Sigh Bar Bay is a suite of eLearning materials designed, built and hosted by eLearn Australia for Surf Life Saving WA. The plearning environemnt centres on a virtual beach and Surf Club where typical volunteer-based characters perform the key tasks associated with the operation of a Surf Life Saving Club. Surf Live Saving WA’s ‘E-Learning for the Front Line Lifesaver’ program, built around the online resource, recently won the Community Innovation Award at the Injury Control Council WA (ICCWA) Community Safety Awards for its contribution to coastal safety. 

The story of Sigh Bar Bay, however, began a number of years before WA commenced their project.  In 2003 Chris Sutton was approached by two representatives of Surf Life Saving Australia (SLSA) at an eLearning Conference in the Blue Mountains of NSW. Their question was;
"Are there any existing resources for elearning that could be used in lifesaver training?"  The answer - short form - "not really but don't let that stop you!" 

With a family history of Surf Club membership behind her, and a soft spot for the movement, Chris began to work with SLSA to identify what was appropriate and possible to achieve in elearning in Surf Life Saving.  From there she and her team developed the concept of Sigh Bar Bay, firstly as a possible vehicle for CPR, RSA and First Aid training in Qld and then later with WA as an assessment tool for the Bronze Medallion.  Sigh Bar Bay started as a map of a beachside suburb that had a surf club, a restaurant, a caravan park and rock swimming pool.  Loosely based on Bulli beach in NSW, with the addition of a crocodile infested creek to keep northern Australia happy, it was the quintessential patrol beach with all the hazards and risks that might be found on a given day.  It had a sand bank that might collapse, a creek  mouth that created currents and rips, a headland with jagged rocks to trap unwary board riders, a deep hole in front of the caravan park .

For quite some time Sigh Bar Bay stayed as it was – a great idea with huge potential but no organisation ready or courageous enough to take it on as a project. It has been a slow and careful journey from 2003 to today's suite of learning objects, which covers the Surf Rescue Certificate, Bronze and Silver Medallions and the Safer Surf Club.  There are some very good reasons why this has been so. 

Firstly Surf Life Saving is a volunteer organisation.  Members have their career jobs during the week and then volunteer to keep the beaches safe in their ‘spare’ time.  They are dedicated, selfless people who are passionate about their organisation and its traditions – and they are also very busy people.  Trainers and assessors are even more so.  Secondly the demographics of Surf Life Saving membership are vast. Members come from all walks of life, all education backgrounds, any age between 14 and 85+ and all variations of computer literacy.  Thirdly, and most importantly, Surf Life Saving has a proud tradition that includes a tried and tested method of training and a high standard of excellence in training.  Anyone who looks to change that tradition had best be ready and able to manage the challenge and have a solution that will add to that tradition, not water it down. 

In 2004, when Sigh Bar Bay was conceived, change had already started to hit Surf Life Saving with the introduction of competency-based, nationally recognised training and the registration of State Surf Life Saving offices and the National body as Registered Training Organisations (RTO) within the Vocational Education and Training Sector (VET).  The Bronze Medallion had been transformed to a Certificate II in Public Safety (Aquatic Rescue), a recognised vocational qualification for lifeguards and other public safety professionals.  Club and state trainers needed recognised VET training qualifications in order to train and assess the Bronze candidates and the RTOs were now subject to audit by VET authorities against the Australian Quality Training Framework standards. Just getting their heads and hearts around this massive change was more than enough for surf club members without coming to grips with elearning!  It was evident that first of all they had to get the timing right.  Then they had to wait until the right relationships and the levels of trust and collaboration  had been been developed.  THEN and only then, could we move forward.

In any elearning project the best time is the time when the need is greatest.  That time came in 2006 when the amount of assessment paperwork and marking became too burdensome for assessors and trainers in WA.  Damien Marangon approached Chris for an online solution, a valid assessment, electronic, self marking and available online, that would take away the need for overworked trainers and assessors to be constanly travelling huge distances to clubs and having to mark reams of paper based tick and flick theory assessment questionaires. Sigh Bar Bay was the perfect vehicle to carry this forward.  Founded firmly in authentic elearning principles, where learning takes place in an environment as close as possible to the workplace and where tasks and problems are authentic to the workplace, Sigh Bar Bay looks and feels like a real surf club.  The characters who guide the learner are recogniseable as roles within their own club and the practices and processes are authentic to the organisation.

OVer the four years from 2006 to the end of 2010 Sigh Bar Bay has evolved into a learning framework for the theory component of the core of life saver training.  Three traditional awards and an OHS package funded by WorkCover have been rolled out to WA and NT clubs members and are being trialled in NSW and SA.  With funding, there are many other training projects that SLSWA would like to develop.

Surf Life Saving in WA is severely limited by the huge distances between members and their not-for-profit volunteer status. There are not the resources available to send trainers around the state. The resource is designed to provide lifesavers with the theoretical skills and knowledge of basic patrolling and surf awareness in order to be able to participate in lifesaving operations. It allows maximisation of precious face to face training time for practical hands on training. This program has been instrumental in training and educating front-line volunteer surf lifesavers and ultimately is ensuring that West Australians will be kept safe at the beach.

Recognition of the innovative nature and the value of the resource to the community has come from two presitious awards in 2011 - The Injury Control Council Council of WA Community Safety Award and the Australian Community Safety Award for WA.

John King, Surf Life Saving WA (SLSWA) Member Education and Training Coordinator said that the awards mean a lot to SLSWA as they recognise  'the programs’ innovative approach to education. The award also recognises the effort that SLSWA has made over the past four years to put the program together.”

Chris Sutton CEO of eLearn Australia said that "I am extremely proud of our eLearn Australia development team.  The ‘Sigh Bar Bay’ online learning program is the culmination of six years of creative educational design commenced in 2004 when Australian Surf Lifesaving asked me to develop an elearning strategy appropriate and feasible for surf lifesaver training.  Surf Life Saving WA showed great courage and insight in taking up the challenge to commission, implement and deploy the 'Sigh Bar Bay' resource. We have advised, worked with and supported them since 2007, with some funding by the Australian government's Australian Flexible Learning Framework, to develop what is now a comprehensive and exciting suite of programs for SLSWA volunteers.  There is every indication that based on its success in WA, the program will be adopted by other states in coming surf seasons."

eLearn Australia is based in Nambour but consults, advises and designs for training organisations and Universities across Australia. They have developed elearning resources for health, mental health, nurse education, sport and recreation and emergency services.