The present study sought to examine the potential for resilience to be enhanced in a group of youth participating in a developmental voyage, and to identify the factors that contribute to increased resilience following the voyage. Two studies are reported. Study 1 revealed that voyage participants experienced increased resilience over the course…

This study examined participants' perceptions of learning, critical elements, and lasting impacts of their wilderness expeditions. Fifty-seven students, who completed a for-credit wilderness canoe expedition between 1993 and 2007 at the Augustana Campus, University of Alberta, participated in the investigation. Perceived learning most…

This paper reports on a year-long research project that investigated the value of experiential engagement with "alternative" communities which derive a high degree of self-reliance from working closely with their own local natural resources. Opportunities for higher education students to explore these communities were developed and the…

This paper focuses on an educational encounter between staff, students and the River Spey, Scotland in September 2009. The themes of water and embodied and culturally constructed ways of knowing the river were used to inform a creative non-fiction narrative that was drafted during and shortly after the journey, and was later refined. Textual…

In the light of recent challenges facing the field of outdoor adventure education in higher education, this exploratory study sought to identify some of the underlying political and institutional factors and societal influences on an international level that have led to the success of some programmes and the closure of others. Thirty-eight outdoor…

The purpose of this study is to report on the nature of student learning resulting from an open facilitation approach to solo activities. Three key moments of facilitator intervention were identified at which the facilitator was encouraged to take a step back from directing the experience. They are the pre-activity brief, the mid-activity visit…

This exploratory study investigated the impact of participation in a three-week adventure education (AE) expedition upon levels of resilience of university students. Resilience is considered to be a dynamic process of positive adaptation to significant threat or adversity and may be an important variable to study as college students often live…

This paper provides an auto-ethnography or narrative of self related to the development of international experiential education programmes in nature developed by Vacation School Lipnice (VSL) in the Czech Republic. The paper provides the cultural background that influences the course design and provides examples, through participant observation,…

This study explored the response of 28, second year undergraduate students to an innovative approach to a five-day solo. Periods of solitude are more likely to lead to positive outcomes when they are freely chosen than when they are programmed as part of a course. The extent to which a programmed solo can be "freely chosen" by the individual is…

The story of Chris McCandless, as told by Jon Krakauer, and more recently by Sean Penn, tells a familiar tale of going alone into the wilderness in search of the truth of oneself. Chris's story provides a parable to explore some of the motifs that inform contemporary outdoor education. In this paper I draw on the work of Michel Foucault and Judith…

This paper is a confessional tale, which summarizes the author's doctoral research journey into parents who rock climb. The historical moments in qualitative research are used to frame an evolving interpretive approach, showing the relationship between theoretical and philosophical thought, and the empirical process. The paper uses personal…

The purpose of this study was to explore a new framework for understanding group dynamics during a challenge course experience. Traditional views of group dynamics emphasize sequential stages of development, but these frameworks tend to neglect the emotional aspect of group dynamics. The group process usually includes an emotional experience, and…

UNESCO's challenge to Higher Education institutions to provide educational leadership in sustainable development, provides an impetus to develop innovative, interdisciplinary curricula and pedagogy. Whereas Higher Education curricula in sustainability and sustainable development have tended to come from the environmental sciences, recent studies…

Recent interest in ways of assessing the performance and "value-added" aspects of higher education and how universities can enhance graduate employability skills has prompted this study into the acquisition of National Governing Body Award (NGBA) qualifications by students on a UK outdoor education degree programme. Students' age, gender, academic…

This phenomenological study sought to identify the attributes of meaningful learning experiences as found in an outdoor education program. Thirteen students in the Wilderness Writing Program at Brigham Young University were the sample of this study. Their participation in outdoor recreational activities and their reflections about their…