Skydive School: Online Ground School
This interactive set of lessons can be used for preparing for any method First Jump Course, as well as a reference for brushing up in reviews while pursuing your USPA A license. Studying this material at your own pace before your First Jump Course will greatly enhance your understanding and retention. Some schools can choose to use this online ground school as the content for a Reverse Classroom strategy in order to provide an efficient, active-learning experience.
Let's take a closer look at each of these concepts, presented in the order you encounter them during a jump:
United States Parachute Association's intent with Skydive School is to see that new skydivers receive as much correct and useful information as possible. In addition, USPA aims to assist busy instructional rating holders and Drop Zone owners by facilitating existing programs with a consistent, innovative resource versatile enough to support varied methods, equipment choices and landing areas, yet specific enough to provide accurate details. As with any material regardless of media, all information presented in this interface should be accompanied by the oversight of an appropriately rated USPA instructor.
What is "Skydive School" anyway?
When you are first learning to skydive, the amount of knowledge presented may seem overwhelming. You may feel like you are taking a drink from a firehose. Skydiveschool.org was created with the novice in mind to extend the material in the ISP for students pursuing their USPA A license. These interactive training segments not only contain First Jump Course content, Skydive School also contains lessons supporting the Academics portions of each Category in the ISP. Originating at Skydive Kansas in 2004, this resource was reworked and given to USPA in 2011. It is now in its third iteration here, launched for USPA Safety Day 2020.
So, what's the point!? To learn by having fun! Skydiveschool.org is made possible by the programming of Jen Sharp (whose passion meshes skydiving, education, and the internet), by the vision of Skydive Kansas (whose Online Ground School was the impetus for this project), by the animation of Tony James (who serendipitously fell into this adventure on his first jump course), by the malfunction videos of John "Wink" Winkler's Down To Earth Photography (cool stuff there) and by the support of Jim Crouch (who was Director of Safety & Training at USPA Headquarters and originally spearheaded the project). Thanks and acknowledgement also go to those contributing videos, photos and miscellaneous other pieces: Jay Stokes, Sherry Butcher, Mark Klingelhoefer, Turk Chapman, Rance Sackrider, Heather Nicole Roth, Bill Hubbell, Jeremy Struemph, Paul Visser, Skydive K-State, Luke Aikins, Andy Farrington.