Syllabus
Syllabus
Syllabus
Course Summary
Course : EDMG101 Title : Introduction to Emergency Management
Length of Course : 8 Faculty :
Prerequisites : N/A Credit Hours : 3
Description
Course Description:
This is designed to introduce students to the concepts of emergency management. Students will gain a
general understanding of the threats faced by communities. Students will explore the role of emergency
management as well as the activities taken during the various phases of emergency management:
mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. Topics covered in this class include the history and
development of emergency management, hazard identification and risk analysis, mitigation,
communications, international disaster management, and the future of emergency management. Through a
simulation exercise, the students use publicly available tools to take on the role of an emergency manager.
They will be tasked with doing a comprehensive risk assessment of a fictional town and apply the results to a
Hazard Vulnerability Assessment (HVA) using different man-made, technological, and natural hazards that
culminates in a peer-review assessment.
Course Scope:
This course will discuss the best practices and proper methodologies for emergency managers as well as
ways that students can develop the skills and capabilities that current and future employers seek in the
individuals they hire and promote. Every chapter is complete with real-world examples and questions that
force students to apply their knowledge.
Objectives
At the conclusion of this course, students will:
1. Summarize the history and functions of emergency management.
2. Describe the integrated emergency management system including federal, state, and local government
and non-governmental agencies.
3. Identify the emergency management roles in each phase of emergency management.
4. Compare and contrast the types of natural, technological and man-made hazards that can affect a
community.
5. Explain the roles and functions of emergency management programs such as the National Incident
Management System and the National Response Framework.
Outline
Page: 1 of 9 Date: 4/6/2022 10:30:13 AM
Outline
Week 1: Student Introductions Introduction to Emergency Management & Identifying Stakeholders
Learning Objective(s)
1. Compare and contrast hazards, emergencies, and disasters
2. Design a disaster preparedness program
3. Design a plan for disaster response Compare and contrast stakeholders from social, economic, and
governmental groups.
4. Evaluate how to involve communities in emergency management to improve emergency planning.
5. Implement and evaluate an emergency management policy process.
Reading(s)
Required Reading:
Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION TO EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT
The Role of the Emergency Manager
Chapter 2 EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT STAKEHOLDERS
Influencing the Decision-Making Process
Supplemental Resources:
Assignment(s)
Complete the Week 1 Forum.
Assignment 1 Week 1
Learning Objective(s)
1. Organize and staff local emergency planning committees.
2. Design an effective emergency management organization.
3. Develop a planning process.
4. Create an Emergency Operations Plan (EOP).
5. Design a risk communication plan.
6. Create an implement a risk communication plan.
7. Perform a protective action assessment.
8. Involve the media and the public in risk communication.
Reading(s)
Required:
Chapter 3 BUILDING AN EFFECTIVE EMERGENCY MGMT. ORGANIZATION
Planning for Emergencies
Chapter 4 RISK PERCEPTION AND COMMUNICATION
Saving Lives
Learning Objective(s)
1. Organize hazards into categories.
2. Formulate a plan for handling hazardous substances.
3. Manage the risks associated with hazards.
4. Create relationships with others to prepare for different types of hazards.
5. Evaluate community vulnerabilities.
6. Create a chemical inventory.
7. Assess and prepare for hazards.
8. Design a preimpact discovery recovery plan.
9. Plan and compose emergency management interventions.
Reading(s)
Required:
Chapter 5 PRINCIPAL HAZARDS IN THE UNITED STATES
Causes and Effects
Chapter 6 HAZARD, VULNERABILITY, AND RISK ANALYSIS
Focusing Efforts
Assignment(s)
Forum Week 3
Assignment 2 Week 3
Learning Objective(s)
1. Manage and reduce the risks of natural hazards.
2. Assess the risks of technological hazards and manage them by reducing them.
3. Evaluate the five categories of mitigation strategies and how they apply to different hazards.
Reading(s)
Required:
Chapter 7 HAZARD MITIGATION
Reducing Risk
Assignment(s)
Mapping Hazards
Mid-term Exam
Learning Objective(s)
1. Design a plan for convergence.
2. Design a warning dissemination plan.
3. Create a plan to work with and organize volunteers and emergent organizations.
4. Analyze evacuation time estimates.
5. Predict how people will respond to disasters.
6. Manage resistance to the planning process.
7. Write an emergency operations plan (EOP).
8. Evaluate emergency response functions.
9. Select organizations for emergency response and preparedness.
10. Organize an emergency operations center (EOC).
11. Perform emergency assessment activities in the response phase.
12. Design a plan to protect the population and structures during hazards.
13. Manage the information flow within the emergency operations center (EOC).
14. Manage and organize the work of the public sector, private sector, and nongovernmental organizations
to successfully respond to a community-wide disaster.
Reading(s)
Required:
Chapter 8 MYTHS AND REALITIES OF DISASTER RESPONSE
How People and Communities Respond in an Emergency
Chapter 9 PREPAREDNESS FOR EMERGENCY RESPONSE
Organizing a Response
Chapter 10 ORGANIZATIONAL EMERGENCY RESPONSE
Handling an Emergency
Assignment(s)
Forum Week 5
Assignment 3 Week 5
Week 6: Recovery
Learning Objective(s)
1. Outline normal operations for their company.
2. Prepare plans to ensure an effective and speedy recovery after a disaster.
3. Support households and businesses after a disaster and assist them through recovery.
4. Create a recovery operations plan (ROP).
Reading(s)
Required:
Chapter 11 DISASTER RECOVERY
Managing the Process
Learning Objective(s)
1. Write an employee performance appraisal.
2. Design ways to improve specific weaknesses of an organization such as a LEMA or LEMC.
3. Compare and contrast reaction criteria, learning criteria, behavior criteria, and results criteria.
4. Design risk communication and training programs based on evaluation of previous programs.
5. Evaluate training programs.
6. Work with people from other countries to develop an effective response to an emergency.
7. Assess a country’s unique characteristics when developing an emergency management program.
8. Model responses to local emergencies based on case studies from successful responses to disasters
in other countries.
Reading(s)
Required:
Chapter 12 EVALUATIONS
Improving Performance
Chapter 13 INTERNATIONAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT
How Other Countries Manage Their Hazards
Assignment(s)
Forum Week 7
Learning Objective(s)
1. Evaluate the emergency management profession.
2. Assess ethical issues that emergency managers face.
3. Build the skills of an emergency manager.
4. Evaluate academic opportunities.
5. Evaluate professional development opportunities.
6. Limit personal legal liability
7. Assess how global challenges will affect the local community.
8. Assess national trends that will affect disasters.
9. Model a plan after the principles of Project Impact to reduce disaster losses.
10. Evaluate ways to better communicate with disaster researchers.
11. Propose ideas on how to better educate all emergency personnel.
Reading(s)
Required
Chapter 14 PROFESSIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY
Being a Professional
Evaluation
Grades for this course will be based upon graded forums, four worksheet assignments, a peer-reviewed
session project, and two exams.
Your biography needs to be a minimum of 300 words and must be submitted to the Week 1 forum prior to the
conclusion of the first week, or else you will be dropped from the class. In the case of the other forums, the
student must respond to the topic of discussion and further reply to the postings of other classmates as part
of their total grade.
Written assignments are to be completed prior to the close of a course week and are to be submitted
through the appropriate weekly written assignment window accessible via the Assignments section of the
course.
The mid-term and final exams will be comprised of a combination of true/false, matching, fill in the blank
and/or short essays.
Your final grade will be based on the following:
Grade Instruments: % of Final Grade
Forums (6) 25%
Written Assignments (4) 30%
Session Project (1) 15%
Mid-Term Exam 15%
Final Exam 15%
Total 100%
If you have an issue with the grade you received, please consult your instructor. All grading issues will be
resolved within a week of turning back the assignment.
Grading:
Name Grade %
Assignments 30.00 %
Week 1 Assignment 7.50 %
Week 3 Assignment 7.50 %
Week 5 Assignment 7.50 %
Week 6 Assignment 7.50 %
Discussions 25.00 %
W1: Introduction Discussion 4.17 %
W2: Risk Communication Program 4.17 %
W4: Hazard Mapping 4.17 %
W5: The Seven Principles of the
4.17 %
Incident Command System
W6: Disaster Recovery 4.17 %
W7: Program Evaluation 4.17 %
Session Project 15.00 %
Materials
Book Title: Various resources from the APUS Library & the Open Web are used. Please visit
http://apus.libguides.com/er.php to locate the course eReserve.
Author:
Publication Info:
ISBN: ERESERVE NOTE
1. Course Resources: This course takes full advantage of the University's efforts to convert course
materials for access over the open web. As such, the University’s online library serves as the focal
point through which electronic resources supporting this course may be sourced from the open and
deep web. . This link will allow your access to required course readings even if the system is down.
Use of the open web stresses the development of informational literacy. To support that
development, citations for required readings appear in each case a required text and / or supporting
resource is identified. That citation provides requisite information to support a student’s material via
the online library within the detailed assignment synopses and within the classroom within subject
forum and written assignment instructions where appropriate.
Students are also advised to stay on top of current disaster events and debates by reading a local or
national newspaper and by reviewing disaster-related Web sites, such as the FEMA Web site
(www.fema.gov) and the Web site for the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program
(http://nehrp.gov/news.html).
2. Software Requirements:
Microsoft Office (MS Word, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint)
Adobe Acrobat Reader (Click here for free download)
Ability to create an online map, such as a free Google account, or similar service
Course Guidelines
This course requires a time management plan and the self-discipline to follow it. You are responsible for
managing your time, completing assignments on time, completing the readings, and making inquiries as
needed to complete the course effectively. This is an 8-week course, which means the material must be
Communications
Student Communication
To reach the instructor, please communicate through the MyClassroom email function accessible from the
Classlist of the Course Tools menu, where the instructor and students email addresses are listed, or via the
Office 365 tool on the Course homepage.
In emails to instructors, it’s important to note the specific course in which you are enrolled. The name of
the course is at the top center of all pages.
Students and instructors communicate in Discussion posts and other learning activities.
All interactions should follow APUS guidelines, as noted in the Student Handbook, and maintain a
professional, courteous tone.
Students should review writing for spelling and grammar.
Tips on Using the Office 365 Email Tool
Instructor Communication
The instructor will post announcements on communications preferences involving email and Instant
Messaging and any changes in the class schedule or activities.
Instructors will periodically post information on the expectations of students and will provide feedback
on assignments, Discussion posts, quizzes, and exams.
Instructors will generally acknowledge student communications within 24 hours and respond within 48
hours, except in unusual circumstances (e.g., illness).
The APUS standard for grading of all assessments (assignments, Discussions, quizzes, exams) is five
days or fewer from the due date.
Final course grades are submitted by faculty no later than seven days after the end date of the course
or the end of the extension period.
University Policies
Consult the Student Handbook for processes and policies at APUS. Notable policies:
Drop/Withdrawal Policy
Extension Requests
Academic Probation
Appeals
Mission
The mission of American Public University System is to provide high quality higher education with emphasis
on educating the nation’s military and public service communities by offering respected, relevant, accessible,
affordable, and student-focused online programs that prepare students for service and leadership in a
diverse, global society.
Disclaimers
Please note that course content – and, thus, the syllabus – may change between when a student
registers for a course and when the course starts.
Course content may vary from the syllabus’ schedule to meet the needs of a particular group.