Online training scores points with judges

The College of Health and Nursing Sciences, working in conjunction with the U.S. Figure Skating Association (USFSA), has rolled out a new cutting-edge, online course to provide additional training for the association's volunteer judges of pairs events.

The new course, which is designed to complement training materials already in place, is a positive step in the ongoing effort to provide the best-trained judges in the world, according to the USFSA.

Association officials are interested in improving and modernizing judging training delivery methods, and they say they believe the University's WebCT course, the first in a possible series, will do just that. WebCT is a course-management system that facilitates Internet-based teaching and learning and currently is in use in about 14 percent of all UD courses.

Through the new USFSA training course, judges from all over the country can sit at a computer, go to the UD WebCT page and log in for training as their schedules permit. The course includes step-by-step instruction on various pair skating movements and lifts and is complete with streaming video, audio and feedback provided through built-in pre- and post-tests.

CHNS is an appropriate partner for the endeavor because it is home to an internationally recognized figure skating program, has advanced technologies and has many years of experience in the delivery of distance-learning courses, according to project leaders Jack O'Neill, co-director of the UD Ice Skating Science Development Center, and Madeline Lambrecht, director of the College's Division of Special Programs.

"The College of Health and Nursing Sciences, through the Division of Special Programs, has been a campus leader in developing innovative technological approaches for the delivery of both credit and noncredit programs," Lambrecht says. "Over the last several years, we've explored ideas for using technology to deliver education to skating professionals, and the current USFSA project is a natural evolution of that experience."

"There has been a concerted effort to do something positive in judging," O'Neill says, adding that the online format is "somewhat revolutionary" for the USFSA.

He says the development of the training course is consistent with the mission of the University's Ice Skating Science Development Center, which includes the goal of advancing knowledge in the field of figure skating.

"Educational partnerships are a large part of what the CHNS Division of Special Programs does," Lambrecht says. "We have tried to match our expertise with the needs and capabilities of the judges themselves."

She says the key component of the course is the fact that judges get immediate feedback as they go through the various sections.

"The interactivity is absolutely essential," Lambrecht says. "It is not as if you are sitting in front of a book. Feedback is provided throughout the lesson. If you get something right, it tells you 'good job,' and if you get something wrong, it offers suggestions on where you can go for additional information."

"This is all very cutting-edge and very exciting," O'Neill says. "We believe it has a great deal of potential."

The USFSA decided to partner with the University in preparing the course because it is interested in providing judges "with additional opportunities to enhance their education," Larry Mondschein, chairperson of the association's judges committee, says. "Right now, training is done at competitions, test sessions and judges schools. E-learning provides our judges with anytime, anywhere training."

Wendy Enzmann, USFSA national vice chairman for the judges education and training subcommittee, says all judges with the national figure skating sanctioning body are volunteers, and most hold down full-time jobs outside the sport. In addition, they must meet annual continuing education requirements to remain on the active list.

"Until now, the only type of training offered has been through seminars or schools and official trial judging, and judges are expected to pay their own expenses associated with all of that training," Enzmann says. "E-learning will offer a more affordable and convenient alternative for judges' education."

Enzmann says the USFSA decided to put together a pilot module on pair lifts to see if WebCT training is feasible. Pairs competition was chosen, she says, because there are fewer teams and competitive events in that discipline, meaning that judges have more limited exposure to it.

The University was a natural partner in the endeavor, in part because it "has a reputation for excellence in coaching and, as a result, a number of highly talented skaters who can be used to demonstrate specific skating elements that can be captured via e-learning," Mondschein says. "Also, UD has a longstanding reputation as a pioneer in computer-based learning."

The College's world-renowned figure skating training center has a reputation for strong pairs coaching under the direction of Ron Ludington, a former Olympian and a member of the Delaware, U.S. and World Figure Skating halls of fame.

Mondschein says early feedback from judges about the online training course has been heartening.

"Thus far in the pilot testing, an overwhelming majority of the respondents provided positive feedback," he says. "I expect the same reception when it is provided to our judging community. I foresee that this education will improve the overall knowledge of our judges, which has a direct effect in helping our sport, which is evaluated by judges.

"The future is very bright for computer-based learning. I am working with my committee to identify and prioritize which areas of figure skating need to be captured via e-learning. We also see this type of education benefiting our coaches and the public."

Enzmann says plans are in the works to develop similar modules in the other figure skating disciplines--singles, expanded pairs skating, dance and synchronized team skating.

In addition, the Professional Skaters Association, an organization of figure skating coaches, instructors and trainers, has initiated discussions with the University to develop a comprehensive series of instructional distance-learning programs for coaches.

--Neil Thomas, AS '76