I'm a fairly busy person. Work close to full time. Master's degree seeking. Volunteer for EMS in local town. Volunteer for gov. doing EMS administrative stuff. EMT on call.
So why not add paramedic school to the mix?
I found a hybrid class - online "live" classes with a skills component where I will be flying to Massachusetts for skills training next year.
We had our first class on Thursday and I had my first (of what will likely be many) OMG-what-have-I-done? moments.
Well, maybe not my first. The first came when I signed the loan papers for the class. I will be paying this one off for 3 years.
Couldn't find a microphone with a mute button. Running around like a headless chicken for 30 minutes on that one. Got logged into the class web site. Over 40 people signed in. It's hard to tell the actual number since several people were logged in multiple times.
40, though. That's a lot of students.
I thought back to some other courses I've heard about - 50% or more don't finish. Yikes. I have to make it. I cannot fail this.
Some people were overly chatty - there's microphones, sure, but also a chat pane. This isn't twitter for chrissake! Some people would just not shut up. Having conversations while our instructor was talking, blah, blah, blah.
We went through the basics - introductions of the instructors, what is expected, how to access the online quizzes, assignments, and tests. The only pure moment of silence came when someone asked how much time outside of class would be needed to study. Brad (owner/instructor) pondered this for a minute and said, "probably 15 hours." SILENCE. It's about what I figured, but most people probably have been out of student mode so long they really didn't put much thought into it. Yep, folks. 2+ hours for every class hour.
I had forgotten the beginning of EMT class - it's all about EMS operations, ethics, and legal issues. Paramedic is no different. Not the most exciting stuff, but worthwhile. I've got to get back at it!
Here I go...
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