Instructor Comments

[TwentySix]

At the last event, I noticed a "Driver's Log Book" and was surprised on opening it, to see the instructors comments for the student to read.  I think it's a great idea to have that feedback. 

[Brian Minkin]

The Drivers Log Book is a new tool that was started about 2 years ago.  It not only gives the student feed back but also helps an instructor learn about a students experience, abilities and items that need work.  The log book you are speaking of is the sign off and promotion book that is kept by the cheif instructor. It is simply a record of when a student moves up a run group and contains breif comments but is not comprehensive the way the Drivers Log Book is.

[jakp993]

To expand on Brian's reply.  The student log book was started by PCA national a couple of years ago.  It was given to Green students in the first year and now is provided to all instructed students.

The concept is that the book follows a student through his/her entire DE career.  Region to Region, run group to run group, even thru promotion to instructor status.  As Brian indicated, it is a mechanism to formally document feedback so a student can measure their progress.  It is also an invaluable tool for instructor to instructor communication.  I always think "what would I want to know about this student if I was instructing him/her at their next event?" when I fill out my comments.

As with anything that requires judgement, it is not perfect since individual instructors have different grading scales, etc.  I have heard some grumblings about the inconsistency in grading and we are doing our best to tighten that up.  But, as is, with no improvements, its vastly superior to nothing, which is what we had before!