Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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About AEE
Vision: We believe learning through experience positively transforms people and our
world.
Mission: AEE promotes and expands the global capacity of experiential learning.
We work to achieve the Mission through the following Ends:
1. An inclusive and expanding experiential learning community is encouraged, nurtured
and celebrated. Firmly rooted in the philosophy, principles and practices of experiential
education:
a. This community of practitioners and explorers of experiential learning is convened.
b. Practitioners and explorers are educated to build their capacity and increase their
impact.
2. Authoritative information for promoting, implementing and advancing the philosophy,
principles, and practices of experiential learning is accessible.
a. A network of researchers is engaged in validating and advancing experiential learning.
b. Rigorous experiential learning research is guided and disseminated for practitioner
application and for stakeholder influence.
c. Standards are identified to improve professional practice, advocate for the well-being
of participants, and protect the reputation of experiential learning worldwide.
i. Standards of practice are relevant, accessible and utilized.
ii. Accreditations and certifications are utilized to promote adoption of the standards.
iii. Relevant accrediting bodies are responsive to AEE standards.
d. Relevant resources are disseminated.
Our Values
Global Community: Bringing together individuals and organizations is essential to further
experiential education methodologies and practices around the globe.
● We celebrate our shared values and exchange our own unique cultural experiences in
the field
● We collaborate, support and develop relationships through ongoing dialogue and
shared learning across the globe.
Adventure and Challenge: Adventure and challenge are fundamental elements for
experiential learning in the classroom, natural world, and beyond.
The Natural World: Conservation of the natural world is key to protecting the enjoyment
and learning of all individuals, communities and future generations.
● We earn trust within communities through efforts to support the natural systems that
allow us to do our work.
● We conduct our work in an environmentally sensitive way to protect and preserve the
natural spaces which play a powerful role in our work.
Creative Play: Play and laughter enhance creativity and allow for engaged learning
experiences.
https://youtu.be/OmgXJuUttpA
Pre-Conferences take place prior to the start of the conference, and are in-depth workshops that
provide an expanded opportunity for professional development. For our 2017 conference, AEE is
excited to offer the following options:
Agenda Includes:
We will explore
Experiential, brain-based methods to actively engage learners physically,
emotionally, socially and intellectually.
Strategies for increasing participant involvement, buy-in, and ownership of learning
experiences.
Fundamentals of experiential group facilitation and teaching such as the
importance of participant choice and control, sequencing, ongoing assessment,
and meaningful reflection to create lasting lessons.
A variety of group-building activities to develop rapport, community, and social-
emotional skills such as positive communication, problem-solving, collaboration,
and decision-making.
Methods to help educators design, sequence, facilitate, and adapt activities to
enhance learning outcomes and take advantage of “teachable moments.”
Interactive activities to build community and promote social and emotional learning
while enlivening lessons and differentiating instruction.
Innovative reflection tools and techniques to increase relevancy, meaning, depth of
understanding, and connection to future learning situations.
Presenter Info: Jen offers practical resources derived from her diverse experiences with
learners of all ages incorporated with brain research to increase meaningful
engagement, reflection, social-emotional skills, and community-building. Jen is author of
Inspired Educator-Inspired Learner and Tips and Tools for the Art of Experiential Group
Facilitation.
The certification and curriculum for this course is from Wilderness Medical Associates
International (WMA). WMA has set the standard in wilderness medicine and rescue
training for over thirty years. The cutting-edge curriculum is constantly updated by a
group of healthcare professionals, has been taught on all 7 continents, and is recognized
around the world.
Prerequisites:
You must have an unexpired Wilderness First Responder (WFR) certificate from
WMA or another approved provider such as Sirius, Solo, NOLS / Wilderness
Medical Institute or Slipstream. If you have questions about your eligibility, please
contact WMA. Please bring your certification card to class on the first day to show
your instructor.
We will send you a study guide to complete before the course. It takes most
students 10 to 15 hours to review the material, answer the questions, and complete
the case studies in the study guide.
You must be 16 years of age to participate in this course. 16 and 17 year olds need
written proof of parental consent.
Please use your previous WMA textbook for the course preparation. If you no
longer have your WMA text, or are certified with another provider, please let us
know (email: programs@borealriver.com) and we will send you the WMA text.
Takeaways:
Wilderness First Responder (WFR) certification
CPR Healthcare Provider Level certification (CPR for adults, children, and infants.
Includes AED training)
Text book, SOAP note booklet, WMA field guide, case studies workbook, notebook
(with lecture notes)
Instructor Info: Danny has worked full time in the outdoor industry as an expedition
leader and skills instructor since 2002. He is a Wilderness-EMT. His favorite things about
instructing with WMA are meeting people with a variety of talents and watching students
gain confidence as first responders.
Session 1: November 7 | 9:00am – 12:30pm | Writing Proposals to get Funding by Greg Corio,
West Virginia University
Cost: $50 Student / $75 Professional
Session 2: November 7 | 1:30pm – 5:00pm | Creating Assessments for your Program by Mark
Ceder, University of San Diego
Cost: $50 Student / $75 Professional
Every Symposium provides context for program development and growth, best practices,
new program techniques, and nuts and bolts information that help established and
aspiring outdoor orientation programs. Attendees will learn from multiple presenters and
a keynote speaker in multiple presentation formats including experiential formats. Meals
are not provided during the OOPS session on 11/8. There will be a 1 hour break for
lunch on your own.
The outdoor orientation experiences provide students and young leaders with the unique
opportunity to develop supportive peer groups during transition to college. These
intensive, adventure-based experiences impact over 25,000 students a year, providing
many students with their first intensive outdoor recreation experience. These
experiences have also become a burgeoning area of growth for outdoor recreation
leaders.
In 2012, the 2nd Outdoor Orientation Census was completed and in 6 years the number
of outdoor orientation programs increased from 162 in 2006, to 185 in 2012. Perhaps
most impressively, the number of student participants increased by 5,000 in the same
time period.
Over 2-days, the mental health first aid course focuses on the four most common mental
health disorders including substance related, mood related, anxiety and trauma related,
and psychotic disorders. Participants who take this course are well prepared to interact
confidently about mental health with their family, friends, communities, and workplaces.
International evaluations and feedback have found the following outcomes for
participants undertaking an MHFA course:
Increased awareness of signs and symptoms of the most common mental health
problems
Decreased stigma related to mental health
Increased confidence interacting with individuals experiencing a mental health
problem or crisis
Increased help actually provided to individuals in crisis or experiencing a mental
health problem
Instructor Info: Jody is an outdoor educator, wilderness therapist, clinical counsellor,
professional coach and all-around fun person to hang out with. Witty and engaging, her
presentation style will leave you contemplating our collective human experience,
becoming our best selves, and finding humor and lightness in the journey.
Instructor Info: Rob Baker holds several certificates from tracking, wilderness, and
conservation authorities across North America, including the prestigious Level 3 Track
and Sign Certificate from CyberTracker—the gold standard in tracking certification. In all,
Rob has amassed 20 years of tracking experience.
Tonia Gray, Ph.D. is a Senior Researcher at Western Sydney University's Centre for
Educational Research, Australia. She has been involved in Wilderness Studies and
Outdoor Education for over 30 years as a researcher, practitioner, and curriculum
developer. With an MA in Community Health (UNC, Greeley Colorado) and a PhD in
Outdoor Education (AUS), her interdisciplinary research explores human-nature
relationships and their impact on well-being and human development. In 2014 Tonia
received the prestigious Australian Award for University Teaching (AAUT) for excellence
in outdoor experiential education. After extensive lobbying for outdoor learning to be an
integral part of the Australian curriculum, in 2017 the realization of her lifelong dream
eventually came true.
Outdoor Education and Adventure Therapy is a burgeoning industry, so let’s turn the
microscope onto what is happening “Down Under” to help broaden our worldview. Tonia
will provide a ‘power-walk’ through the Australian Outdoor Learning landscape
incorporating four interconnected themes: 1) a 30- year retrospective study on the effects
of Outdoor Education upon adolescent participants; 2) an exploration of the status of
women in Outdoor Learning environments; 3) recent school curriculum reform in 2017
acknowledging Outdoor Learning as a cross curriculum component; and 4) Acceptance
Commitment Therapy and Outdoor Learning to enhance wellbeing and skill
development.
Tarun Chandna
CEO
Inme Learning
Gurgaon, India
Tarun is the co‐founder and CEO of Inme Learning & Exper Executive Education. Inme
runs adventure and outdoor-based life skills learning program for children and school
students, while Exper delivers high-impact leadership journeys and teambuilding
programs for CEOs and their teams.
A pioneer of experiential education in India, he has led the field of group facilitation,
behavioral, attitudinal training design and facilitation/delivery for the last 20 years. In
addition to his work with over 50,000 children, he has worked with organizations
including Google, Microsoft, Oracle, PepsiCo, American Express, HSBC, Vodafone,
DHL, Royal Bank of Scotland, Volvo Eicher, and others.
This presentation will cover how the Experiential Education field has grown over the last
twenty years in India, and how the field has dealt with a myriad of challenges, including
lack of infrastructure, medical facilities, and qualified resources. Tarun will also share
how his program has adapted Western approaches to the Indian culture and
environment.
Phil Butterfield, EdD
Principal
Connect Charter School
Alberta, Canada
Phil Butterfield is principal of Connect Charter School in Calgary, Alberta. He has been
with Connect for 13 years as a school counselor, assistant principal, and is now in his
second year as principal. In January 2017, Dr. Butterfield created an experiential
education model that incorporates experiential and place-based education, providing
opportunities for all students to experience settings in the local community where they
gain appreciation of their role as a contributor, rather than a consumer.
The EXPO Program forges partnerships with community agencies and corporations in
order to blend current outdoor education programs with place-based education. Within
the Experiential and Outdoor Education Program (EOEP), the school is integrating
learning loops that begin with students gaining conceptual understanding in the
classroom, and then engaging in purposefully constructed activities in the community.
Students not only make applications of learning to real world contexts, but develop an
appreciation for their role and place within their local community and beyond.
The school has gained a great deal of insight into the complexity, challenges, and
opportunities associated with organizational change when introducing an experiential
education program. This presentation will share what they have learned from their
journey, and how it can help your own organization best navigate the unexpected
challenges that arise when incorporating experiential education into more traditional
settings.
Marilyn Levin, MSW is proud to be a long time AEE member/leader and Karl Rohnke
Creativity award winner. She is a social entrepreneur focused on whole system
collaborative Innovation. She is an award winning activist, a professional speaker and
trainer and the author of Experiential Activities for a Better World. She founded several
organizations and served as Campaign Director for Four Years Go www.fouryearsgo.org.
She currently serves as Managing Director of KINS Innovation
Networks www.kinsinnovation.org in collaboration
with www.centerforsustainabilitysolutions.org.
************In an educational era focused on workforce readiness and 21st Century skills,
attendees will analyze the importance of experiential classroom strategies to the acquisition of
critical skills that enable students to compete and cooperate on a global stage. The webinar will
explore how experiential pedagogy can energize any existing curriculum, positively impact
student engagement, and deliver on both cognitive and affective skill development. Through a
review of current research and the emerging links between experiential instructional design and
student learning gains, participants will explore strategies that empower student learning and
equip them to thrive in our brave, new, flat world.
https://youtu.be/rFLRxI6JedM
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https://www.simplypsychology.org/learning-kolb.html
Kolb - Learning Styles
Saul McLeod published 2010, updated 2013
David Kolb published his learning styles model in 1984 from which he developed
his learning style inventory.
Kolb's experiential learning theory works on two levels: a four stage cycle of
learning and four separate learning styles. Much of Kolb’s theory is concerned
with the learner’s internal cognitive processes.
Kolb states that learning involves the acquisition of abstract concepts that can be
applied flexibly in a range of situations. In Kolb’s theory, the impetus for the
development of new concepts is provided by new experiences.
“Learning is the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation
of experience” (Kolb, 1984, p. 38).
Kolb (1974) views learning as an integrated process with each stage being mutually
supportive of and feeding into the next. It is possible to enter the cycle at any stage
and follow it through its logical sequence.
However, effective learning only occurs when a learner is able to execute all four
stages of the model. Therefore, no one stage of the cycle is an effective as a
learning procedure on its own.
Learning Styles
Kolb's learning theory (1974) sets out four distinct learning styles, which are based
on a four-stage learning cycle (see above). Kolb explains that different people
naturally prefer a certain single different learning style. Various factors influence a
person's preferred style. For example, social environment, educational experiences,
or the basic cognitive structure of the individual.
Whatever influences the choice of style, the learning style preference itself is
actually the product of two pairs of variables, or two separate 'choices' that we
make, which Kolb presented as lines of axis, each with 'conflicting' modes at either
end:
A typical presentation of Kolb's two continuums is that the east-west axis is called
the Processing Continuum (how we approach a task), and the north-south axis is
called the Perception Continuum (our emotional response, or how we think or
feel about it).
Kolb believed that we cannot perform both variables on a single axis at the same
time (e.g. think and feel). Our learning style is a product of these two choice
decisions.
It's often easier to see the construction of Kolb's learning styles in terms of a two-
by-two matrix. Each learning style represents a combination of two preferred
styles. The diagram also highlights Kolb's terminology for the four learning styles;
diverging, assimilating, and converging, accommodating:
Doing (Active Watching (Reflective
Experimentation - AE) Observation - RO)
Thinking (Abstract
Converging (AC/AE) Assimilating (AC/RO)
Conceptualization - AC)
Educational Implications
Both Kolb's (1984) learning stages and cycle could be used by teachers to critically
evaluate the learning provision typically available to students, and to develop more
appropriate learning opportunities.
Educators should ensure that activities are designed and carried out in ways that
offer each learner the chance to engage in the manner that suits them best. Also,
individuals can be helped to learn more effectively by the identification of their
lesser preferred learning styles and the strengthening of these through the
application of the experiential learning cycle.
Ideally, activities and material should be developed in ways that draw on abilities
from each stage of the experiential learning cycle and take the students through the
whole process in sequence.
References
Kolb, D. A. (1976). The Learning Style Inventory: Technical Manual. McBer &
Co, Boston, MA.
Kolb, D. A. (1981). Learning styles and disciplinary differences. The modern
American college, 232-255.
Kolb, D. A. (1984). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning
and development (Vol. 1). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Kolb, D. A., & Fry, R. E. (1974). Toward an applied theory of experiential
learning. MIT Alfred P. Sloan School of Management.
Kolb, D. A., Rubin, I. M., & McIntyre, J. M. (1984). Organizational psychology:
readings on human behavior in organizations. Prentice Hall.
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