While I’ve had the privilege of many positive learning experiences, I frequently look back at one in particular as the best, despite it being over seven years since it happened. When I was seventeen, I took part in a Standard First Aid & CPR level C course run at the summer camp where I was working. While there are very set learning expectations and content for a course such as this, I felt I had a better learning experience than with any subsequent first aid courses I’ve taken since.

There are many reasons why this course was such a positive experience, beginning with its location. Having the course take place where we worked was ideal, though it may not have been had my workplace been different. As a residential summer camp, all the staff who were taking the course ate and slept on property during the two days in which it took place. This allowed for a lot more flexibility in scheduling, as travel time wasn’t really a concern at any point there was more time for hands on practice. Additionally, in this situation we had a huge amount of outdoor space so the instructor was able to vary our learning environments to better represent real world scenarios.

These scenarios were integral to my learning experience. First Aid is a hands-on skill, and the number of opportunities I had to practice it were so essential to my comfort in my abilities. It was also in part the people that I took this course with that made it a positive experience. Fist aid frequently requires you to get very close to the people you are doing it with. Many of my coworkers were people I knew well, I found that I was better able to focus on my skills as opposed to any awkwardness of getting into a stranger’s personal space.  The instructor worked with our experiences and practices as a staff, and adjusted the course to best fit the environment in which we would be using our skills.

 Similar to a constructivist method, she approached our learning in a way that acknowledged what we already did and knew as well as creating situations and learning experiences that pushed us to practice what we’ve learned. While she adjusted her expectations to include that a first aid emergency in the camp environment would be responded to by calling our medic, and the fire department would arrive within 5 minutes she worked to create (sometimes ridiculous) scenarios in which those supports wouldn’t be immediately available. Finally, it was fun. Sling tying relay races, ridiculously unfeasible emergencies and a generally positive supportive learning environment. I hope I can have another experience as memorable and impactful as this once in the future!