Celebrating 25 Years Of ETC

It’s hard to believe that the Emergency Telecommunicator^™ (ETC^™) curriculum could be nearly as old as Google, DVDs, and dial-up internet. In the 25 years since its origin, we’ve seen a journey of ETC growth that could fill a bookshelf with lessons learned. Among those pages are the believers who have shaped its success, though only a few are highlighted here.

From a desire to train Emergency Dispatchers to serve the public better, the ETC program was written, refined, and adapted to build the next generation of first, first responders. As we approach this silver anniversary since ETC’s origin, we appreciate its innovation, individuality, and impact in emergency services and throughout the world.

Innovation

In 1998, the International Academies of Emergency Dispatch^® (IAED^™) was still growing from the revolutionary ideas of creating new disciplines of protocol and developing individualized training that fully prepared Emergency Dispatchers to use it.

“It was so interesting to appreciate the genius vision of what this could become,” said former Instructional Designer Brian Farnsworth (1999–2002). “It was fascinating to see the expertise. We would argue things out, forging through a combination of opinions and backgrounds. But we were united because everyone recognized the potential to transform the industry as a great benefit to emergency professionals.”

At the time, the only basic telecommunicator course available was offered by a competitor, so many agencies using the IAED’s Medical Priority Dispatch System^™ (MPDS^®) were sending their Emergency Dispatchers elsewhere for introductory training. However, these courses weren’t compatible with the Academy’s protocol and policies, a clear impetus for the IAED to develop its own.

This desire to add ETC came during the time when the police and fire protocols and associated training were still in development. Even still, there were already overlapping dispatch elements that were considered foundational. Pulling from these commonalities, the Academy decided to build a text that could be used to certify Emergency Telecommunicators separately, planning to then layer specific protocol training on top of that.

Dr. Jeff Clawson, IAED co-founder, agreed with the plan to build an Emergency Telecommunicator curriculum, but he was initially dissatisfied with how the standalone text was shaping up. He desired the training to be more engaging and edifying to a higher standard, setting a professional tone while uniting with the IAED’s protocol training.

“Protocol training was much more instructor-led at that time,” Farnsworth said. “The training depended on dynamic instructors and actual 911 calls—very experience-based.” The ETC text had to engage in much the same way.

With an effort to make the ETC training more robust, the curriculum team incorporated real applications and insightful colloquialisms, bringing a lot of flavor not normally associated with a textbook or manual.

Equally important, the ETC curriculum needed to be standardized in its look and feel with the rest of the IAED training products. “[Then-graphic designer] Kris Berg designed instrumental splash graphics that established a visual style and sharpened the professional focus,” Farnsworth said.

When the curriculum was ready, the IAED team submitted the text to Jones and Bartlett, a publishing company who had their own vision of production and a large network for distribution, leading the way to printing the first edition of the ETC manual.

The initial publication run was 10,000 copies, though they sold fewer copies than Jones and Bartlett had envisioned. More significantly, the course was being sold to anyone, regardless of their background or association with the IAED, and students were expecting certification and employment opportunities without the necessary qualification.

Though the release was a professional start with a broad reach, it soon became clear that the ETC curriculum belonged back in the hands of those who created it. “I approached Dr. Clawson and the board about whether we could convince Jones and Bartlett to give up their rights and publish the curriculum ourselves,” said Larry Latimer, retired Instructional Designer and IAED Director of Curriculum Design (1998–2017). And they did.

Individuality

Moving forward with 400 additional copies printed as a temporary holdover, the Academy decided to officially form an ETC Curriculum Board and further evolve the curriculum to seamlessly fit with the EMD (and now) EFD and EPD courses. They began their process of instituting an ETC-I program to train their own ETC instructors and began to revise the manual for their individualized purposes.

Where the first edition of the ETC manual originally had eight chapters (188 pages), the next edition increased to 13 chapters, each structured in the same format with outlined objectives highlighting the main points.

“We found that we had five chapters that we made pretty much identical (center operations, legal, technology, stress, and ethics),” Latimer said. “If agencies decided to adopt ETC and become certified in ETC, they could take the five-day course and limit the EMD/EFD/EPD course to just two days instead of three, cutting down on subsequent cost of classes.”

The second edition was ready to publish in 2007. Once the ETC curriculum was ready for a new rollout, Latimer spent a lot of time promoting, instructing, and coordinating courses with the next generation of Emergency Telecommunicators.

“There was a big boom where we started getting a lot of interest,” Latimer said. “Especially in Texas (USA), we had high school and college teachers who were interested in offering the course to their students, and we started holding ETC-I courses for those groups.”

In Atlanta (Georgia, USA), Latimer was happy to be part of a program called “Troops for Telecommunicators,” a nonprofit working with individuals who had completed their tour in the armed services and were ready to gain certification for future career opportunities.

“I taught most of those courses at military installations, and it snowballed into more demand,” Latimer said. “Even after I officially retired in 2011, I couldn’t cut ties with the Academy. I got myself certified as an ETC-I-I and taught courses worldwide including China, Vietnam, and Brazil. My last course was at Fort Bragg, North Carolina (USA), in 2017.”

Impact

Near the release of the second edition of the ETC course almost 20 years ago, Nancy Lockhart was eager to work with Susi Marsan. The partnership was a dream come true for Lockhart who was first introduced to Marsan at her first NAVIGATOR conference in 1994. 

“Hearing Susi speak created a vision of exactly what I wanted to do, igniting a potential career path to unite with my passion for emergency dispatch,” Lockhart said.

She followed that dream through 33 years in dispatch, 22 of which have included serving on the ETC Curriculum Board to give back to a career that gave her purpose.

“Susi taught me the ETC Instructor Course, and she took me under her wing,” Lockhart said. “Those boards are full of highly passionate people. We are engaged with the latest, newest, greatest information.”

As the ETC curriculum continues to be refined, industry experts have built on the concept of wellness and the Academy pillars, expanding its scope. Lockhart and Marsan are particularly excited about the updates coming in version 5 of the ETC manual, crediting IAED ETC Program Coordinator Bonni Stockman, the ETC Curriculum Board, and the Learning eXperience Design (LXD) team for the exceptional work they’ve put into refining the material for the next generation of ETCs.

“We’re trying to make the curriculum a bit more student-centric,” Lockhart said. “We want to focus the end of each chapter to be more actionable with an outward look on how they can serve their community.”

This has always been a focus for Marsan, leading with passion and dedication as the board’s resident “cat wrangler,” according to Lockhart. Marsan has laid the groundwork and given people the chance to discover how their paths can influence others.

“ETC really is the gateway for passionate people to become knowledgeable in a practical, service-oriented career,” Marsan said.

This includes a young population of students such as high schoolers participating in ETC courses taught as career and technical education, meeting minimum 911 training guidelines. 

Upon graduation, ETC students can seek additional training and certification in emergency medical, fire, and/or police dispatch specialties to function on-line with earned confidence to handle each call for critical, life-sustaining assistance. 

Regardless of their path, they are better communicators and more prepared citizens.

“These ETC students not only have greater respect for first responders, but they have an understanding of how emergencies are handled in the real world,” Stockman said. “An estimated 18,374 members took the ETC course between 2024 and 2025, sharing what they learned with their communities.”

In recent years, the ETC course has also allowed centers to tap into non-traditional avenues. In fact, they’ve led groups of refugees through ETC to enter a career that provides service to the community and stability for their families. “This is the type of education that never goes unused,” Stockman said.

It’s hard to measure the impact of it all.

“It’s more than just the students that this program reaches,” Lockhart said. “Those Emergency Telecommunicators—once certified in medical, fire, and/or police dispatch—each impact maybe a thousand lives through their dispatch shifts each year. Their service impacts patients, victims, their families, and their communities. They are proven capable of helping others through the worst scenarios, all because of what you taught them.”

Conclusion

As the ETC Curriculum Board looks toward the future, they need only look at the students enrolled in their courses. The ETC program has created long-lasting relationships in the industry, as some students have connected back years later as the vice president of an ambulance service or director of an agency, still devoted in their passion for the emergency services.

Over the course of 25 years, some things haven’t changed, like the commitment and vision the Academy had to improve the standard of care on the emergency line. Through (nearly) five editions and countless combined years of service, ETC remains at the heart of training, educating, and serving the next generation.

The ETC 25-year anniversary will be recognized at NAVIGATOR in Las Vegas, April 21-24, 2026.