Trust Development in Outdoor LeadershipShooter, Wynn; Paisley, Karen; Sibthorp, Jim
doi: 10.1177/105382590113300301pmid: N/A
Establishing trusting relationships between leaders and participants is one way that outdoor leaders can create an emotionally safe and productive milieu that supports the attainment of desirable outcomes. Multidisciplinary literature offers considerable insight into leader trust development and the outcomes that are linked to trust in a leader. This paper considers the contributions of that literature and offers findings from two studies that examined how outdoor leaders might gain the trust of participants. The results of these two studies suggest that participants develop trust in outdoor leaders in response to displays of both leader ability and character.
The Effectiveness of Service-Learning: It's Not Always what you ThinkLevesque-Bristol, Chantal; Knapp, Timothy D.; Fisher, Bradley J.
doi: 10.1177/105382590113300302pmid: N/A
Service-learning is a teaching strategy that offers students opportunities to learn both in the classroom and in the wider world. This pedagogical tool provides students with chances to directly interact with local agencies and effect change in the community. Thus, service-learning holds the potential to broaden and significantly enhance the learning climate for students. Based on an established theoretical model of academic motivation, the present study examined the effectiveness of service-learning to enhance the learning climate across a variety of academic disciplines. More than 600 students registered in service-learning courses from more than 30 different disciplines took part in the study. Results showed that when service-learning contributes to an enhancement of the positivity of the learning climate, then positive forms of motivation, civic skills, problem solving, and appreciation of diversity significantly increased over the course of the semester. Results also showed that type of involvement, amount of in-class discussion, and reflections are important factors contributing to the effectiveness of the service-learning environment.
Incorporating the Concept of Mindfulness in Informal Outdoor Education SettingsFrauman, Eric
doi: 10.1177/105382590113300303pmid: N/A
What do you do when your educational programs begin to lose some of their audience appeal? One tool to recapture your audience or simply to keep your existing ones engaged is introducing the mindfulness concept into your educational efforts. According to Langer (1989, 1997), mindfulness is expressed by actively processing information within one's surrounding context, and it is more likely when a setting or situation (a) is varied, interactive, and involving; (b) facilitates perceptions of control; (c) appears relevant to one's interests; and (d) is perceived as unique, new, or different. The primary purpose of this paper is to introduce the concept of mindfulness and propose a model based on mindfulness principles for use in informal outdoor education settings. It is hoped that the model will provide an additional tool to help professionals achieve educational goals and objectives, and to facilitate increased learning, overall satisfaction, and responsible environmental behavior among participants.
Assessing Learning in Service-Learning Courses through Critical ReflectionMolee, Lenore M.; Henry, Mary E.; Sessa, Valerie I.; Mckinney-Prupis, Erin R.
doi: 10.1177/105382590113300304pmid: N/A
The purpose of this study was to describe and examine a model for assessing student learning through reflection in service-learning courses. This model utilized a course-embedded process to frame, facilitate, support, and assess students’ depth of learning and critical thinking. Student reflection products in two service-learning courses (a freshman course and an upper-level course) at a public university were examined at two times for depth of academic, personal, and civic learning and for level of critical thinking. Depth of learning and levels of critical thinking between freshmen and upperclassmen were compared. Results suggest that the model and associated rubrics were useful in documenting student learning. Students could identify, describe, and apply their learning. They had difficulty, however, evaluating their learning and thinking critically. There was some enhancement in depth of learning and critical thinking over time with upperclassmen achieving greater depth of learning and higher levels of critical thinking in some areas. Findings indicate that the model is a rigorous tool that can be used to document and assess student learning in service-learning courses.
Enhancing Fidelity in Adventure Education and Adventure TherapyTucker, Anita R.; Rheingold, Alison
doi: 10.1177/105382590113300305pmid: N/A
Although the importance of addressing and evaluating treatment and program fidelity is clearly emphasized in the literature on psychology, education, and health, little attention has been given to fidelity in adventure literature or research. Program fidelity refers to whether or not, and how well, a specific intervention or program was implemented as planned. This article provides a background on fidelity, including program adherence and competence, factors that affect fidelity, and ways that adventure practitioners as well as evaluators can be intentional in addressing and measuring fidelity in adventure programming and research.
The 2009 Kurt Hahn Address: Seeking Deeper Understandings from ExperiencesKnapp, Clifford E.
doi: 10.1177/105382590113300306pmid: N/A
This address used a narrative style to convey several stories drawn from the speaker's life. These stories illustrated various points about the value of experience for expanding learners’ deep understandings of the content through the use of know-how knowledge. Know-how knowledge was contrasted with know-that knowledge in order to demonstrate the value of experiential learning. Stories taken from the presenter's life experiences include making maple syrup, building fires by the bow-and-drill method, taking four Lakota-based vision quests, and participating in a kayaking course. The value of questioning was discussed by examining how educators can ask questions and by addressing how questioning can be used as a teaching technique. All the examples used in this address yielded what is known as slow knowledge—a result of learning through direct experience in particular contexts. Knapp concluded by stating that the field of experiential education was gaining ground in mainstream education circles and was becoming more popular as educators discovered its power to motivate students and to develop in them a deeper understanding of the subject-matter.