Looking for materials to help develop university metal detecting course

[Mark652]

Fellow detectorists, I hope some of you can provide me with some assistance. I have been given an opportunity to set up and then teach a university course on metal detecting/treasure hunting. I have been metal detecting for about 20 years and feel comfortable that I have the experience and background to do this, but I also fully realize and appreciate the depth of knowledge and wisdom represented by many of the folks on this forum and I would very much love to capitalize on this. The program I will be developing this course for is the Lifelong Learning program that tailors educational courses for seniors and people well in to careers that are looking for educational outlets that are new, refreshing or just interesting. This is a great opportunity to elevate our hobby and I want to put my "best foot forward".

Thank you for taking the time to read this post and please send me any written materials you have that you think would be useful. The course will be an entry level/beginners course and it will start early Spring 2011. If it is well received there may be an opportunity to build both an intermediate and advanced level course, but for now we will be focused on the basics. This course will be the first of its kind in my region, I am very excited at the opportunity. Of course if you have any questions I will be glad for them as well.

 

[Smooth23]

I don't have a lot of advice, but I would definitely contact whites, garret, and first texas to see if you could get them to offer any special discounts or coupons to you and your class. I'd use the pitch that if the students get a detector of their brand just starting out they are likely to keep that brand loyalty.

 

[Elton]

Good luck with your project.

Please go over the different equipment that is available. Beep & Dig..or set everything type detectors

Make it simple yet interesting for your students. Get some sort of a liaison with a local dealer. He can be valuable in all aspects. He can furnish Detectors for display purposes.

Get local Law enforcement involved invite someone to come and speak about property violations. In the same breath educate law enforcement to the Hobby of detecting.Open a good line of communication with local authorities.

Teach them it is a "Hobby" Not a get rich scheme... Encourage the activities of a club to each student. Help them form a club ...Have a member of an existing club come in and show "How to phases"..of detecting
Encourage family participation.. Grandfathers, Grandsons & Granddaughters

Teach the laws of your State, or what ever State will be involved pertaining to metal detecting. And once again stress it is for fun.. few people get Rich..

Safety is another issue that has to be covered in today's world.

 

[jim tn]

All good comments thus far. I would also have a display(s) of finds, i e, coins, jewelry relics and some trash. Stress our code of ethics and the proper way to dig and stress to always fill ones holes. Mention the various facets of the hobby, like water hunting, turf and gold. Good luck, sounds like fun. HH jim tn

 

[Mark652]

jim tn, Elton, Smooth23,

Thank you all for the great inputs so far, most appreciated. I especially like the idea of getting law enforcement involved, having the displays, and reaching out to the detector manufacturers. I have already initiated contacts with two of them. These are all good ideas that I will use. Again, if you or others have written materials, please send them to me.

My thanks,

 

[Monte]

I've been doing metal detecting seminars since 1981, and actually a few casual one the prior two years. I've also traveled out-of-state and done week-long Recreational Metal Detecting seminars for a week at a couple of colleges. I do seminars that I host, as well as some hosted by dealers, and will be doing one seminar this Saturday and another one on Sunday for a local dealer. He contracts with me to do seminars about 3 or 4 weekends a year.

Do I have written or scripted material? Yes, but I seldom adhere to it due to so many differences. It's safe to say that no two seminars have been the same and that's because each class will present a different set of attendees with varying amounts of knowledge. They can be from curious and interested in the sport to just a new beginner, or someone who's been at it a while but doesn't understand their detector, or what else is available.

If you've never done a public seminar like this, and if you have a good attendance (I've had as many as 58 and 62 attend one although most are smaller groups), you will need to be ready for a wide range of questions. You'll be expected to know the various controls of a variety of makes and models, translate what is in their Owner's Manual so they understand it, and answer general as well as specific questions. Things pertaining to Threshold adjustment, Ground Balance, search coil designs, and be able to demonstrate a good deal to them in order to prove and disprove various 'claims' or 'hype' or misleading comments from manuals or magazines or forum posts.

Personally, I wouldn't involve the police because it only takes one to suggest that folks ought not do this. I wouldn't approach too many manufacturers because it really ought to be the responsibility of the local dealers behind local training. I'd contact ALL dealers and then they each have a fair and equal opportunity to provide some loaner units for demo and display or offers for attendees.

Where are you located?

Monte

 

[Mark652]

Hi Monty, thank you for your reply. I am located in Northern Virginia, close to both the Maryland and West Virginia borders. I do not have any good local dealers, the one that is close has a bad reputation and I have had two less than satisfactory encounters with this dealer, so I will not approach him. I take your suggestion about the police, fortunately my oldest daughter is a deputy sheriff with the county police department and she has already offered to be the one to meet my class. I have never given a formal class like this, I have had many opportunities to help newcomers to the hobby learn how to metal detect and I have taught college and university-level courses as an adjunct professor for many years, but yes, developing a 10-hour course for metal detecting is something I have not done, though I venture few have. That is why I am looking for suggestions and insights. I know how to build a syllabus, and the more mataerial I have from which to build it, the better. I can also ensure I tailor it to my teaching intent as well. You said you have written and scripted materials? If you are willing to share them, I will use them to help me build my course program. As I said in my original post, this will be an entry-level/beginners course and the first couple of classes will be limited to 10-15 students and no more. I agree I will have to know about a range of detectors and how they work and I do, having used and become familiar with a range of machines from a range of values. Again, I would welcome any written materials you are willing to share. Please contact me via the member-to-member email if you wish to do so, and I hope you will.

Thank you,
Mark

 

[Monte]

n/t

 

[Mark652]

Thanks Monty, I look forward to hearing back from you. Hope you have lot so success today, I do not know where you are but the weather here is just about ideal. I will be out detecting tomorrow as well.

Mark

 

[Furious T]

Mark, good luck with your course. When I am working on a course set-up activity (although I dont teach at university level), I usually create a list of topics associated with the course and then grade them into main topics and sub- topics. In this case, I would be concentrating on getting accross how-to in relation to the topics, and the obvious and underlying reasons for the how-to. e.g. how to get permission to hunt a) on private property b) public domain or c) uncertain of category; which would involve researching said property as to ownership or otherwise etc. etc. Some topics could generate activities which could be used as assignments for your students.
Sources for material for topics include any books you can get your hands on, including books produced by the professionals (Charles Garrett), together with articles written over the years in magazines such as Eastern and Western Treasure magazine and Lost Treasure Magazine. Are you going to cover gold prospecting? The Australian magazine Gold Gem and Treasure has published hundreds of articles over the years on this subject alone.

I wish you well in your endeavours, and with the internet at hand you should not have too much trouble sourcing references.

 

[Mark652]

Thank you Furious T, good suggestions that I will take advantage of. As for gold prospecting, that will wait for a more advanced class. Since my focus this first time around will be on beginners, I will stay away from gold prospecting beyond briefly discussing it during one of the first classes.

Cheers, Mark