Columbus Outdoor Pursuits (COP) is a volunteer-based nonprofit organization in Ohio that has offered outdoor educational and recreational opportunities to its members for 63 years. COP day and trip programs focus on outdoor activities such as bicycling, kayaking, hiking, and rock climbing. In addition, COP offers classes in the skills required for…

Many decisions made by outdoor leaders are critical to the well-being of an entire group. Understanding the psychology of groups is important to successful leadership. This paper presents ways that individuals are motivated in groups, how groups respond, some symptoms of problems, and strategies to divert problems that can overwhelm a group.…

An emotionally safe environment helps campers participate in adventure activities. Staff development tips for creating a safe environment include using cooperative goal setting; using parallel training processes; developing working lesson plans that outline facilitation techniques for creating emotionally safe environments; and using co-created…

Within diverse outdoor educational activities, a core experience of connection with the earth balances self, others, and nature with elements of ritual. Most effective when experiential, integrated, and technologically simple, the core experience's educative power lies in awakening awareness of interconnectedness between human and nonhuman life.…

College outdoor program leaders are often paraprofessionals, who may have less training than professional outdoor educators, yet must deal with the same types of problems on the trail. This paper describes the Outdoor Action (OA) Program at Princeton University, and outlines the training assessment and development model used to train OA program…

One of the exciting and sometimes frustrating elements of participating in the field of outdoor wilderness education and recreation involves not only the issue of ensuring that practicing professionals function with competence, safety and prudence, but that they have knowledge and skills gained from many disciplines and a variety of life…

The author describes her experiences leading remote wilderness canoe trips for a coed camp; differences in leadership styles when trips are led by two women, by a man and a woman, or by two men; and her own camping experiences as a youth when camp leaders were cast into stereotypical gender roles. (LP)

Anecdotes about adventure experiences illustrate how an "artist"-facilitator seamlessly applies scientific methods while in the moment to best enhance student learning. Adventure educators can be artists by creatively framing, constructing, and debriefing the experience while not being central to the experience themselves, thereby…

To implement its mission of increasing participation in fishing and boating and the stewardship of related resources, the Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation solicited input from 11 experts in related fields. They identified 10 principles for education programs and recommended best practices in four educational areas: program planning,…

Participant responsibility in outdoor education programs is placed on a continuum from passenger status through participant and partner to practitioner. Corresponding leader roles are directive, coaching, supporting, and delegating. The disempowering effects of the passenger approach to risk management and the value of teaching a group to manage…

Describes the steps in utilizing fast-tracking to phase out the overloaded two-year Outdoor Recreation Technician Co-op program at Seneca College (Ontario) and phase in a one-year graduate Outdoor Recreation Certificate program with a lower teacher-student ratio. A concept model relates generalist core skills to specializations and outdoor…

This article provides a theoretical foundation for understanding women's technical skill development (TSD) in outdoor adventure. An examination of societal and biological factors influencing women's TSD focuses on gender role socialization, sense of competence, technical conditioning, sexism, spatial ability, and risk-taking. The article suggests…

This paper describes the competencies in the domain of human interaction that are required of leaders in various outdoor adventure programs. These programs may be grouped on a continuum from recreational outdoor adventure to primary (adventure) therapy. In the middle of the continuum, educational, enrichment, and adjunctive (adventure) therapy…

This paper outlines a model for assessing and managing psychological depth in outdoor and experiential group work, and presents two case studies of the complexity of such management in real life. The model contains eight levels of emotional risk and presents four criteria for assessing the level to which a particular event or discussion may lead…

The National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) is an internationally recognized outdoor school with five branch schools located in Wyoming, Alaska, Kenya, Mexico, and Washington. The philosophy of NOLS is to develop judgment and leadership skills in its students. Three priorities guide this school: (1) safety and care of the individual; (2) safety…