Lesson Times
In the past, instructors
were obliged to keep the length of each lesson the same. Thus,
a 6-lesson course would require a minimum of 12 hours and each
lesson was required to be at least 2 hours.
This created difficulty in
some of our courses. For example, it is difficult to teach
piloting (even at the BS&S level) in one two-hour session. Yet
other lessons might be able to be taught efficiently in less
than two hours. Many students felt “rushed” in certain sessions
and bored in others. To provide more flexibility to our
instructors, the National EXCOM has approved a policy change.
It is no longer a requirement to spend equal time for each
chapter or lesson when teaching Boating Safely, Boating Skills
and Seamanship or Advanced/Basic Coastal Navigation. However,
there are some important conditions attached:
All subjects covered in each lesson need to be
taught. Instructors must not omit topics contained in the
lesson. This is critical. Lesson topics and subject matter
content have been carefully selected for educational value and
to ensure that we are in compliance with State and National
Association of State Boating Law Administrators (NASBLA)
requirements. Omission of required topics could mean that the
course no longer satisfies applicable requirements. The TOTAL
time of instruction must still equal the time requirements for
each course. For example, a Six-lesson course requires a
minimum of 12 hours of in-class instruction. NASBLA requires a
minimum of 6 hours for an approved course and any course that is
shorter is not approved. This change is intended to increase the
quality of our courses. The added flexibility is clearly
beneficial to both students and instructors. Please apply this
policy intelligently. Do not short change our students.
