So, the Red Cross has been promoting it’s “Next Generation of Red Cross Training” over the last few weeks. All of you have seen numerous posts from the Red Cross and from me on Twitter, Facebook, email and others about joining the Next Generation, but for you - our customer - to really understand the benfits requires a little more than a simple website story or a Twitter feed. Wtih that in mind, I am here to educate everyone on some of the benefits for our customer in the new Red Cross training program. So let’s get started.
Choices, Choices and More Choices
The single greatest thing about the new program is that you now have choices - and lots of them. In the past, the Red Cross mandated that you purchase books, DVDs, skill cards and other teaching material for EVERY student in your classroom. Those days are long gone, and now you have the power to decide exactly which materials - if any - you are going to purchase for your company, organization and participants.
The real question for a lot of our instructors boils down to what they can access digitally and what is available only for purchase. Well, everything is available for download or purchase. As a Red Cross instructor, you have access to everything you need to teach a class on http://www.instructorscorner.org. The new version of Instructor’s Corner gives you access to everything digitally - from the DVD to the instructor manual to the participant material. I don’t know about you, but I like have choices. I like knowing that I can decide what is better in a printed format when purchased from the Red Cross or what I prefer to use in a digital format. Now that truly is next generation!
Translating the Value: Digital or Print?
Even at the Red Cross, I am using the free digital materials more than anything else. Just like, we want to keep our costs down to a minimum. As a result, we print the ready reference cards for the exact number of students in a class. To provide a strong learning experience, I have given a set of 10 published sets of the Adult Ready Reference and the Pediatric Ready Reference to my instructors. The benefit for the instructor is that they have a resource they can use as a teaching tool. The student is able to use the laminate version of the Ready Reference in the classroom while also receiving a digital copy of the material via email. It is a great way to provide our students with a great learning experience while keeping our costs down to a minimum.
Just like you, the participants in our community classes have a choice. They can decide to use the digital version of the material received via email, or they can purchase the laminate version of the Ready Reference card. Some of our customers choose to purchase and others choose to use the free material. Bottom line is that it doesn’t matter which one they choose. Each person is learning a great skill from the Red Cross and getting the informaiton they need in our classes.
You can also use the digital material in the same fashion. Need to provide durable teaching aids to your instructors? Purchase a classroom set of material that meets the need of your business. Need to provide students access to the reference material easily? Send the link to the participant material found at http://www.redcross.org/training. As I said in the beginning, it is all about choices and flexibility.
I encourage all of you to spend some time getting to know the new Instructor’s Corner and exploring the many different choices available from the Red Cross. Need help making a decision for your organization? Call us at 305-644-1200 or 954-797-3800. You can also e-mail us at SouthFloridaPrepares@usa.redcross.org.
Hunter Ruffin
Sr. Director, Preparedness, Health & Safety
American Red Cross South Florida Region
You can follow Hunter Ruffin @CHRuffin and read his blog, RuffinIt, at http://ruffinit.tumblr.com/
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