairs as needed. Our canoe fleet contains boats of diverse ages and maintenance is a natural expectation... and another opportunity for learning (teachable moment). Exposure to high quality equipment and less-than-high-quality equipment helps the aspiring canoe instructor learn to “stretch their resource dollars”. In keeping with our overall Outdoor Leadership Program philosophy, “we seek to travel as safely and inexpensively as possible”.

Our current fleet consists of about 30 boats. Some are loaners and private boats so the number varies. However, it is essential to keep good records with respect to the fleet and maintenance related issues. Boat maintenance and upkeep falls on the lead instructor. However, that does not mean one has to spend inordinate amounts of time maintaining boats. This is another area that provides teachable moments and learning opportunities for students.

Storage and Repair: The Boat-Barn

Storage of the canoe fleet involves much more than leaving the canoes on a trailer in some parking lot. A good storage area is essential for security, maintenance, and repair. This does not necessarily have to be near a river or lake. In our region of the country, there are a lot of “out of use” tobacco barns. Our canoe storage area is one such barn measuring approximately 40 x 60 feet. This allows the boat fleet to be stored out of the weather. The overhead tobacco racks provide an excellent rack to store canoes out of the way. We have 18 of our canoes racked in this fashion. Tobacco barns usually have a pretty high door clearance. Ours is nine feet which allows our canoe trailers (2) to be stored inside under the overhead racked boats. Our storage area is now known as the Boat-barn.

As our program has progressed and improved with respect to water-based activities, so has the quality of our storage area. The boat-barn was modified to include lighting and electricity (quite a deal for a tobacco barn to be lighted). A second floor (12 x 40 feet plywood floor) was added that is used as a gathering place for classroom instruction. It is equipped with TV (s) and VHS/DVD player for various media uses. In addition to numerous instructional videos, we regularly video students in their skill progressions. This is a natural teaching and coaching extension that helps students improve their stroke mechanics.

So you think this might be something you can do for your program? Keep in mind, there has never been a barn in existence that has not been inhabited by other critters. Ours has a varied assortment of spiders, wasps, mice, birds, cats, dogs, raccoons, and the occasional skunk. As with any outdoor activity, we tread on habitat of other species. Therefore, it is the instructor’s duty to protect the program’s gear, preferably in a varmint-proof area. We built, a 12 foot x 12 foot sealed (from mice) storage area. This storage rooms is used to store floatation and equipment for whitewater boats, among other things. An additional improvement was to cover the floor with gravel (A typical tobacco barn has an earthen floor). While a gravel floor might seem a given occurrence, this is the only tobacco barn the authors have seen that does not have an earthen floor.

Use of the Boat-Barn was donated to this program. It is located within 15 minutes of the WKU campus with plenty of parking space. It is also on route to some of the river access points

Transportation and Logistics

When dealing with canoeing, transportation and Logistics are problematic unless one has a river with varied levels of river classifications at their doorstep. In the WKU program, we do have exceptional river opportunities in our county ranging from flatwater lakes to the only class 2 whitewater in Western Kentucky. However, one must still evaluate water levels, manage shuttles, and transport students.

With respect to our travel we have evolved to the following transportation format: We use three vehicles for our river shuttles to transport 12 students and 2-3 instructors. Typically, WKU instructors use their vehicles to transport five students each. A canoe trailer is pulled by one of these vehicles and a student or a third instructor drives the third vehicle. Drivers are reimbursed for mileage as part of the program expenses.

All students are forewarned that our classes (in all phases of the WKU Outdoor Leadership Program) involve travel to various locations. Running shuttles and meeting at different sites is part of the program. This policy curtailed our “to van or not to van” issue. With respect to travel liability, Kentucky is an imminent domain state. Our university lawyer assures us we are “OK” with respect to this practice.

One thing currently lacking in our program is boat trailer driving training for our students. Due to our tight budget and limited resources, trailer driving is one area of training instructors that we have not addressed. It is also not required as part of the ACA instructor training. However, it is a necessary part of running a canoe course and may be a future addition to our curriculum. Currently, paid university instruction staff are the only trailer-drivers.

Student Fringe Benefits

The best way to improve one’s paddling skills is to paddle… on the water. In the WKU OLP we encourage time on the water, outside of scheduled class time. To further encourage this we allow our students to check-out canoes and paddle for free. This fringe benefit occurs once they have become part of the WKU cohort in the Outdoor Leadership Program and continues through graduation. A full compliment of car-top carrying equipment is available along with check-out forms. This fringe benefit is an “honor” program that has been successful to date.

Necessary Intangibles for Program Success

Once you have made the decision to incorporate a water-based element into your program, a few additional considerations are needed: Do you really want to take on this responsibility? You better be 100% sure or it is not worth the effort.

1. Are you prepared to go the “extra mile” for gear repair? Everything breaks. You better know how to repair it.

2. Are you prepared to donate the time and effort to maintain additional certifications? The ACA requirements are spelled out. It is up to the instructor trainer (IT) and individual instructors to maintain these.

3. Address your travel options early. Otherwise you may be “all dressed up to go and have no way to get there”.

4. Finally, “Do it right or don’t do it at all.” One of the most disappointing things about instruction in the outdoor industry is the folks that attempt things because they have not thoroughly examined the options and the result is a half-hearted at best or half-a_ _ effort at worst.

Good Luck, hope to see you on the water.

UNIVERSITY CATALOG DESCRIPTION: Skill development in self-propelled water-based activities and related environmental practices. Focuses on outdoor leadership development. Overnight, multi-day camping required. Students are responsible for transportation to off-campus meetings. University transportation will be provided when possible.

COURSE RATIONALE: Provides the foundation for aquatic skill development necessary for leadership in an environmentally responsible manner. This occurs in field settings and increases students’ outdoor leadership ability by developing/enhancing skills. This is the second class in the outdoor leadership curriculum.

FORMAT: The class will consist of experiential learning through field trips and laboratory experiences. Supplemental lectures, audiovisual enhancements and group interaction will also be utilized.

The class will have a number of field trips and it is the responsibility of students to car-pool appropriately.

2. American Canoe Association Instructor’s Manual & Instructor packet (Covered in the Outdoor Leadership Semester Lab Fee

3. Canoeing: Outdoor Adventures. American Canoe Association. Editors: Dillon, P.S. & Oyen, J (2008). Human Kinetics.

Students are responsible for car-pooling to designated or assigned sites related to the course.

Note: ACA Membership ($40) and the SEIC dues ($25) are yearly dues required of all continuing instructors.

COURSE OBJECTIVES: Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

1. Demonstrate effective paddling techniques as determined by the American Canoe Association’s “Whitewater Canoe Tandem Course”.

ACA Whitewater Canoe Tandem Course (Level 4) (class II whitewater). For the paddler who has taken the Level 3 - Moving Water Canoe Course and wishes to apply those skills to white water rivers up to and including Class II. Participants learn to do tighter eddy turns, stronger ferries and go into more depth on river reading and skills, rescues, in a whitewater environment. The participants will more than likely be paddling WW canoes with thigh straps and the focus will be on “play” or “working” the river versus just going from point A to point B. There is a heavy focus safety and rescue and well as doing much more technical and tighter turns and greater precision of maneuvers and strokes

2. Adapt Leave No Trace Outdoor Ethics/Principles to river, lake, and shoreline environments.

5. Complete Instructor certification requirements for the American Canoe Association’s Moving Water Canoe-Tandem (Up to Level 3)

1. FIELD EXPERIENCES & CLASS PARTICIPATION: There will be numerous river field trips. These outings may not be made up if missed. Poor attendance and participation will reduce point total. 200 points

3. SKILL DEMONSTRATION: Skill proficiency must be demonstrated in Tandem Canoe from both Bow and Stern in accordance with ACA expectations.

4. Student Teaching Assignments (4 teaching assignments @25 pts. Each). 100 points

5. Instructor certification: American Canoe Association’s Moving Water Canoe-Tandem - Level 1-3 (Certification not guaranteed). 100 points.

Dear Class;

In REC 337, you will participate in the ACA Whitewater Tandem Canoe Course (Level 4).
You will also participate in the Instructor Course: Moving Water Canoe (Tandem) (Level 3). The ACA Instructor certification is not guaranteed. Students must meet ACA standards for instructor certification.

The following must happen:

1. All ACA instructor candidates (students) must join the ACA ($40.00) and be ACA members before the class begins to receive the instructor certification. (I will take care of the applications for the class and this is included in Outdoor Leadership Semester $700 Lab Fee)

2. Purchase Text: ACA Instructor Manual ($22.50), (Included in Outdoor Leadership Semester $700 Lab Fee).

3. Purchase Text: Instructor Packet ($5.00) plus shipping (Included in Outdoor Leadership Semester $700 Lab Fee)

4. Purchase Text: Canoeing: Outdoor Adventures. American Canoe Association. Editors: Dillon, P.S. & Oyen, J (2008). Human Kinetics. ISBN-10: 0-7360-6715-9 (you buy this one).

5. Join Safety Education & Instruction Council (SEIC) upon completions of ACA Instructor Course ($25), (Included in Outdoor Leadership Semester $700 Lab Fee).

6. The ACA Membership ($40) and the SEIC dues ($25) are yearly dues and are required of all continuing instructors.

Contact WEA

WEA