| March 31, 2009 ENews Update
Northwest Regional
Conference Recap
 
photos by Jon Anscher
By Sam Tower, Past-Chair
The Northwest Region had a great, fun conference with more than 100 people in attendance. Conveners Brian Brandt and Sarah Butzine did a good job with a great committee.
The most memorable event was the rowdy broom hockey game between Canada and the U.S. (brooms and beach balls). Canada won 2 to 1. Canadians were well-represented at the conference.
Our keynote speaker, Himalayan climber Dan Mazur, was great and his honorarium went to help fund the schools he builds in Nepal. We had 30 presenters and three tracks of workshops which worked well. The conference happened in partnership with 4H and was held at the Oregon 4H center in Salem. On Friday night the Salem Madrigal Singers were fantastic and Saturday evening we were entertained by the Ty Curtis Band - a great, local blues band.
top
Southeast Regional
Conference Roundup
By Paul Humphreys , Conference Convener, Calvin Center
We had a blast at the Southeast Regional Conference in Hampton, Georgia, March 13-15, 2009. The weather was not so good, but we are all experiential educators and are built to handle rain.
Highlights of the conference included:
• Wine and cheese night
• Bill Mallonee live music
• Good cross-section of people
• Great food
• African drummers
• And, of course, Marin Burton receiving the ABC award
• Live birds of prey display .
top
Mid-South Regional Conference Highlights
 
photos by Antonio Galvan Luna
By Antonio Galvan Luna , Mid-South Chair, Sierra Leona 500, San Luis Potosi, Mexico
This year's Mid-South Regional Conference was a great success. It took place in a perfect setting for an AEE
Conference, at Lake Fausse Pointe State Park in St. Martinsville, Louisiana, among swamps, rivers, wonderful natural open spaces, wooden cabins, and even alligators! The 50+ attendees had a great choice of high-quality workshops with topics ranging from adventure education and social justice, to environmental sustainability and corporate training and development, among others. With lots of opportunities to make new friends and network during the event, the general atmosphere was great and this showed during the traditional auction, the awards ceremony, and the D.J. night. Also, this conference marked the official transition for the new Mid-South Regional Council. A big thank you and congratulations to the conveners: Kim Prestenbach, Bob Lacalzi and Pam Collins! Hope you can join us next year in Memphis, Tennessee!
top
Mid-Atlantic Regional
Conference Summary
 
Photos by Alexandra M. Walker
By Harlan Eagle, Wicomico County Beyond the Limit
The Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference was a success with tremendous workshops and a beautiful location on the northern tip of the Chesapeake Bay near North East, Maryland. The Conference Committee did a fabulous job putting together an entertaining and enlightening weekend. There were 113 people in attendance from all parts of our region and the feedback was awesome! One participant said it was the best Mid-Atlantic AEE that she had attended because, "the quality of the workshops were off the chart". In addition to great workshops, the participants gathered together for four fantastic feature presentations by Dan Ashe, Alexis Crawford-Harris, Michael Delman, and Kema Geroux. Other highlights included an afternoon of adventure play on NorthBay's Zip Line, Triple Swing and High Adventure Course.
Entertainment featured live music with NorthBay's own James Wooster and his band, BayGrass, a bonfire and rocking the night away with DJ Bryan Gomes. The Mid-Atlantic Council and 2009 Conference Committee are so appreciative of everyone's efforts and are extremely excited about AEE Mid-Atlantic 2010!
top
REAP Conference and
Inspirational Success
By Paul Limoges, AEE CEO
Wow! It was an honor to be a part of the 5th Annual Research and Evaluation of Adventure Programs (REAP) Symposium in Atlanta, Georgia last week. The conference was co-sponsored by Project Adventure and done in collaboration with CORE (AEE's Council on Research and Evaluation), and it produced the highest quality presenters and attendees. Aleta Meyer, PhD (Program Officer, National Institute on Drug Abuse Prevention Research Branch) was the opening speaker and really inspired the group with the accessibility of funding opportunities for research projects. Premier researcher Dennis Embry , PhD (President/CEO, PAXIS Institute) presented on Evidence-Based Kernels to Better the World. The quality of presentations was outstanding and full list of presenters may be seen here. To build on this year's energy, we are providing information about the 5th Annual REAP Conference via the AEE web site where you can find the proceedings and other useful information. Also, we want to invite you to come and attend SEER at the AEE Annual International Conference in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. As a professional association, we are committed to continue to provide access to the highest quality of research and evaluation within experiential education. To that end, we encourage those of you who are interested in cutting-edge EE research to attend SEER (the Symposium on Experiential Education Research ) at the upcoming AEE Annual International Conference in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, this November.
top
2009 Symposium on
Experiential Education and Research (SEER)
From Mike Young, CORE Leader, University of New Hampshire
The Symposium on Experiential Education and Research (SEER) is a research symposium that provides a venue for
researchers in the field of experiential education to present, discuss, and further develop their research ideas. As
in past years, in 2009 SEER will be an integral part of the Annual AEE conference this November in Montreal.
Since 1999, the symposium has run concurrently with the Annual International AEE Conference and involves the
presentation of research papers from the leading international scholars in the field of experiential education.
The process by which papers are selected for SEER begins each spring, when a call for papers is released in the JEE,
on listservs and other outlets asking researchers, graduate students and practitioners to submit their two-page
abstracts to a blind, peer-reviewed process that is facilitated by the co-chairs of SEER...(For more information about
SEER, including this year's call for papers a, a call for co-chairs, as well as links to abstracts from past years'
symposiums ).
top
The van der Smissen Research
Endowment Fund
By Paul Limoges, AEE CEO
We are excited to announce that Dr. Jayson Seaman, University of New Hampshire, and Christine Lynn Norton, PhD., Texas State University, have ben awarded the 2009 van der Smissen Research Endowment grants. The purpose of the grants is to advance research in the areas of adventure/challenge experiential programs, organized camping, environmental education, and legal aspects related to outdoor programming. I want to thank the committee for reviewing the proposals and providing their recommendations. It has been a great process and I am thankful to all the donors who have contributed to the fund. Our goal is to promote the fund so that more donors will contribute in the coming years. We hope to raise $25,000, so we can place it as an endowment and utilize the interest to distribute as grants and support more research. I am also very appreciative of Betty's vision and desire to advance EE via research projects and choosing AEE for that purpose. .
top
CanAdventure
 
By Corinna Stevenson , Director of Programming,CanAdventure Education, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada
I
am the Director of Programming at CanAdventure Education near Vancouver
Island, British Columbia, Canada. My passion is developing and adapting
curriculum to better engage struggling teen participants in their
education. I have an immense respect for my students and a well-founded
belief in their unlimited potential.
 The mission of CanAdventure is to deliver a leading-edge wilderness adventure camp program that engages young people in education, cultural awareness, skill development, and personal growth. We believe that education plays a critical role in establishing a solid foundation for a fulfilling life and we believe that healthy outdoor activity plays a powerful role in the growth and development of young people.
As an experiential educator/practitioner, my approach focuses on engaging marginalized students in the educational process.
Our program works for struggling teens age 13 to 19 primarily because the program contains an emotional growth curriculum that is largely insight-based, requiring a mature level of critical thinking that is well suited to adolescents seeking transformation and transition in their lives.
I love to teach, most especially to see our participants learning, growing, and expressing themselves in positive, creative new ways.
One of my favorite activities/trips to take with students is anywhere in the wild spaces of the West Coast because it is so rich in life symbols, beauty, and mystery that participants often find personal meaning through connecting with wild spaces that lasts a life time.
The greatest challenge facing Experiential Education right now is finding ways to teach the teachers! Getting the word out there that experiential education techniques greatly augment student’s success and moving away from a traditional, classroom centered education model is a challenge. There needs to be an increase in experiential education methodology courses available for students and upcoming teachers in order to increase awareness that experiential education is just plain good education.
My involvement in experiential education was instinctual. It has always been the way that I approach teaching.
I first became involved with AEE six years ago through our business. We have also presented at numerous conferences. Can Adventures was accredited in the fall of 2008. I have enjoyed presenting at conferences and acting as a mentor through the AEE website.
AEE membership is valuable because it provides us with access to a network of likeminded individuals and to attend conferences which are wonderful for networking and learning. We have also really enjoyed the opportunity to be reviewed by the external review board and then have them help us to develop procedures that enable us to be on the leading edge of experiential education. We also appreciate the openness of the organization and the ways in which people share information with one another, the high professional standards, and risk management.
top
Member Profile - Dragonfly, Unlimited, Hong Kong
 
By Will Huetinck, Director of Dragonfly, Unlimited
At Dragonfly, Ltd. we strive to provide safe,
meaningful and rewarding experiences for International school students between
the ages of 9-18, who often times have very little exposure to outdoor
pursuits. Established in 2002 in Hong Kong, we primarily work with
international schools running experiential education programming in Hong Kong
and parts of mainland China. We are currently expanding the programs into other
areas of SE Asia. Our goal is to encourage personal growth, group cohesion and
appreciation for the wonders of the natural environment.
In Hong Kong the excitement of experiential education lies in the students’ sense of accomplishment during and after an experience doing something they may never have dreamed of doing before, such as learning to ride a bike. This may sound simple, but Hong Kong with its skyscrapers and dense population does not offer many areas to ride a bike, something I took for granted in the U.S. When a student rides on their own, witnessing their excitement can be overwhelming.
On a personal level, having been in the field for over 12 years, I think the biggest challenge facing Experiential Education is health care for the many professional educators. In order for Experiential Education to keep attracting qualified practitioners I believe it is necessary to treat them as professionals and provide benefits.
In Hong Kong the biggest challenge facing Experiential Education is the perception by the parents and the schools of the value of experiential education. Hong Kong is driven by competition and in order beat the competition, one must excel in academics. This allows you to attend the best schools to get the best jobs. A perception held by many in Hong Kong is that Experiential Education is dirty (sitting on the ground), unsafe (minor scratches or bruises translates to an unsafe activity), and directing focus, time and resources away from academics is detrimental to a students progress.
Educating the parents and the schools of the necessity in Experiential Education to foster creative critical thinking can only strengthen a student’s confidence and their academic studies, therefore actually increasing their competitiveness and understanding in the world.
top
Dragonfly was founded when it became apparent that the Hong Kong schools needed quality Experiential Education programs within the Hong Kong schools. I have a background in education and witnessed this need and value as a teacher in the late 1990’s. I saw that Experiential Education completes a well rounded and more thoroughly prepared education.
I started out teaching in Taiwan. I left and went on many travels in the region, ending up in Nepal. There, I started by organizing and leading three to five week treks in remote parts of the country. Due to the situation in Nepal, I left and came to Hong Kong. I started teaching again, at an international school. They didn’t have any outdoor program, so I started with a club. After that, I organized and implemented all the programs for middle school. It was during these experiences that I saw my students grow more in a week than they did in a year. After four years there, I left to pursue outdoor education full time.
top
Accreditation
A year and a half ago we here at Dragonfly Ltd. sat down and wanted to know if there were any accrediting bodies in experiential education. Will Huetinck, having been through International School accreditation saw the importance of maintaining high standards reviewed by external organizations. After a little research AEE was found to be the only recognized accrediting organization. It has also been found to be a tremendous resource for recruiting highly qualified over seas staff and professional development.
Dragonfly Ltd. has been a member of AEE for about a year. One of the most valuable benefits has been to get a larger perspective of experiential education. We have, until now, only had experience and knowledge from our own area. In order to improve ourselves, and to perhaps ‘upgrade’ the industry where we are, AEE and the accrediting process have been a huge aid.
Dragonfly Ltd. has recently set a goal to become an accredited AEE organization. In doing so the internal audit of our policies are being looked at more closely to insure high quality and safe programming. If we raise our standards one can only hope the standards throughout Asia will be raised in a conscious effort to promote the value of Experiential Education.
|
