Virtual-LADs:
Canine On-Line Learning And Resources (COLLAR)
The courses bring you the very best that the COLLAR Teaching and Support Team can deliver. You can learn from home with some of the very best trainers and teachers from around the world. You are no longer restricted to your locally accessible resources.
This format brings learning rich development of your understanding of dogs and their training. The curriculum for each course follows the successful and proven workshops in the Wag More Barn which are adapted to this exciting new learning environment. You become your own teacher with guidance from supportive Mentors and share the learning with the other course participants in the training forums and videos. This format of courses ensures you develop the skills and understanding for life.
You still get the benefits of class learning:
- learning in a friendly group
- inspiration from learning from the masters
- unique chance to develop your skills
PLUS you can be anywhere in the world - Yay internet!
Format of Courses
The number and choice of available courses is regularly expanding with our available resources. Before you select and enrol on the course that interested you please take some time to read this whole page.
COLLAR courses are probably unlike any other online learning experience. All our teaching and support team are dog teachers and we have developed a very effective and enjoyable learning format. This is not purely study, it is a mixture of practical training, learning new skills and deepening your understanding. Such changes do not always come easily and you may have to question your thoughts on previously understood concepts and protocols. This is what effective learning demands ... change, in the way we behave and the way we think.
The software for the virtual learning environment runs on our server and you log in on a regular basis to download lessons, videos, join the interactive activities and the class forums. If you would like to find out more about Moodle please go to their home site: http://moodle.org/ .
Previous students have made videos to see you through the first steps and give you a good idea of getting the best from this resource. These are updated regularly, so please browse to get a feel for the format on our channel at YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/ladstwo
Structure
The courses are usually run over 12/16 weeks and will be structured around 6/8 lessons, or one lesson every 2 weeks. This is published at least 24 hours before the scheduled ClassRoom. The ClassRoom is a minimum of a two hour slot where the course Teacher is in full attendance to take you through activities, answer any questions about the lesson, give feedback on training. The ClassRoom times are specific to each course.
The resources are available 2 weeks before the first Lesson and ClassRoom to allow you to explore the environment. Enrolment closes after the first ClassRoom. The course resources are maintained for a month after the finish of the course.
The courses do not issue completion certificates and there are no compulsory assignments, activities or expectations. What you take from the course is reflected on your own preferences.
Support
Each course has a Course Mentor who can help you with the subject matter, exercises and activities. If this is your first experience of COLLAR you will be assigned a Course Buddy to help you for the first 4 weeks.
Lessons
Activities for each lesson will vary from course to course. But the rich benefits of learning in the virtual environment will be fully exploited.
Samples activities:
- Watching a video:
learning to observe body language
anticipating when to click
counting movements
record keeping rate of reinforcement
observing the placement of the teaching aids
- Making plans
identifying the aims for your learning
the aims for the dog’s learning
how you are going to structure the learning
what resources you will need
what skills and experience both you and the dog already have
the learning gap
measuring progress
- Discussing your training
giving feedback on what you are teaching
turning observation into analysis
learning to recognise progress
- Breaking down your learning
following the lesson exercises & training plans
testing your understanding of the plan
brainstorming new ideas
- Working with other trainers
gaining experience through the learning of others
exploring different learning styles with different breeds
give feedback
Resources
You will need to access the internet on a regular basis, broadband will lessen the level of frustration, but it is not essential. Depending on the course requirements you will need to keep a folder of the lessons and training exercises, course material, personal journals etc.
Lessons are published in .pdf documents, video lesson can be viewed on YouTube.
You will need a suitable dog for the course, plus access to a training environment. This may be your own house, garden or local facility depending on the course. The details for each course will give you any specific resources or previous experience you may need.
You may find it useful to be able to video your own training. This helps with observation, analysis and may be posted for other viewers. But a video facility is certainly not essential.
Joining
When you enrol for a class, you will be sent details to join the COLLAR Community: “Learn More Wag More”. This is a complete virtual campus containing a resources to share with learners on all the courses, forums for your own course, access to the course resources, documents and activities.
Your account will remain open until you have not been active for more than 90 days when you will automatically be un-enrolled from COLLAR.
Payment and Fees
Enrolment is through our online shopping facility. You will be sent confirmation of your payment. Two weeks before the course begins you will be sent a username and password to log in to COLLAR, and the key for your course.
Open Channels
Usually a college will schedule regular Open Days for future students to meet with the current students and get a clear idea of the resources available.
Instead, in true virtual learning format we have opened the YouTube channels with examples of the students work for you to visit. We are lucky to have some exceptional students, but through our courses there is no reason why you cannot achievement their outstanding success:
Kate Mallatratt (UK) CAP3
An incomparable range of video clips showing progress with Mabel, Golden Retriever, and Merlin, Border Collie. Exquisite shaping, cue control, development of proprioception skills and exceptional examples of Modifier Cues. Visit her Channel
Course samples: Targets, Inside Track on Reinforcement, Modifier Cues, Microshaping, CAP1, 2 & 3.
Elizabethanne Stevens (USA) CAP3
Exceptional clear, competent and successful examples of video assessment for CAP1, 2 & 3 shaping exercises, training freestyle behaviours and physio-rehabilitation for proprioception skills. Visit her channel
Course samples: Basic Shaping and Targets, Prepapration for CAP1, 2 & 3, Microshaping, DreamTeam
Sam Pouw Turner (Netherlands)
Teaching her young Border Collie Willow, in many of the skills for Youngsters for Sport, Play & Games, Microshaping and CAP Assessment. Day by progress with visible improvement in all areas of skills. Visit her Channel
Course samples: Youngsters for Sport, Play, Learning About Border Collies, Microshaping.
Sachiko Eubanks: (USA)
Shaping exquisite behaviours with Mac, proprioception skills, awareness, micro shaping. Visit her Channel
Course samples: Youngsters for Sport, Microshaping, CAP Preparation
Virtual Learning
When we first started clicker training in the mid-90s, bearing in mind I was already immersed in a world of dog training, I wanted to give people a poke on the shoulder and tell them ”Hey, you need to pay attention to this. It’s the future. Listen up.” Today it has reached a recognised maturity and people are telling me that clicker training is the future, or “how lucky” I am that there is “such good clicker training” in our area. Well I wonder where that came from?
With virtual learning I feel the same need to give the poke on the shoulder: ”You should pay attention to this, it is going to be important”. It certainly removes any “luckiness” from living in the right area.
Approaching virtual learning with an open mind is key to getting the most from the experience. It may not fit your understanding of learning about dogs, but it brings many values that you cannot appreciate until you are part of the process. The different activities each bring a different experience and can significantly improve your skills, understanding and knowledge. If you like to learn by mimic, or copying, then these classes may not be for you, but if you read a line in a book and that has the effect of shifting your perceptions then prepare to be blasted away.
See you in the Class Room
Kay Laurence
COLLAR Principal
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