November 6, 2019: When you log into the new NSS-CDS training website, you’ll have more at your disposal than just a new student registration page. There is an entirely new Downloads section where you will find training forms, Standards and Procedures and NSS-CDS logos for use in digital and print media.
A key feature of this section are the training forms. We’ve redesigned these to not only look more professional but be easier to use and take full advantage of the features in Adobe Acrobat.
You and your students can complete these forms on their computer using either Adobe Acrobat Pro or the free Acrobat Reader software. You and they can even sign them digitally. Additional benefits of a PDF-based workflow include:
- Paperwork is vastly more legible.
- It helps save trees.
- You can send and receive forms via email.
- You can search for keywords or phrases in Acrobat.
- You can back digital records up to a thumb drive or external disk and save the backup copies off-site.
Because conservation is among the key goals of the NSS-CDS, we want our instructors to be able to consume as little paper as possible. Acrobat helps us achieve this.
In 2003, the Section learned a hard lesson about the dangers of paper-based record keeping. All of our student and instructor records were lost to what was characterized as a “natural disaster.”
We now store all of our instructor records offsite as PDFs. We further back these up once a week to another server at a separate location. We suggest you look into doing the same for your own records.