By Natasha Lindstrom
The Daily Press
VICTORVILLE, Calif. — They knew it would be a rigorous challenge training to become top-notch life savers capable of responding to the scariest of emergencies.
What they didn’t know was that in the process they’d become skillful digital-video producers.
In an attempt to liven up the learning process and make lessons more memorable, Victor Valley College paramedic students are, for the first time, learning the ins and outs of emergency medicine through curriculum-based filmmaking.
“It’s the common joke in the paramedic class that if we fail out of school, at least we can work in Hollywood,” joked paramedic student John Pollock.
But the future life savers aren’t failing. On the contrary, their instructors say the college’s 12th paramedic academy is excelling on assessments and grasping complex concepts in shorter spans of time.
“They learn a topic faster and they put more time and work into their own studying because they want to get the video right,” said paramedic instructor Scott Jones, chairman of the college’s Allied Health Department.
Groups of about six students are equipped with six backpacks, an Apple laptop and a waterproof video camera and tripod -- an initial $11,000 investment for the program. They’re assigned a lesson from the curriculum -- from the cardio conduction cycle to the effects of adenosine -- and set to work researching, scripting and producing a three-to-six-minute video teaching their peers about the subject.
“It’s a better way to learn, I think, teaching your peers rather than sitting in a lecture taking notes,” said paramedic student Kyle Fowlkes.
The idea to teach through student-generated videos sprung from a meeting with Apple representatives, who told paramedic instructors at least two other schools were piloting similar programs, Jones said. They jumped on board with the idea but were a little worried that the technical aspects would challenge their students.
“We don’t want them spending all day on their videos and not passing quizzes,” but “the proof ‘s there” in high quiz scores, Jones said. “They know it.”
The paramedic students, ranging from age 19 to their mid-30s, quickly learned iMovie software through Web tutorials and experimentation. They’ve now produced a combined 22 videos since June, including a few that will be available to paramedics across the county for annual review. The instructors are archiving the videos so future students can request copies from a library of digital lessons.
The students often get creative with the videos, using popular music, mimicking favorite movies and calling on experts in the field or other non-medical students to help illustrate concepts. One group regularly elicits laughs by featuring the character Ricky Rescue, a fictitious name describing an obnoxiously overzealous emergency-services worker.
Students have filmed at locations throughout the Victor Valley, from the college campus to homes in Wrightwood. Some have traveled to San Bernardino County Sheriff’s dispatch centers in Rialto and Victorville, and interviewed experts in various emergency fields.
Most recently, four paramedic students volunteered to produce a 31 /2 minute video educating the community about swine flu for the college’s Web site, at the request of VVC President Robert Silverman.
Students say they enjoy other technologically advanced aspects of the program, such as purchasing electronic textbooks and downloading instructors’ podcasts to replay lectures. A s Pollock put s it, “We are definitely a technology-based generation.”
Copyright 2009 Daily Press