Peter
My thinking is that a degree should focus on something other than
activities, as suggested by the phrase OAA. It could be focused on:
- either 1) a particular vocation / profession - e.g. outdoor education
teacher / environmental education teacher / outdoor activities instructor or
coach / development trainer / experiential educator / field studies tutor
- or 2) an academic approach to an aspect of the outdoors.
The weakness with many of the courses on offer is that they lead prospective
students to believe that they will become qualified to work in the outdoors,
but end up dabbling in a shallow way, rather than exploring anything in
depth, and not even reflecting the reality of the outdoor 'industry'.
-----Original Message-----
From: Peter Bunyan <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: 23 September 1998 10:38
Subject: Degree in Outdoor and Adventerous Activities
>The expansion of courses in OAA has led to a flurrish of initiatives about
>the country. At me own institution (Chichester Institute) we have been
>holding back on setting up a degree in OAA (or another appropriate title
>depending on structure) for internal and external reasons. However we
>feel the corner has now been turned and where better to probe the
>market place but with colleagues on the OUTRES list.
>
>
>I will be using the list in the near future to ask many questions but here
is
>the first.
>
>What would a graduate in OAA do?, who would they
>realistically work for or with?, what parts of our industry
>require graduate skills?
>
>At the present time I am not asking what skills they would have, that
>comes later.
>
>Please spend a couple of minutes to reply, the market research part of
>setting up new initiatives is very important.
>
>Pete.
>
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