Wiki Lesson Plan

I currently work as a Communications Training Officer for a small police department. Our department does not have continuous openings and will hire as needed. It is very rare that two dispatchers would be in training at the same time. There are three Communications Training Officers that a trainee rotates through. Generally, I am the last stop before the trainee is released and I have to sign off that they can do the job or need more training. Using the wiki, it will give me an opportunity to see the trainee’s progress throughout his/her training.

I have my lesson plan set up considering a trainee is on track to be released at eight weeks.

Title of the lesson/training: Pittsburg Police Department Communications Division Training Program

Target audience: Trainee and Trainer(s)

Learning/Training objectives: Training the new communications officer trainee to be a competent, mindful, and ethical member of the department.

Rationale for the use of wiki: I set up the wiki for the trainee to have all available material at fingertips as well as assignments that need to be completed within the training program. The trainer(s) that are next in line to train also have access to see how well the trainee is doing. This will also make the training more uniform for trainees and will get the trainers on the same page.

Details on how wiki is used: During the first two weeks, the trainee is given general information as well as links to various resources. During the following six weeks, the trainee is given assignments to be completed during those respective weeks. Every week in which there is an assignment, the trainee will have the information provided in which to study within the wiki unless otherwise specified. I set the wiki up for knowledge construction (West & West, 2009). The wiki will not be open to the public and the only people with access are the trainee and trainer(s) with a password needed to enter (King & Cox, 2011).

Suggested wiki-related learning activities/practices/schedules:

Week 1:

Provided with links to the following:

• ·      City website and policy manual.
• ·      Self-assessment form that has to be completed every shift worked.
• ·      DOR (Daily Observation Report) that is completed by trainer every shift for reference. The trainee will be presented with a completed DOR in which he/she will sign after reviewing it with trainer.
• ·      Journaling activity that is recommended throughout training program.
• ·      Provided with list of ten codes and phonetic alphabet.

Week 2:

Provided with links to the following:

• ·      NCIC manual and worksheets for NCIC entries in which the trainee is required to read.
• ·      Ethical responsibility and duty.

Week 3:

Given assignment to see how well trainee knows city boundaries and city layout; i.e. what section of town is the mall in or what section of town is Kansas/Catalpa in? The use of the map is highly recommended during assignment so the trainee is hopefully learning the map while he/she is looking for locations.

Week 4:

Given assignment to match the crime with the code; i.e. what is the code for burglary? Answer 220. What is the code for aggravated assault/battery? Answer 13A, etc.

Given a list of “what if” questions (West & West, 2009). For example, what do you do if you receive a 911 from a residential phone and there is no answer when you call back? What if you call back and a female answers? She said it was an accident but you can tell by her voice that she has been crying. The trainee is not expected to know all the answers and is an opportunity for dialog between the trainee and trainer. This exercise will be done on the wiki and the trainer will respond on the wiki.

Week 5:

Given an assignment regarding prioritizing calls. The trainee will be given a list of different calls and asked to prioritize them from most important to least important.

Given link to various recordings of 911 calls. Asked to detail what went right or what went wrong during the call by writing responses on wiki.

Week 6:

Given links to various training videos to watch regarding officer safety.

Policeone.com has various training/tests that can be assigned for training purposes. Will be assigned training/tests to complete through a link from wiki.

Week 7:

Given assignment of “What should I do?” For example, you receive a 911 call of a house fire. What do you do? You receive a call of an injury accident with entrapment. What do you do? Answers will be typed in the wiki.

Week 8:

Given assignment of various topics covered in training as a final test.

Opportunity given to trainer to check off competency in the different areas.

Release from training that is printed and added to personnel file.

Wiki Activity Evaluation: The only way the trainee can access the assignments that are mandatory to the training program are through the wiki. The trainee has to pass each assignment with an 80% or it has to be completed again until 80% is reached.

Lesson/Training Plan example:

I found a lesson plan titled “Wikis in Education.” For me, it was a little hard to read with the white letters on the black background. It reminded me a little of when the screen was black with green writing several years ago.

http://www.wikiteach.org/index.php/wikiteach/action/lessonplan/iVar/189

References:

King, K. & Cox, T. (2011). The professor’s guide to taming technology. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

West, J. & West, M. (2009). Using wikis for online collaboration. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.