New Blackboard course teaches survival tactics

After the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting, Wayne State police realized that universities can  be targets.

Therefore, WSUPD Lt. David Scott and instructional technology designer Jeff Cheetam recently created an online course available to staff and students that gives protocols to follow in an active shooter situation. The course, “Be Prepared: Surviving an Active Shooter Incident,”  is accessible through Blackboard. It is the only program of its kind in the nation.

The course was developed at the suggestion of a student after the WSUPD conducted an active shooter scenario in State Hall in August of 2007.

“When I first wrote this course, originally it was supposed to be a PowerPoint,” Scott said. “But I knew it would never reach the enrolled students of 40,000 [sic].”

Reading, hearing and seeing are three ways to learn, according to Scott, and Cheetam incorporated these concepts into one program.

Cheetam said the actual design took about four to six weeks and had to be approved by the general counsel of lawyers for the university.

Students can log in to the Blackboard Web site and click on the “Prepare Yourself” tab located at the bottom center of the page to enroll in the course.

When students enroll, they will be enrolled indefinitely and can keep reviewing the methods as much as they want. It takes about an hour to complete.

Inside the course are six methods where students get visual, audio and text instructions that will guide them in an active shooter situation. In the audio sections, Cheetam gives step-by-step instructions.

The last details method of the course, there is a video students can watch to see what a student should do and not do.

“A student only looking at the video is like only getting CliffsNotes for a book,” Scott said. “You don’t get the meat. It is important for people to know the information given in this course is universal.

“People should use these same tactics in the workplace and public areas if the situations occur.”

Student Colleen Lauless said taking safety measures would help student campus life and life in general.

“I would definitely consider the course because I think one can never be too careful and it could help you if a shooting situation came up later in life,” she said.

The main highlights of the course are understanding how to report the situation, how to hide and how help an injured student.

“The Columbine High School shooting in 1999 changed how police respond to these types of situations,” Scott said. “Our goal is now to get in the building as soon as possible and take gunshots off of civilians and put it on us.”

The WSUPD has a 90 second or less response time, according to Cheetam.
“It is very important for students to call us rather than the Detroit Police,” he said.

Chief of Police Anthony Holt adds that they “want to get right in and neutralize the shooter.”
In an active shooter situation, someone is being shot every eight seconds, according to the WSUPD, trained under the Immediate Action Rapid Deployment program.

Scott said that students should remember not to panic in situations. Instead, they should remember that “help is on the way.”

“I’m not worried about this happening to us,” Holt said. “We can’t say it will not happen, but we are prepared.” 

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4 comments

Steve

Thu Oct 1 2009 08:43

The last comment in the article is the entire problem with disasters such as VT and other college shootings. The confidence that it won't happen to you leads to a certain level of nonchalance in the training. You don't train for if things happen, you train for when things happen. I would rather have a 3 second response to a school shooter from someone licensed to carry than have my body waiting for the 90 second response from the police.

Chris

Wed Sep 30 2009 21:23

I commend that these people are actually acknowledging the realities of an active shooter situation, and addressing the need to prepare students as best they can in the (admittedly unlikely) event that the wolf comes knocking at their door. I hope more universities and schools will follow suit, bringing potentially life-saving preparatory information to their students and faculty.

Nonetheless, as Tova and John stated before me, University recognition of concealed carry permits issued by the state and recognized off-campus is an essential step to bolstering safety. Violating a gun free zone is of little consequence to those bent on murder. When seconds count, the police are only minutes (or in this case a very respectable minute and a half) away. Like others said, at one person every 8 seconds, that's 11 people. School shootings have been stopped in the past by people who actually had to run to their cars parked off school property to fetch their personal firearms - If they had already been armed, as they would have been if allowed, even more lives may have been saved.

I commend the WSUPD on a great first step.

John

Tue Sep 29 2009 22:24

Congratulations to the WSUPD. A 90 second response time is faster than the national standard, and seconds really count in an active shooter situation.

This program also sounds like a good way to educate people in steps to mitigate the amount of carnage in a mass shooting.

Unfortunately, even with a great response time, it is still likely that there will be over 10 victims. The NIU shooting is a great example, because the response time there was approximately 90 seconds after the first 911 call (so about 2 minutes after the shooting started, in all likelyhood).

In my opinion, until Tova's recommendation is implemented (by ending the insurance-liability based restrictions on people lawfully licensed to carry weapons), this situation is about as good as it gets. I don't think 10+ victims is a "good" solution, and fully support allowing people to legally carry weapons. The only way to effectively end a mass shooting is to meet the criminal with force--not very "civilized" in most people's minds, but the only way that has been proven effective at protecting potential victims.

Tova

Tue Sep 29 2009 16:52

Disarmament = victimization.

All of these mass shootings take place in "gun-free zones".

Implement concealed campus carry, and students won't have to wait for the police.

Armed citizens will be able to stop the shooting before it becomes a massacre.

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