Online Level 1 Avalanche Course

Module 7 Description - Human Factors in Avalanche and Mountain Safety

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The average student rating for this module, out of 10, is: 7.5
The average student rating for this module in relation to others, out of 10, is: 6.5
The percentage of students who felt all objectives were met is: 100

Overview

This is Module 7 of the online Level 1 Avalanche course developed and supported by AlpenPro and offered here in the Avalanche Institute sponsored by the CSAC Avalanche Center . It introduces the Human Factors involved in avalanche and mountain safety.

The prerequisites for this module are module 4 (weather), module 5 (snowpack 1), and module 6 (terrain 1). This module is a prerequisite for modules 9 and 10 and is required for Field Day #2. It is concurrent with Field Day #1 and may be done either before or after that.

Objectives

Understand the role of groups, decisions, leadership, and communication
Describe and implement good group management practices
List and recognize factors which affect individual behavior
Describe the importance of group size and composition in behaviors
List at least four common and basic "human factors" problems

Topics

This module covers two general topics:

Human Factor Basics
Issues and Common Problems

Each of these is broken down further into sub-topics within the course, the Outline on this page shows more detail.

Outline

Welcome, Instructions
Introduction

Human Factor Basics

Overview
Human Factors Triangle

Issues and Common Problems

Common Problems
Behavioral Factors - Individual and Group
Fads and Trends

Wrap-up

Case Study
Review

Human and technical Resources

This module has complete access to human resources and technical support. There are numerous ways to contact an instructor and to interact with other students. The module has its own forum for questions and discussion, there is a drop box for sending documents (including messages) to other students in the module and/or an instructor, there is a messaging system accessed from the top of the web interface, and there is always email.

Assessment

There are assessments incorporated into this module which allow students to check and share their understanding of the material. Quizzes may be taken as many times as desired, either to obtain a passing score or just to attempt to ultimately get a perfect score.

There is one crossword puzzle taken and scored online and one student publication to be submitted (i.e. observations, a case study, etc.).

Successful completion of this module requires passing the crossword quiz and submitting a brief "publication".

Course material

Most of the materials included in this module are from a workbook developed and used by AlpenPro . A few items are from the Avalanche Center website. Links are provided to external resources where appropriate.

We have made use of some of the excellent posters by Despair Demotivational Posters in this module.