Guest guest Posted July 30, 2003 Report Share Posted July 30, 2003 In a message dated 7/30/2003 10:27:26 PM Mountain Standard Time, scully_dana_k@... writes: > The ones on this site that caught my attention are Manual Dexterity, > Multi-Task Split Ear, Kick Butt Take Names, Descriptions Practice, > Full Moon Friday Night and EMD Short RPT, though that last one is not > as useful in our department as the others are. > It's been a while but we used to use some of these as pre-screening for dispatch applicants. 1) manual dexterity - it's a set of cards with numbers on them (and maybe letters, I can't recall). You listen to a cassette of instructions and you follow the directions to build a specific design. example: take the card labled 2. place it on the table in front of you. Take the card labled 4. place it one place to the right of the 2. Take the 3 place it above and to the left of the 4 and so forth. The instructions are a bit fast, not giving you too much time to think. 2) Multi-task, split ear - you need a stereo to make this tape sound proper. It's 3 people talking at the same time. All 3 are female. One is giving you colors, one is giving number combinations and the 3rd is giving letter combinations. The idea is to write down all the colors, numbers and letters in the order given. It's a hoot! I can NOT hear the first color given. it starts with a bang and a lot of people give up within the first 10 seconds. example: orange 1-2-3 adam baker charles -- all spoken at the same time. 3) Kick butt - we have it, but I don't remember how that one goes. 4) description practice - is just that. A bunch of descriptions that you're supposed to short=hand and get all the info. It goes fast. Example: white male wearing a blue shirt with long sleeves, jeans, cowboy boot. Red chevy license 123abc driving south bound. etc etc . 5) Full Moon - you're given some status cards for a set of call signs and you listen to a tape and write down all the activity on the proper card and at the end of the tape you're to know who is where doing what from your cards. We never had an emd one, but there was a fire department one that was simular to the Full Moon. We got our tapes from Sue Praveta(sp?) I think they're fun, but get old fast. kathy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 31, 2003 Report Share Posted July 31, 2003 In a message dated 7/31/2003 2:29:47 AM Mountain Standard Time, scully_dana_k@... writes: > I was thinking of > something like Full Moon because it can be used by both officers and > dispatchers. > > Dana - the split ear is worth it just to see the looks on officers faces > when you try to get them to do it! > > We used them as a poor departments Perfex test. Once we were able to borrow > a Perfex machine and the then chief of police tried it (who always claimed > his start in law enforcement was as a dispatcher) about had a nervous break > down. > > Kathy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 31, 2003 Report Share Posted July 31, 2003 So are they $15-worth of fun? Or would it be worth the time and effort to convince the guy in charge of funding that he really does want to front the money for the department to technically own it? I'm thinking of one or two of these as a suppliment to normal training materials, so I don't really want to put up the money myself. (Hey, I'm a college student; $15 is something like three weeks' worth of food if I buy the right stuff...) I was thinking of something like Full Moon because it can be used by both officers and dispatchers. Heaven knows I've never met an officer that wouldn't benefit from trying to do dispatch during a busy shift... One of my favorite officers is one of the best for being understanding... We had half an hour during one of our typically busiest shifts when we had absolutely no dispatchers to cover it. This was when we had one full-time dispatcher for a 24/7 department. She called in sick and there was a gap where every student dispatcher (all PT are students) was in class or unavailable, so this officer had to hold the office together for 30 minutes until the next student got out of class. According to the one who relieved him, he looked like he'd just been put through the emotional meat grinder and he got out of the office like a bat out of Hell. He didn't come back even once until his shift was officially over. *grin* Angie > I think they're fun, but get old fast. > > kathy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 31, 2003 Report Share Posted July 31, 2003 THis sounds like what we use called a Prefex Test, actually 2 different types that I am aware of. It is a test geared toward dispatchers/call-takers that measures how you can hold up under pressure and to a point multi-tasking. They say that if you score under a 70%, you will not be able to do the job we do. We have found that it is correct. Those that we've hired, we use it as a application process/elimination test, have not made it through training. The only problem is that some of the hiring agencies have gotten a hold of it an use it in their training programs. It's great that they want to " train " people for this type of profession but it messes with the results of the test and gives those that have taken it an advantage. The test we currently use has a mock console, phone and tape recorder, used number/letter combinations, stamp this paper and put it on this peg, push this button and say this, answer the phone, etc. The other one used the cards that you flip over when they tell you to instead of the console but is pretty much the same. Roscommon Co (MI) Central Dispatch > In a message dated 7/30/2003 10:27:26 PM Mountain Standard Time, > scully_dana_k@... writes: > > > > The ones on this site that caught my attention are Manual Dexterity, > > Multi-Task Split Ear, Kick Butt Take Names, Descriptions Practice, > > Full Moon Friday Night and EMD Short RPT, though that last one is not > > as useful in our department as the others are. > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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