TEACH YOURSELF TRACKING:
ANNOUNCING A PILOT CORRESPONDENCE COURSE MENTORED BY JIM LOWERY
June 19, 2009:
I am seeking five individuals to help test a correspondence course in basic mammal tracking over a four month period. I’m looking for people with little or no tracking experience who live in the U.S., not necessarily in California. Participants will be given reading assignments and extensive field assignments which they will return by email or postal mail; I will send critiques and comments on each assignment, and will also send out quizzes at the end of each unit.
The cost for this course will be a nominal charge of $125.00 that covers some but not all direct expenses. The highly discounted fee is in exchange for participants submitting a thorough evaluation of their learning experience at the end of the course. Also, participants must use my Tracker’s Field Guide and Tom Brown, Jr.’s The Science and Art of Tracking as textbooks (buying them if they don’t have copies), and acquire some personal tracking equipment such as journal, tape measure etc. Having a digital camera would also be an advantage but would not be absolutely necessary.
My purpose with this pilot program is to assess the quality of learning possible through a correspondence course, as there are many who may not live close to a comprehensive tracking school or who simply want solid feedback on their field learning. Every part of this course will be tested, including the format in which assignments are sent and received (digitally vs. mailed), the time required to do field work, the degree to which participants may share in each others’ work, etc.
The course has three units:
I. Track identification and track pattern recognition
II. Mammal tracks, signs and biology
III. Visualizing animal movement and reading tracks for motion
Following are some details:
1. The course will require at least 45 hours of work, including at least 30 hours of field work. This may be an underestimate. Participants should be flexible because we may change the program somewhat midstream depending upon how things are working.
2. There will be extensive journaling required, especially in the first unit. Participants must meet deadlines for assignment completion.
3. Participants must agree that all course materials are for private use only and are not to be copied, shared or distributed in any way.
4. I will be selecting the initial participants based on a variety of locations and student situations, and this process will be somewhat random.
If you are interested in participating, please send me an email telling me your age, location, and whether you have any tracking experience. I will then send out pre-screening questionnaires to a small number of candidates before making a final selection.
If you aren’t selected, you may well be eligible for the course after it has been tested.
