Adventure and Experiential Education SiteFinder Ezine 2.5

~ ~ :-) your free monthly newsletter associated with the
SiteFinder Directory: http://reviewing.co.uk/sitefinder/
edited by Roger Greenaway roger@reviewing.co.uk

You are receiving this free monthly newsletter either because
you subscribed [thank you] or because a friend has forwarded
it to you [thank them - check the message header].

10 firm bookings confirms that this event will be taking place.
Up to 10 more places are still available. Several people have
asked if this event can be run on different dates at different
places. The answer is 'yes' - ask Dig Woodvine, XCL at:
woodvined@cix.co.uk or write to roger@reviewing.co.uk

TOOLS FOR REVIEWING IN OUTDOOR MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT
Most of my training workshops are provided as part of a client's
in-house staff development programme. Here is a rare open
workshop that provides opportunities for individuals, freelance
trainers, staff development officers etc. to experience a live
workshop! - thanks to XCL: ''Ordinary People doing Extraordinary
Things''.

    ''Tools for Reviewing in Outdoor Management Development''
    Saturday 19th to Sunday 20th June 1999
    Nantwich, Cheshire, England
    provided by Roger Greenaway, hosted by XCL

Details: www.reviewing.co.uk/outdoor/omdxcl.htm
or request a leaflet from: woodvined@cix.co.uk
Full List of 20 workshops: www.reviewing.co.uk/_wkshops.htm
[reviewing skills for working with young people and with adults]

Being Happy Makes you healthy, boosts the immune system.
lowers blood pressure, reduces risk of heart disease ...

No this isn't a trailer for Patch Adams or Joke-a-Day ezine. One
joke a day is not nearly enough! Children laugh on average 200
times a day. As we get older the score goes down :-( :-(

Don't worry! _Learning_ skills improve with age. According to a
recent survey published on LEARNING AT WORK DAY the
learning skills of people in their 40s and 50s are better than
those of younger people in their 20s and 30s.

Perhaps the young folk are too busy laughing? :-) :-) Perhaps the
older folk should LEARN to laugh more - and play to their
strengths?

Another conclusion of this survey is that WOMEN are better at
learning than MEN. Now there's something to smile about - wry,
knowing, pained, smug or triumphant smiles depending on your
gender/empathy/sympathy?? ;-) ;-)

We should get things better co-ordinated in the UK and arrange
for smiling days and learning days to coincide. How about a
National Smiling and Learning Week, or Month or Year ... Why not
make it International?!

If you want to learn more about this 'Survey into Learning Skills
and Practices', take a look at the websites of the organisations
that supported the survey:
http://www.peterhoney.co.uk and
http://www.campaign-for-learning.org.uk
- an unmissable site for promoters of learning.

What networks do you belong to - virtual and real?
Some of the strongest networks are a mixture of both.

Don't worry! I'm not going to suggest a gathering of SiteFinder
subscribers - not just now anyway :-). I am thinking more about a
small but growing network of experiential educators in Europe.
Their website is set to become the hub of this network. It's
early days, but take a look - there's news of forthcoming events
and there are plans to set up (guess what!) a newsletter. I'll
let you know when this happens. See below for a guide to this new
European site.

Also in this issue you will find news of a similar initiative in
Scotland - where the outdoor learning community is setting up a
new membership organisation to coincide with the launch of the
new Scottish Parliament. Their website and newsletter will be
appearing soon, but they are not yet one month old.

Longer established networks with conferences, websites,
discussion lists and more (and all open to non-members) are:

The Association for Outdoor Learning (AfOL) (formerly NAOE) which
currently has two homes on the web:
http://www.outdoor-learning.org [since publication there is now just one home for what has since become IOL - the Institute for OL]

Another interesting network was reviewed in SiteFinder as
February's "Site Of the Month". The Countryside Recreation
Network at: http://sosig.ac.uk/crn/rd/ is part of an impressive
network that uses electronic media, print media and regular face
to face events throughout the year. It's a great example of the
internet supporting and developing face to face networking.

SiteFinder has an international membership (only a minority of
subscribers are UK or European) - so please help to give this
ezine a more international flavour. If any of your networks
in your country or in your own field of experiential learning use
the internet - write in and let each other know.

** SiteFinder ezine aims to link you to experiential learning
networks that have a presence on the internet - including any
ezines that have common interests. **

English speakers may not expect to understand much at a site
named http://www.erlebnispaedagogik.de
Much of this site is predictably in German. This review describes
the fast growing English language section on this European site.

INTERNATIONAL AND EUROPEAN NEWS PAGE ...
... for Experiential Education, Adventure-based Learning, Outdoor
Education and Therapeutic Adventure

'' A network for people using adventures, the nature, games and
initiatives to facilitate change in all different client groups.
This Network is focused on Europe with strong connection
worldwide.

'' To reach these goals we are co-organizing conferences,
meetings and workshops and provide different services like
event-announcement, newspage, literature search and bookshop.

'' If you want to participate in our network please share your
ideas, wishes, concerns and new information. Mail to:
info@erlebnispaedagogik.de

FUTURE PLANS
In the next 12 months AEE Europe will be staging the following:
    European meeting in Germany - at Praxisfeld
    Post meeting Drama workshop
    Ropes Course Accident Simulation in Netherlands
    Beginning an electronic newsletter
    working on developing an adventure therapy network and
developing questions and issues in this area.

REPORT OF A RECENT MEETING/CONFERENCE
AEE European Member Meeting Report by Pete Allison
including contact details for workshop presenters

New pages have just appeared on this site and there will many
more to come now that this European network is getting more
active.

Here's an interesting electronic network that I learned about
from James Neill via another electronic network - the outdoor
research discussion list hosted by Mailbase [since changed to jiscmail] at
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk - a huge collection of discussion lists
based in the higher education sector in the UK.

IDEAL® at www.idealibrary.com [now a dead link?] not only has electronic versions
of printed journals, it publishes them a day or two in advance.
It is easy to search and even advises you about the least busy
mirror site to go to to conduct your search. The downside is that
you only get to see the abstracts unless you are accessing this
site from a member institution such as a university :-(

A QUALITATIVE EXPLORATION OF THE WILDERNESS EXPERIENCE
AS A SOURCE OF SPIRITUAL INSPIRATION
Laura M. Fredrickson, Dorothy H. Anderson

On-site observations, personal field journals, and in-depth
interviews were used to examine qualitative aspects of the
wilderness experience as a source of spiritual inspiration. Two
groups of women kept personal journal accounts of their daily
`lived-experience' during one of two outdoor recreation trips ...

Participants spoke of the expansiveness of the landscape and an
awareness of the sheer powers of nature as contributing to a
meaningful wilderness experience, which thereby acted as
spiritual inspiration for most individuals. Moreover, positive
interpersonal interactions combined with complete immersion in a
wilderness setting seemed to influence one's proclivity to
perceiving elements of the landscape as possible sources of
spiritual inspiration. Copyright 1999 Academic Press

Journal of Environmental Psychology, v 19, n 1, March, 1999,
p21-39 (ID jevp.1998.0110)
Copyright © 1999 Academic Press

http://www.idealibrary.com [now a dead link?]
INTERNATIONAL DIGITAL ELECTRONIC ACCESS LIBRARY
IDEAL® is an online electronic library containing 174 Academic
Press journals. In addition, selected W.B. Saunders, Ltd. and
Churchill Livingstone titles are available. Abstracts and tables
of contents are presented in HTML and full-text articles are
delivered in Adobe Acrobat® format. There are mirror sites in the
U.S.A. and the U.K.

A NEW ELECTRONIC JOURNAL from eXperientia
James Neill has recently been appointed as editor of this online
journal about research in Experiential Education. To find out
when the first issue appears stay subscribed to this ezine.

SEARCH ROBOTS
A few issues back I was singing the praises of two search
robots that will regularly carry out searches for you while
you are enjoying the outdoors.
They are Tracerlock http://www.tracerlock.com and
The Informant [since disappeared]

These services are free and hassle-free, and are a great way to
discover new or updated sites that match your carefully chosen
keywords. My problem is choosing the right keywords as you will
soon see!

Now the main reason why this ezine exists is because internet
searches are notoriously difficult in our field. Maybe I need to
learn more about constructing decent search strings, but I
thought that this instruction to Tracerlock would bring me lots
of experiential education sites:

I estimate that only 2% of the sites returned using this search
string are the kind of sites I am looking for. That figure has
recently dropped to 0% as you can see ...

The following web pages have been indexed since 5/17/99
and match the term "adventure OR outdoor AND education AND NOT
jobs AND NOT computer AND NOT software":

    Muppet Treasure Island
    Heck's Way Home
    Richard Bone - Discography
    Temptation Of A Monk
    Marita Parisi - Native American and Nature Art Gallery -

    Welcome to kazweb.com : links fun toys software books
    Welcome to Fireweed House Bed and Breakfast
    Adventure Pictures Gallery
    Zeram
    Alaska Books and Authors

    Traci Lords Archives
    The Baby-Sitters Club: The Movie
    Take The Wheel Sweepstakes
    Maui Princess Private Yacht Charters
    Zeitschriften/Spiele

    DREAMGIRLS VIDEO: FANTASY FLIGHTS
    Maui Princess Sunset Dinner Cruise
    BASS-n-MEXICO Bass Fishing Mexico
    a rainforest and birdwatching adventure

The Tracerlock robot is following my instructions perfectly!
I just need to give it better instructions to help it score more
than 0% and help me find what I am actually looking for. Any
ideas or suggestions? Please write to: roger@reviewing.co.uk

HUMAN SEARCHERS
The February Issue of SiteFinder included a 'Trackers' Tips'
feature of 'Finding Helpful Humans'.

A SiteFinder subscriber has just qualified as a 'helpful human'
by sending me a copy of a search conducted by another 'helpful
human'. (This network is working!)

Richard Nelsson's search was for 'Finding Outdoor Information on
the Web' (mostly UK sites). His search was not specifically for
educational sites, but many of those he found and reviewed will
certainly be of interest to SiteFinder readers. It's too big to
include in this issue so will appear in SiteFinder next month.

Dave Blum
Dr. Clue
drclue@drclue.com
http://www.drclue.com
Event planners, trainers, destination management, board members
To learn more about how treasure hunts can be used for
experiential team building
Sample clues, teambuilding links, client lists and more.
The only teambuilding treasure hunt company in the San Francisco
Bay Area

Leslie Lefer
The Domino Effect
ASTD, ODNet, ISPI, IAF, TERA
thedominoeffect@usa.net
http://www.thedominoeffect.8m.com
Event planners and consultants who want to partner with THE BEST
activity-based trainers available.
To peruse the most extensive collection of activity-based
programs on the Internet.
Tons of programs in the Event Series(TM), Program Series(TM) and
Partner Series(TM) for your company
We have photographs and an extensive listing of sites where our
Free Agents are noted online.

Eight Principles of Good Practice in Experiential Education
established by the National Society for Experiential Education
www.nsee.org

Courtesy of the robots
Tracerlock http://www.tracerlock.com and
The Informant [since disappeared]
on their good days :-)

This announcement is an anti-climax. No more prizes :-(
The draw has been running for 6 months and has found 3 lucky
prizewinners. I have not exactly been overwhelmed by entries.
Despite the high odds of winning a book, few readers seem to be
motivated by these free gifts.

From now on, if you choose to contribute in any way to SiteFinder
and this developing network you will simply receive a thank you
and the warm glow of satisfaction. (It's worth it!)

The good news :-) I will have some more prizes to give away later
this year - possibly to coincide with the publication of two new
books!!

More good news :-) :-) The number of entries in SiteFinder Directory has
nearly reached 100 - which means that site Awards will begin soon.

    ~ FINDING OUTDOOR INFORMATION ON THE WEB
    by Richard Nelsson.
    ~ New Sites on the web
    ~ More Site Reviews
    ~ Trackers' Tips:
    ~ Site Owners' Tips
    ~ Site Awards (when the directory reaches 100 entries)
    ~ Survey results (see below)
    ~ Readers' comments ...

SITEFINDER