Course: Emergency Services – Disaster Planning

Course & Section: FES6826

Credit Hours: 3

 

** On-line

 

Instructor: Dr. Jeffrey Lindsey, PhD, PM, EFO

Office Rinker School of Construction Management

Jeffrey.lindsey@ufl.edu

353-273-1199

Bio for Jeffrey Lindsey, Ph.D., PM, EFO

Dr. Lindsey is an experienced leader, educator, lecturer, author, and consultant in emergency services. He has authored a number of textbooks for Brady Publishing. Dr. Lindsey earned his doctorate and master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction from USF. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Fire and Safety Engineering from the University of Cincinnati, and an associate in paramedic from Harrisburg Area Community College. He also has earned his Chief Fire Officer designation and completed the Executive Fire Officer program. He was the 2011 recipient of the IAFC EMS section James O. Page EMS award.

Dr. Lindsey has been involved in the emergency services industry since 1980. He has a diverse background with experience as a paramedic, firefighter, 911 dispatcher, and educator. He served in various ranks including fire chief. He is an associate member of the Pre-hospital Research Forum, representative to the Fire and Emergency Services Higher Education EMS degree committee, liaison for the IAFC EMS section to ACEP, and a number of other appointments through his career. He served on the inaugural National EMS Advisory Council and was the safety chairperson of the Council. He has served in the past as a member of the State of Florida EMS Advisory Council, vice –chair of the Florida Fire Chief’s EMS section, NAEMT Governor representing Florida, board member of NAEMSE, and Chairperson of the Strategic Planning committee for the Lee County Fire Chief’s Association.

 

 

Office Hours:            I am in the office Mon – Fri hours vary depending on travel and meetings; however, I am usually available 8am – 3 pm. You can email me any time.

**Course Website: http://lss.at.ufl.edu

 

** Course Communications: There is a General Discussion tab that can be used, or send me an email through the course email. Urgent messages can be sent to my ufl.edu email.

 

Required Text: Case Studies in Disaster Response and Emergency Management, American Society for Public Administration Micolas A. Valcik and Paul E. Tracy (2017) ISBN 978-1-4987-8851-9

 

**Additional Resources:  Use resources on the course site under the Resource tab

NOTE: To check the truthfulness of contemporary statements, etc. go to this site from the University of Pennsylvania: http://www.factcheck.org/

http://www.uwsp.edu/psych/apa4b.htm

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/

http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/ct/dltop.html

http://www.rrc.usf.edu/index.html

http://thesaurus.reference.com/

http://www.distancelearning.ufl.edu/students/

http://www.usfa.fema.gov/training/lrc/

 

**Course Description: Introducing the process and practice of emergency/disaster planning. The relationship between emergency planning and disaster management and the principles of social psychology, communication theory and approaches to public education are explored.

**Prerequisite Knowledge and Skills:  Students participating in, and completing, this course are expected to have the skill and ability to conduct research using a variety of resources, assimilate the information contained in those resources, and make appropriate inferences.  Students must also have the skills to effectively communicate through writing assignments and presentations.  In ALL of your writing assignments grammar and content will be considered when grades are assigned.

 

Purpose of Course: It is the intent of this course to compare and contrast the relationship between emergency planning and disaster management. As a key component in the learning process for this course a variety of case studies will be utilized.

Course Goals and/or Objectives: By the end of this course, students will:

1. Compare and contrast emergency planning and disaster management.
2. Explain the process of implementing a disaster plan to disaster management.
3. Synthesize the implementation process of a disaster plan.

** How This Course Relates to the Student Learning Outcomes in the FIRe emergency services program:  Successful completion of this course will increase the knowledge, skills, and abilities of the student as it relates to competencies needed to successfully guide a fire and emergency service organization through both policy, equipment-technology or procedures change. Identify and demonstrate proper knowledge and use of comprehensive emergency management/command and control skills in major catastrophic incidents in fire and emergency services.

 

**Teaching Philosophy:  I am looking for students to demonstrate a working knowledge of the subject. You need to be creative when you complete your assignments but maintain a professional appearance of your work. Your work needs to be complete and in such a manner that someone can pick up your document and understand what you are trying to convey. And most of all your work needs to be supported with research and cited in properly in APA format.

 

**Instructional Methods: The course is designed for individual and group interactivity. It is important to post and respond to discussion questions in the course within the time frame allotted. This provides a learning environment by networking with other students in the course. The assignments are individual base to give you the opportunity to do a variety of activities, in many cases, similar to what you will be doing in role as a leader in the emergency services profession.

 

Attendance Policy:  The course is designed in module format. You should check the site at least once a week. You are required to complete the assignments including discussion questions within the time period designated on the module. There will be meetings set up throughout the course.

**Quiz/Exam Policy:  There is  a final project for this course.

Make-up Policy:  You must contact me if you are going to be late on any assignment and receive credit. Any late assignments will receive a 10% grade reduction for each week it is late.

**Assignment Policy:  All assignments have a due date. Please be sure to check the date and time it is due in each module.

**Course Technology:  Class meetings will require a web camera and mic/audio. If you are not able to use a web camera you will need to at least provide audio/mic, you can call in on a phone also.

 

University Policy on Accommodating Students with Disabilities: Students requesting accommodation for disabilities must first register with the Dean of Students Office (http://www.dso.ufl.edu/drc/). The Dean of Students Office will provide documentation to the student who must then provide this documentation to the instructor when requesting accommodation. You must submit this documentation prior to submitting assignments or taking the quizzes or exams. Accommodations are not retroactive, therefore, students should contact the office as soon as possible in the term for which they are seeking accommodations.

** UF’s honesty policy    

UF students are bound by The Honor Pledge which states, “We, the members of the University of Florida community, pledge to hold ourselves and our peers to the highest standards of honor and integrity by abiding by the Honor Code.  On all work submitted for credit by students at the University of Florida, the following pledge is either required or implied: “On my honor, I have neither given nor received unauthorized aid in doing this assignment.” The Honor Code http://regulations.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/4.040.pdf specifies a number of behaviors that are in violation of this code and the possible sanctions.  Furthermore, you are obliged to report any condition that facilitates academic misconduct to appropriate personnel. If you have any questions or concerns, please consult with the instructor of in this class. Go to https://sccr.dso.ufl.edu/policies/student-honor-code-student-conduct-code/ for the Handbook. Keep in mind you CANNOT reuse work you already submitted for another class. You can ONLY submit work once for credit otherwise you will receive a zero for your grade.

**Netiquette: Communication Courtesy:  All members of the class are expected to follow rules of common courtesy in all email messages, threaded discussions and chats.  [Describe what is expected and what will occur as a result of improper behavior] http://teach.ufl.edu/docs/NetiquetteGuideforOnlineCourses.pdf

For issues with technical difficulties for E-learning in Sakai, please contact the UF Help Desk at:

• Learning-support@ufl.edu
• (352) 392-HELP - select option 2
• https://lss.at.ufl.edu/help.shtml

** Any requests for make-ups due to technical issues MUST be accompanied by the ticket number received from LSS when the problem was reported to them. The ticket number will document the time and date of the problem. You MUST e-mail your instructor within 24 hours of the technical difficulty if you wish to request a make-up.

Other resources are available at http://www.distance.ufl.edu/getting-help for:

• Counseling and Wellness resources
• Disability resources
• Resources for handling student concerns and complaints
• Library Help Desk support

Should you have any complaints with your experience in this course please visit http://www.distance.ufl.edu/student-complaints to submit a complaint

 

The grade is based on a point system. You divide the total number of earned points into the total amount of points available to determine your grade. A grading rubric for the final project is under the Resource Tab on the course. This same rubric is applied in general terms to assignments.

 

Grading for Discussion Posts

Initial posts submitted per syllabus timeline	1 point deducted for each day late
Respond with meaningful post to two other students	15 points total
Grammar and Spelling	2 points
All citations formatted per APA	5 points
Content accurate and at least 100 words	24 points
Total	50 points

 

Please see Grading rubric for assignments in Canvas assignments. 

 

Assignment	Points or percentage
Grading Discussion Participation including class meetings	750 points
Assignments	400 points
Total Grade	1150 points

 

 

Late Assignments and Discussion Posts

Assignments

Assignments 48 hours late will receive a 10% deduction in their grade.

Assignments more than 48 hours but less than 30 days late will receive a 20% deduction in their grade.

Assignments more than 30 days late but submitted during the semester will receive a 50% deduction in their grade.

 

Discussions

 Initial posts are due on the Thursday before the due date. You must respond to two other students by the due date. Discussions are like being in class, it should be a back and forth discussion. You will lose 5 points per day of being late with initial post and 5 points per day lost for not responding to other student posts. You need to respond to any post that is replied to on your post. 

Please note that any student have less than 75% of their work complete for the semester cannot earn an “I” contract. If you have 75% of the work complete, you can propose an I contract to the instructor.

 

It is your responsibility to keep your instructor informed at all times. The instructor does have the right under extenuating circumstances with proper notification to assist the student by extending the above time requirements.

 

Grading Scale

 A   = 90.0 to 100%     C   = 70.0 to 73.2
A-  = 86.7 to 89.9       C-  = 66.7 to 69.1
B+ = 83.3 to 86.6      D+ = 63.3 to 66.6
B   = 80 to 83.2       D   = 60.0 to 63.2
B-  = 76.7 to 79.9       D-  = 56.7 to 60.0
C+ = 73.3 to 76.6       F   = <56.7  

 

 

 

Evaluation process:

Students are expected to provide professional and respectful feedback on the quality of instruction in this course by completing course evaluations online via GatorEvals. Guidance on how to give feedback in a professional and respectful manner is available at https://gatorevals.aa.ufl.edu/students/. Students will be notified when the evaluation period opens, and can complete evaluations through the email they receive from GatorEvals, in their Canvas course menu under GatorEvals, or via https://ufl.bluera.com/ufl/. Summaries of course evaluation results are available to students at https://gatorevals.aa.ufl.edu/public-results/.