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By Kitt Farrell-Poe and Nancy Deal
In 1995, Valerie Nelson and David Dow spearheaded a group of academics to form a national organization that could help improve education of onsite/decentralized practitioners and serve the needs of academia and research. Thus was born the National Consortium for Decentralized Wastewater Technology and Management. The organization was originally chaired by Jerry Tyler (University of Wisconsin) who was quickly followed by George Loomis (University of Rhode Island). Originally formed as a loose association, it lacked formal organizational structure. One of Loomis’ primary goals was to create a set of bylaws, a task he completed with the help of the Executive Board in fall 1996. By early 1997, the group (largely composed of educators and researchers) was defined on paper and was renamed the Consortium of Institutes for Decentralized Wastewater Treatment (CIDWT).
Training
The CIDWT is a group of educational institutions, training centers/programs/associations, and advisory members (individuals from private industry, regulatory agencies and citizens groups) cooperating on decentralized wastewater training and research efforts. It was established in 1995 to encourage research, education, outreach, and training about decentralized wastewater treatment. The CIDWT’s mission statement is:
To coordinate and enhance the capabilities of member educational institutions to help protect public health and maintain a sustainable environment by advancing research and development, education, and training for decentralized wastewater treatment and management.
Training centers and programs are essential for the CIDWT to achieve its mission. Many training centers are associated with universities or community colleges; some are associated with a state’s professional onsite organization. Of the 23 university and training association members, 11 have one or more training centers.
The CIDWT has helped to develop and foster these training centers through academies [1998, 2000, 2002] that were co-sponsored with the National Environmental Training Center for Small Communities (NETCSC). The academies were conducted to address technical and adult education training needs articulated by training center directors at a meeting convened in 1998 at NETCSC and through discussions with the CIDWT Practitioner Training/Training Center committee. The academies’ goals were to:
- Materially assist new training centers/programs in planning and development
- Transfer the knowledge base possessed by experienced training center and program directors to new centers
- Provide an exchange forum for training center/program directors and partners
- Enhance curriculum, demonstration, and instructional quality at existing centers/programs
There were 38 attendees at the 1999 Academy, 39 attendees at the 2000 Academy, and 37 attendees at the 2002 Academy. Participants were a mix of established, newly created, and future training center staff. Curriculum Development The Academies highlighted a critical need for all the training centers: the necessity for well-written, up-to-date, and consistent curricula. As a result, the CIDWT sought and obtained funding for curriculum development. One project focused on training for practitioners, citizens, decision-makers, regulators, and consultants. The Practitioner Curriculum project was an effort to formalize and coordinate training opportunities for field practitioners in onsite/decentralized wastewater treatment. The goals of the curriculum were to:
- Improve the field practitioner’s ability to effectively utilize onsite and decentralized technologies to improve the state of practice
- Enhance opportunities for the general public to make the best use of onsite/decentralized technologies in their approach to a community’s wastewater needs
The Practitioner Curriculum project provided a consistent technical educational base from which to launch nationwide training programs and facilitate instruction at training centers. The materials developed include a Model Practitioner Curriculum that can be used to organize training programs as well as four detailed training modules on septic tanks, soil, and site evaluation, water movement and treatment in soil, and technology overview. Each module includes PowerPoint presentations (that can be modified for a given audience), supporting written materials, and a complete set of instructor materials.
The Practitioner Curriculum project established the methodology for CIDWT development efforts and during the O&M Service Provider Program project, the strategy was further refined. In addition to a dedicated and experience writing team, CIDWT’s approach includes selection of reviewers from all parts of the country, representing the target audience for a given set of materials. The next step in the process is to conduct a face-to-face meeting to ensure that all parties participate in creating the collective vision for the scope and format of the final document. The strategy continues with CIDWT’s policy of pilot testing all materials across the country, many times at a training center. The events facilitate the formulation of the training philosophy and verify that learning objectives are being met via actual delivery of information to the target audience. Further, pilot testing ensures that materials developed by several authors will flow when presented as a full training program. The writing team members also present other authors’ materials at subsequent training events to verify that the materials can be effectively delivered by those who will use the materials in the future.
Training The Trainers
The CIDWT member training centers and programs are also supported through Train-the-Trainer Academies. Train-the-Trainer Academies provide a means to present new training materials to potential instructors and assist them in developing and/or improving their training skills. This is the next logical step in curriculum development and implementation.
The Train-the-Trainer Academies are generally two-day workshops in which trainers learn effective ways to use the materials generated from CIDWT projects. In order for the curriculum materials to be effectively used, those who use them for training must be appropriately educated and trained themselves.
Currently, only members of the
CIDWT are invited to participate in these Train-the-Trainer Academies.
Attending Train-the-Trainer events helps instructors develop techniques to successfully convey the materials and promotes consistent delivery on a national basis. Currently, attendance at Train-the-Trainer Academies is limited to CIDWT members in good standing.
Summary
Training programs and centers around the country provide a network to reach the practitioners working in the onsite wastewater treatment industry. These programs must have quality educational materials at their disposal and they must be able to effectively deliver training. The CIDWT has developed a proven strategy for producing high-quality, peer-reviewed, and standardized training materials via several successful projects.
Train-the-trainer academies provide a means to present new training materials to instructors and assist them in development and/or improvement of their training skills. Their training programs are subsequently enhanced, as they are able to effectively deliver training to their constituents across the country.
Kitt Farrell-Poe is chairwoman of the CIDWT Executive Board. Nancy Deal is project manager for the CIDWT’s Glossary Train-The-Trainer project.
OW - November/December 2006 |
