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General Course Information
Koi keepers enrolling in this course will become familiar with:
How to plan for the construction of a Koi pond, to include pond ownership issues as well as selecting the pond’s location, volume and shape.
Numerous design issues, such as a fail-safe design, flow rates through a filtration system, beneficial pond currents, aeration and water changes.
Numerous pond construction concepts, such as building a shell that has structural integrity, the pros and cons of various shell materials, filter construction and installation, plumbing, pumps, electrical systems, water entrance and egress devices, and water conditioning devices,
All students will need an email address and internet access to K.O.I. websites.
Pond construction design concepts have been an ever evolving science since the first hobbyist built the first pond. That would have been a so called natural pond with no filtration. The combination of plants and fish in an artificial body of water was supposed to work. After a few fatalities, a better design was sought. Trying to emulate an aquarium with gravel bottom filtration did not work much better. Over the decades we are where we are today. This course covers what we believe to be the most up-to-date information on the topic. Three phases of the pond building process are covered in this course – Planning, Designing, and Construction. Each of these includes numerous topics that should be understood before the first dollar is spent on the significant investment of building a Koi pond. This training module will help with understanding the decision processes involved in pond building and will provide insight to the trade-offs and options that should be considered.
Well presented and detailed course some minor differences between US and UK put nothing to cause any concerns. Sandy Campbell was the tutor and always responded in a timely manner and with good detailed feedback. well done all.
I liked this course very much! The three chapters helped make understanding each component of pond building specialized and focused. It would be fun to have a 'super pond', best practices portion of the test, but I guess that is what we try to do without ponds, make them the best they can be. I will take the information from this course and set to improving my pond right away. (as soon as it warms up from 17 degrees!:)) Ken is a very good instructor, who was quick to return emails and grade tests!
I enjoyed this course — it was especially helpful to complete it with the filtration segment. The two topics fit well and contained a lot of useful information.
I found Ken to be incredibly helpful and he really helped me to "think" about the information.
Hard course but very informational. I've built 12 ponds and the filtration over the last 26 years and still struggled with this course! Lots of technical information that will be very helpful.
I found the course to be terrific. Who knew there was so much to building a pond! When we built our pond in 2005, I read numerous books but none stand up to this document. I really liked the organization of Analysis, Design, and Construction. [I was a project manager in a former life and found this to be very logical.] My pond might have a few upgrades come the spring. Thanks for all the help, Ken.
Very well written and not too complex but contains the right graphs and tables to help calculate all the target flows and loss by friction. I learned so much information in this chapter. I like that the exam was broken up into 3 tests to not be overwhelming. Ken is great and responds back quickly.
Tests & Completion
The course material is a document written by Ken Austin entitled Koi Pond Construction. The course will be divided into 3 reading assignments, with a quiz for each assignment:
Planning - pages 1 - 14: Assignment 1
Design - pages 15 - 41: Assignment 2
Construction - pages 41 - 91: Assignment 3
This is a self-paced course. There will be an exam at the end of each assignment. The exams can be taken at any time but all the exams must be completed within the 12 months allowed for the course. Email a request to the instructor a request for an exam and it will be sent to you.
Questions can be emailed to the instructor. If a student requests that certain information be kept confidential, then it will be re-phrased and presented it to the class, if pertinent, but will respect the anonymity of the student.
Have some fun with this. Building a Koi pond can be a difficult task, so the instructor encourages each student to both learn and enjoy the course. Everyone who works hard is expected to complete the course. To complete this course, students must provide satisfactory answers on all exams within 12 months of the first instructor contact.
It is the intention of K.O.I. to provide an email warning to the student if the course is incomplete and their tuition is about to expire provided
The course must be completed within 12 months of the date the student was initially contacted by the instructor. Special exemptions may apply if the 12 months have expired. These will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
If additional time is desired, 12-month extensions may be purchased for $25 for a single course or $50 for multiple courses. Students may request extensions from their Student Coordinator prior to the expiration of the time originally allotted to complete their course(s). If the student qualifies, the Student Coordinator will issue instructions on how to buy the extension at the K.O.I. Store.
Students will be given every reasonable opportunity to understand the answers to the quiz and exam questions. Students will be prompted for a more complete answer if their first attempt is insufficient. A score of 100% will be required to pass this course.
The K.O.I. policy in regards to the student code of conduct is clear. Cheating will not be tolerated. Students will be failed if they cheat. For those seeking certification, cheating or serious legal violations (relative to the activities with K.O.I.) will be grounds for non-certification or de-certification.
Certification
Course Sign Up
Once you have purchased a course individually or as a certification package, you can expect:
1. The store website will send you an email confirming your purchase
2. KOI Student Coordinator will send you an email regarding KOI courses
3. Instructor(s) for each course will send you an email regarding courses you have purchased.
4. For a package of courses (e.g. 9-course CKK package), courses can be taken in any order. Respond to the Instructor’s email for the course you want to start with. As you finish each course, respond to the instructor’s email for each consecutive course. Optionally you can take more than one course at a time, communicating by email with the Instructors.
5. The reading material for each course will be either:
downloaded from the KOI website – follow the download instructions in the email you receive from the instructor, or;
for some courses a you will receive a book from the KOI store shortly after your purchase.
6. If you have any questions or problems, contact the instructor or the Student Coordinator: Kelvin Davis <KelvinDavisKoi@outlook.com>