Training Our Heroes (Volunteers 😊) to Work with Our Nation’s Heroes

By Lisa Helm, MSW, San Diego Zoo Wild Heroes Program Manager

The San Diego Zoo runs a unique program called Wild Heroes, which provides opportunities for local armed forces service members and their families to visit the Zoo, connect to the healing aspects of nature, plants, and wildlife, and spend time with other veterans as they transition to civilian life.

Due to the unique nature of this program and the demographic served, we needed to create a specialized training program for our team members and volunteers who would be involved. Since our volunteer team already had a dedicated San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance Academy site, we decided to use this platform for the training. We needed a formalized system to track participants and a way to assign a custom learning path—and the Academy provided the perfect platform.

We first created an event on the Events Calendar. This event served as a starting point for all interested learners—and over 100 individuals signed up as part of our first cohort!

This group was then directed into the Classroom feature. In addition, a multi-step learning path to facilitate the training process was implemented. Within this custom path are resources, documents, a survey, and a link to a recording of the information training session. This online learning platform allows learners to progress at their own pace, and have access to references when needed.

Like so many programs, the Zoo’s Volunteer Services department is working to balance e-learning with in-person learning, and blending these two learning modalities in an authentic way. The features of the Academy and the learning paths provide an opportunity to capture interest, gauge comprehension of material, and present situational questions. Data, feedback, and information from the online training will be integrated into the in-person training.

While the Wild Heroes training is designed for volunteers, the platform is also accessible to all San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance team members, which will allow for continued training and development in the future, and ensure learning opportunities are standardized across the board. As a new program, it is important to provide multiple opportunities to support the learning process, and train our team to support the growth of the program.

Within our Academy site, we will continue to build out the learning path and the resources available as we move forward. The tools and functions within CollaborNation make it easy to update, track, and create content that will help our team build a stronger and more impactful program.

Lisa Helm is a Guest Services supervisor and is the Wild Heroes program manager at the San Diego Zoo. To find out more about the San Diego Zoo’s Wild Heroes program, please contact Lisa at lhelm@sdzwa.org.