Certificate in Experiential Education

Mary Breunig

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Days and Times : Thursday-Sunday 9 a.m.-5 p.m. (see dates below in description)

Location : Prescott College - Prescott, Arizona USA

Tuition : $2,450 full certificate

Required Forms :
- Participant Agreement
- Registration Form

Instructor : Mary Breunig, Ph.D.

Instructor Bio :

Dr. Mary Breunig has been working in the field(s) of experiential education for over 20 years. She received her Masters of Science degree in Experiential Education from Minnesota State University-Mankato and Ph.D. in Education from Lakehead University. Mary taught in the K-12 classroom for 6 years and is currently teaching in the post-secondary classroom as an Associate Professor in the Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario.

Dr. Breunig has been an active member of the Association for Experiential Education (AEE) for more than fifteen years. She served as the co-editor of the Journal of Experiential Education from November 2005-2010 and currently serve as the President of that Association.

Mary personally engages in experiential education through teaching, research, and service and through her ongoing involvement in outdoor experiential education as a wilderness trip guide. She has served as a wilderness instructor for Wilderness Inquiry, Cradlerock Outdoor Network, Friends Seminary, Lakehead University, Brock University, Outward Bound Australia, and recently became a National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) instructor.

Mary has been a keynote speaker at various experiential learning symposia around the world and  is often called upon as a consultant for experiential education curriculum design and other initiatives.

Dr. Breunig co-authored The Outdoor Classroom: Integrating Learning and Adventure and Outdoor Leadership: Theory and Practice and is solo author of the book Critical Pedagogy as Praxis. She is co-editor of the Environmental Education Reader.

Certificate in Experiential Education

Experiential Learning and Experiential Education have become buzzwords across university campuses, in K-12 classrooms, in companies and boardrooms, in books, and at the kitchen table. The Certificate of Experiential Education is a unique opportunity to experientially engage in the key theories and praxes relevant to this multi-faceted discipline.

This certificate is designed for new experiential practitioners wishing to integrate experiential pedagogy into their adventure or classroom practices and for “seasoned” practitioners to hone and advance their work. Certificate participants learn the skills, knowledge, and dispositions central to experiential education and are provided with “in class” and “out of class” opportunities to design lesson plans, prepare presentations, and engage in activities that have direct, transferrable relevance. Certificate delivery includes direct teaching; collaboration; co-negotiation; facilitating; mentoring; self-, peer-, and instructor development-oriented assessment; leadership opportunities; and coaching. The certificate adopts a semi-structured approach with a focus on “walking the talk” of experiential education theory and praxis in the course format itself. In other words, some of the content and methodology is pre-established and some of it is added, adjusted, and will emerge throughout the courses based on participants’ needs.

The organizing framework for the certificate is based on the Experiential Learning Cycle (Kolb, 1984). According to Kolb, experiential learning consists of four distinct segments: (a) active involvement in meaningful and challenging experiences, (b) reflection upon the experience individually and in a group, (c) the development of new knowledge about the world, and (d) application of this knowledge to a new situation. The Foundations course has been added for the purposes of this certificate framework to provide an historical and theoretical grounding for participants. Each of the courses has a mini-course attached to it. The six mini-courses are experiential education: History, Theory, and Models; Environments and Populations; Program Design; Facilitation; Reflection; and Evaluation. The full certificate includes a series of three “in-classroom” long-weekend courses (96 hours in total) and “out-of-classroom” experiences (24 hours in total).

Congruent with experiential education best practices, which not only address the various intelligences of the learner/participant but also combines multiple sources of knowledge as part of the educative process, this certificate includes readings, journaling, experiential activity, facilitated discussion, guest lectures, and participant presentations as components of the course content. It also consists of semi-structured “out-of-classroom” opportunities for certificate participants to concurrently transfer and apply new learning’s to their teaching or leadership environment.

The “in-classroom” weekend courses are as follows:

• Foundations:  History, Theory, and Models; Environments – Part I; and Program Design – Part I (32 hours)
  • This course provides an introduction to the history, theories, and models that underpin experiential education theory and praxis. Topics focus on experiential education history and key pedagogues, theories of intelligence and learning, and the efficacy of experiential education. This first weekend session also provides an introduction to experiential education environments with a focus on the use of experiential education settings and introduces experiential education program design.

• Concrete Experience, Observation, and Reflection:  Environments – Part II; Facilitation – Theory + Praxis; and Reflection Theory + Praxis (32 hours)
  • This course provides an introduction to facilitation tools and techniques. Topics focus on relational skills, creating a positive and safe environment, group process, facilitation styles, and techniques for co- facilitation. This course further provides an introduction to the models and techniques of reflective learning. Topics focus on transfer of learning theories, theories and models of debriefing experiences, framing learning objectives, and tools and techniques for processing learning. Participants further investigate the various experiential education settings where experiential education is enacted through various on site activities.

• Forming New Knowledge and Testing Implications in New Settings (Transfer):  Program Design – Part II; and Evaluation (32 hours)
  • This course provides an introduction to assessment and evaluation techniques in experiential education settings. Topics focus on assessing learning as well as designing and implementing formative and summative program evaluations. This final weekend also provides an opportunity to engage in more advanced skill development with the opportunity to develop a program that participants can directly transfer into their own teaching/leadership praxis. Participants receive final feedback throughout the weekend on that program with the use of a self, peer, and instructor evaluation tool – one that additionally serves as a transferable tool to employ in future practice.

The “out-of-classroom” experiences are as follows

• Teaching or facilitating a lesson in your work environment. You will choose one of the lesson planning frameworks from the course, prepare a lesson or activity, videotape it, elicit feedback (with one of the course “evaluation” frameworks) and share with certificate participants, all with a view toward growth and development (8 hours).
• Individual proposal to “read something,” “write something,” or “do something” experiential (8 hours).
• Engage in program design. Some certificate participants may enter into the certificate with a program idea that can be further developed during Program Design 1 + 2 ; other participants may establish that program idea during Program Design 1 (8 hours).

Dates:
• Foundations – To be determined
• Concrete Experience, Observation, and Reflection – To be determined
• Forming New Knowledge and Testing Implications in New Settings (Transfer) – To be determined

Tuition:  $2,450 for full certificate (due at time of registration – refunds with two-week notice for remaining balance of non-attended session only)

Course Times:  9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. each day

Location:  Prescott College - Prescott, Arizona, USA

Registration:  Contact the Director of Lifelong Learning for an application form.  Application/Registration deadline:  April 1, 2013

Further Information:  Website:  www.prescott.edu/lifelong-learning / Email:  lifelonglearning@prescott.edu / Phone:  928-350-4110