OSC 2007 Evaluation Report

2007 OSC Readiness Training Program Evaluation Report
• Enjoyed hands-on training in HAZCAT class. I would like to move to field identification of
chemicals.
• I attended the absolute worse course I have ever attended at Readiness, Infectious Diseases. The
level was inappropriate, the speakers were horrendous. There was nothing in the course that
provided information to help in a response.
• I believe there should always be an offering related to contract training. I know we have this 40-
hour requirement; however, contracts are so important to our job.
• One OSC needs to be designated the “Moderator” of the course and has decision making
capability on the course to re-write, cut, or add. The RTB also should be in the decision loop on
each course. For my Sampling Design Course, I knew 6 months before that a train wreck was
coming. I called and e-mailed the Headquarters instructor and Supervisor and they blew me off.
They used the OSCs and gave us 30 minutes to talk for an 8-hour course. We need to head this
off by assigning a lead OSC.
• The only class I was disappointed in was the Sampling Design Course on Wednesday. It seemed
as if the instructor was not good at relating to field experiences since this was a Headquarters
person
• The Hydro-seeding course was wonderful; however, the way that it was advertised, I expected the
course to be boring. It was not.
• Especially enjoyed courses taught by Steve Mason (Region 6) — excellent presentation.
• The speakers/instructors were generally good, although some need to work on their delivery.
• Some classes have high level, good speakers but miss the mark on not knowing or being briefed
on what OSCs do. Presentations should be aimed at the knowledge piece, but more so to apply to
OSCs.
• Some of the smaller classes should be expanded to allow more participation.
• Some redundancy and a heavy emphasis on Katrina (which was not, however, too surprising).
Comments related to RSC-targeted courses
• As an RSC, it would have been helpful to have more courses specific to our potential
development, roles, etc.
• For future hoping to have courses related to RSC volunteers that maybe invited again.
• I think the RSC classes should have been mandatory classes versus optional. Since RSCs need to
be trained on the basics of contracting, field work, etc, this training should be viewed as “boot
camp” or orientation versus giving them the option to pick and choose classes. How can we
expect RSCs will be trained at the minimal levels if they have the option to pick their own
training? The training for RSCs should be standard and they should be tested to make sure that
they can be “certified” to volunteer as an RSC.
• To an extent — need more classes geared to intermediate IMT-types like myself that are not
OSCs but have more knowledge than many RSCs.
• I signed up only for courses that were recommended for RSC members, and which of course
attracted large numbers of RSC members. However, several instructors expressed surprise (and
sometimes dismay) at the lack of OSCs in the audience and the heavy representation of the RSC.
Comments related to advanced-level training
• Courses for experienced OSCs seem to be somewhat limited.
Comments on the organization of the training program
• A strong training board and strong contractor support will always make for great courses. A few
of the course instructors (you know who they are) need to be retired.
B-12 Comments about the Training Program