![[HOME]](../images/suncloud.gif){kind=small}
HOME
OTHER WAYS OF LEARNING
in outdoor adventure education and experiential learning practice
HELP
| HOME
|
OTHER WAYS OF LEARNINGin outdoor adventure education and experiential learning practice |
HELP |
|
OUTDOOR TOUR |
|
This is a page of extracts from a chapter in the book 'Other Ways of Learning' A View into the Future:The Value of Other Ways of Learning and Developmentby Roger GreenawayTo view the whole
chapter download
a
free pdf copy (4.1Mb)
[NB All download links on this page find the same document] About the book How to buy A review of Other Ways of Learning [published in in the Journal of Experiential Education] Sections & Extracts
IntroductionFuturologist Alvin Toffler wrote in his foreword to Rethinking the Future that “the illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn” (TOFFLER, 1997). So how can we best prepare young people for a future that will require more learning and change than ever before? It is clear that to prepare for life as a lifelong learner students need more than study skills: they also need to be able to learn from their experiences (pleasant and unpleasant) while growing and developing along the way. .... [download for more]Other ways of learning and developmentWhen “other” involves leaving the classroom and going outdoors it disrupts routines, it breaks patterns, it distorts time, it changes roles, and it creates expectations: going outdoors can disrupt, break, distort, change and create... [download for more]A passion for the outdoorsOur classroom and our dreams are huge. The outdoors is a big place and we have big ideas about how being, living, doing, growing and learning in the outdoors can be good for us and good for the planet. Our wish list is enormous. We want to open hearts, minds and bodies to unlimited horizons. We want outdoor learning to be available and accessible to all, so that everyone can fulfil their potential. We believe in healthy bodies, healthy minds and happy spirits (while reducing truancy, obesity and suicide rates if we can). And this is just a start: our list is much, much longer .... [download for more]A passion for adventureEvery adventure educator surely has a passion for adventure. But what happens to that passion when adventure is transformed into adventure education? Sometimes adventure becomes a process of setting challenging goals and achieving them. (Is that adventure or is it the work ethic injected into an adventuroussetting?). Sometimes adventure is about leaving a “personal comfort zone” and spending time in the “stretch zone” while seeking “flow” or “mastery” (Is that having an adventure or is it becoming an expert in an adventurous activity?) Achieving goals and achieving mastery are very useful kinds of adventures to have, but where is the passion for adventure in these useful adventures? Where is adventure itself? ... [download for more] A passion for learningA breakthrough in learning can be achieved by “unlocking” the learning process. The Learning Combination Lock (BEARD/WILSON 2006, 4) is a model of experiential learning that illustrates countless potential combinations of ways to unlock learning. We usually think of a combination lock as having just one secret sequence that will work, but in the “Learning Combination Lock” any sequence will work (even though some sequences may work better than others). Beard and Wilson encourage us to experiment with many different combinations: it is about unlocking our practice and unlocking learning. But is it possible to get passionate about learning without qualifying it in some way? Does it not matter what is being learned and how it is being learned? What values underlie statements that glorify learning ... [download for more]A passion for educationThe idealism that infuses outdoor education is both a strength and a weakness. Our great expectations of what outdoor education can achieve, and of how much individuals can learn, grow and develop in the outdoors are the kinds of positive beliefs that help to make outdoor education work. On the other hand, we can claim so much that we are vulnerable to criticism that the benefits of outdoor education are overstated. The incredibly broad agenda of outdoor educators is shared by many others. This gives outdoor education a high score for relevance, but a low score for uniqueness. For example... [download for more]A passion for experiences that enhance growthDewey believed that “Everything depends on the quality of experience which is had ... every experience lives on in further experiences.” (DEWEY, 1938) He recognised that not all experiences are “equally educative”, and that some experiences enhance future growth while others can have the opposite effect.So how do we recognise a growth-enhancing experience? This question can be the start of a whole new journey ... [download for more] A confusion of language... So it is ironic to find that outdoor adventure education textbooks published in North America appearto be taking experiential learning theory back into the didactic paradigm. Recent terminology in North American adventure education literature presents learning from experience as if it is a highly organised industrial process. Instead of the didactic pouring of knowledge into the passive student, the educator is now busy programming the experience, delivering the experience, frontloading the experience, framing the experience, funnelling the experience and processing the experience. Even allowing for some mistranslation from American English to British English, the pattern is clear: this new industrialised lexicon of experiential education (delivering, loading, funnelling etc.) is reversing the direction of change.... [download for more] A rough spectrum from design to adventure...The designed end of the above spectrum happens to be illustrated with examples from North America and the open end of the spectrum with European (British) examples. Perhaps there are significant American-British or American-European differences here? But any such generalisation would ignore all the American theorists (listed above) who have done so much to develop experiential learning theory throughout this rough spectrum. ... [download for more]What's missing from modelsThe rough spectrum outlined above could form part of a more elaborate, more inclusive, more diverse and more complete picture of outdoor adventure education. This would create a map on which we could differentiate between one approach and another. .... What such a composite map would call into question iswhether we have any single theory or model that is so universal that it is equally relevant throughout all forms of outdoor adventure education. This is a question worth asking because so many models are used as if they are universal.... [download for more] A view into the futureIn the world of outdoor adventure education it is especially important to appreciate the core belief that outdoor adventure can arouse, stimulate, enliven, draw out potential and provide a broader view of self, others and the environment. It is an enlivening process that develops potential and opens up new possibilities and opportunities. Within this process there are times when it pays to zoom in and inspect the detail, especially if it is a detail that is holding things back. But in a holistic approach, movement in one direction will soon need balancing by movement in another direction: such as by following zooming in with zooming out, structure with freedom, intensity with relaxation, yin with yang. By asking “What else?”, “What’s missing?”, “What other?”, “What’s new?” we find opposites, new directions and create a more rounded and life-enhancing process of learning and development.... [download for more]
Other Ways of LearningEdited by Peter Becker & Jochem Schirp (2008)From the Back CoverThe European
Institute for Outdoor
Adventure Education and Experiential Learning (EOE) was founded
in
October 1996 in Spital/Pyhrn in Austria. It is the first
Europe-wide
cooperation between experts working together on further
developing a
pedagogical practice that uses the educational sensory potential
inherent in adventure in challenging natural situations. To view the whole chapter, table of contents and ordering details: download a free pdf copy (4.1Mb) Review of 'Other Ways of Learning'Other Ways of Learning is reviewed by Michael Young and Jayson Seaman in the Journal of Experiential Education 2012 vol 5 No 1.EXTRACT
Full review:"Other Ways of Learning both introduces readers to a number of established European scholars and offers a provocative external view of North American Outdoor Education … ultimately the work deserves a thorough reading by North American Audience, not just to gain a fresh perspective on American OAE, but also to introduce the reader to contemporary European themes" http://www.eoe-network.eu/fileadmin/PDFs/Review_Other_Ways_of_Learning_01.pdf Buying choices for 'Other Ways of Learning'1. At Amazon.de Price € 20.00 + delivery (January 2013) 2. At the
Institute for
Outdoor Learning Bookshop
(IOL) http://www.outdoor-learning.org/Default.aspx?tabid=89&product=66 Price: £20.00 (January 2013) 3. Buy via post or email in Euros from the European Institute for Outdoor Adventure Education and Experiential Learning (EOE) Price € 23.00 (October 2009) including post and packing EOE publications and ordering information: The price for the
book including
packing costs and postage is 23,00 EURO. bsj Marburg email: postmaster@bsj-marburg.de |
HOME |
 HELP |