Educators paddle into adventurous learning

Camosun's Centre for Sport & Exercise Education welcomed its first group of students this past July to the new Adventure Education Post-Degree Diploma. The 13-month program is designed for working professionals with an interest in outdoor, experiential and adventure-based learning and development – including educators of all kinds, outdoor activity guides and leaders, counsellors, life coaches, health and well-being workers and other human service professionals.

The mix of online and face-to-face learning allows students to continue working wherever they are located, while furthering their education. Face-to-face courses take place for two-weeks in July at both the beginning and end of the program. Online courses are scheduled in the Fall and Winter terms.

During the first field-based component, ten K-12 educators spent two weeks in British Columbia’s Strathcona Provincial Park, reimagining their classrooms and practices through the lens of adventure education. Hikes, paddles, forest walks, ropes courses and other activities provided the context for exploring the possibilities of integrating a variety of understandings of ‘adventure’ into educational experiences that take place both near to school and further afield. Key navigational landmarks included a sense of place, relationships with others and the natural world, challenge, uncertainty, transformational learning, wisdom and joy. These landmarks served as points of contact with the principles of a broad understanding of adventure education, helping educators to envision new teaching and learning possibilities.

Through the experience as a whole, the educators found insights into how they might develop their teaching practice and move forward with students as they embrace the uncertainty and challenge of bringing adventure into education.

This program has been considered by BC Teacher Qualification Service (TQS) as an acceptable Integrated Program that may meet requirements for TQS category upgrading. BC TQS pre-approval is recommended.

For more information on this program, visit camosun.ca/adventure or contact sported@camosun.ca.