Soft skills transfer

For this blog I will be looking into the learning transfer between outdoor adventure (OA) and everyday activities, along with the challenge by choice method, and discussing my views on them, along with any findings on each domain.

Gass (1985) talks about three types of learning transfers that take place in OA;

                Specific - is the transfer of a skill that is related closely to a situation. For example in the outdoors learning to tie a re-threaded figure of eight, is specifically used in climbing and not easily transferable to another activity or day to day life.

                Non specific - is the transfer of a skill in a different situation. For example a clove hitch knot can be used in climbing and also in sailing and other situations that require that specific knot.

                Metaphoric - this is a transfer of a skill acquired in OA, and then related to other situation you might find yourself in, in everyday life. For example good communication skills acquired through problem solving, and then using those communication skills in your day to day job.

My thought on this is that the Metaphoric transfer is the main type of transfer that facilitators of OA will focus on, by linking OA situations to the day to day lives of the client, thus engaging them in the activity, and giving them a better understanding of the skill they are learning. 

Whereas the specific transfer in the OA is great for the learner to gain that skill, they then cannot take that skill and apply it to day to day life, in my mind it is better to acquire a life skill that can then be used for the benefit of the client.

However, is contextual transfer really possible? For arguments sake when climbing you have a reliable person at the end of a rope when belaying you, does this then make you more reliable in everyday life? I believe that contextual transfer is possible though only on areas where the transfer is able to be applied. To transfer these skills into every day life, there needs to be a bridge where the skills are fully utilised, and in reality able to help in every day situations. the group of people in the picture below are using effective communication, though there needs to be a guidance in my view from a facilitator to then help these individuals channel this skill into situations outside of adventurousness activities.  

 Another soft skill transfer that I am interested in is the Challenge by Choice method of learning - this particular method is used by the facilitator, allows the client to take control of the session and make them feel empowered. It is a much more effective way of getting individuals to engage in the activity, as you are not forcing them to take part or do a particular thing. This skill also links in nicely to a previous blog I did about experiential learning.

This snowboarder who is upside down in the above picture is challenging himself by choice, and has gained experiential learning in the process when coming off the drop. By doing this he is now aware of the situation he is in and knows how to not end up in the same situation again.

Both of the transfers of learning discussed in this blog I feel are essential to the learning of outdoor skills, otherwise the client is being subjected through an area of OA might not understand how a particular skill learned will help them in everyday life. The empowering feeling that they (the client) have learned through their own experience and choice of challenge, gives then the feeling of achievement and success.

For further interest and reading:

Priest, S. (1997). Effective Leadership in Adventure Programming. P174-187.

Goldenberg, M. (2001). Outdoor and Risk Educational Practices.

Self Esteem in Outdoor Education

Healthy Self-esteem being promoted in the Outdoor has become something of an importance to the facilitators, and to those who organise the partake in activities (school teachers, parents), with the personal development of young children. Self-esteem is not increased just from partaking in adventure activities. In my experience of working in an outdoor centre it is apparent just how important healthy self-esteem can be for children, especially those individuals who think less of themselves.

Self-esteem according to Rosemberg (1965) is the way that an individual perceives to see themselves, this is for me the most accurate definition of self-esteem. in the outdoor we are trying to promote self-esteem in new way with children that they might not have experienced before. for example an achievement in a new activity such as climbing will increase how an individual will perceive themselves, and potentially effect other activities they will take part in.
Harter (1990), and Foxx (2003) have split self-esteem into categories, this is a much easier way of claiming if a individual has good or bad self-esteem, as they might have low self-esteem in scholastic competence, though really high social acceptance. I think that Harter had the right Idea by splitting up self-esteem into categories to make it easier to identify the weaker areas of self-esteem, rather than branding a person as having total low self-esteem.
physiological centrality is linked to self-esteem as it represents a persons self-values. these self-values are based on identity theory, the more central a component that the client is experiencing to their identity the greater the impact. we can link this back to climbing and self-esteem, if the closer the component (climbing) is to the individual the greater the effect on physiological centrality.

In my experience with working with people in the outdoor sector, it is my opinion that just being outdoors and engaging with others in its self is a huge step for some people, as just interacting, and overcoming situation, and tasks bring individuals closer together.

Stemba and Bisson (2009) were quoted as stating that many students involved in outdoor adventure program believe that just taking part in a low ropes course will increase their existing self-esteem, there needs to be an external element to increase the levels of self-esteem, such as Stienfeild (1997), suggests that stopping between activities to discuss them, and how the group have worked together is a great way to move forward in modern-day Outdoor learning, to build of personal growth.

I believe that discussing what the child is going through is key, they need to be able to understand that they are doing well, and how exactly the activity they are partaking in directly effects them, also you then get an understanding of the child's emotions towards the tasks. Getting an individual engaged is the key thing with increasing self-esteem, if the individual feels socially accepted by others, then their confidence will increase, resulting in an increase in attitude towards task, others and personal ability.

Further reading:

Harter, S. (1990). Issue in the assessment of self-concept of children and adolescence. In Leather, M. (2015). It's good for their self-esteem: the substance beneath the label. Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning. 13 (2), p158-179.

Rosemberg, M. (1965). Society and the adolescent of self-image. Princeton, NJ: Princeton university press.

Stemba, B.  & Bisson, C. (2009). Teaching adventure education theory: Best practices. Leads: Human Kinetics.

Experiential Learning

Experiential learning (EL) is not a new concept in teaching terms, most facilitators, and educators use the term, and practice it in their teaching methods. EL is used to describe the sort of learning undertaken by students who are given a chance to acquire and apply knowledge. Smith (2003) describes EL as the result of education that occurs as direct participation in the events of life.

I think Experiential learning for young children is key for development in a child's life. Without the experience first-hand the learner might not know why or why not the experience they have is good or bad. Think of it as being told by your mum not to play with the plug socket. As a child you investigate why you have been told not to, and you only ever play with it once! The pain from the electric shock you experience teaches you that playing with that is not a good idea.

Many authors have devised models and theories on how experiential learning takes place, (Jarvis 1987; Brookfield 1990; peters 1991; Kolb’s 1984).

Kolb (1984

Though is EL misleading, it is described as a way of learning from my experience, however Wharton & Parry (2003) looked at all parts of EL, and they put forward clams that if the experience is frustrated then there is no learning point to that experience, could present a negative effect for the next attempt. Wharton & Perry also pointed out that the experiential learning in a classroom/lead session is not totally experiential, as there is still an aspect of leading to be sent in the right direction to discover/complete a task.

 There are many different ways you one can interpret the best practice of EL, however, the client (not the facilitator) is the one individual who needs the theory to work, and if the client finds that guidance is the technique that that find best to use, rather than no guidance and a total self lead experience, then stick with it. From experience with teaching young people, there is nothing worse than a facilitator who will only do things their way and not adapt them to the client's needs.

In all the forms that EL comes in, there is in my mind one aspect of it that is the most important part, reflection/evaluation of the experience. Reflection on the experience will happen all the time when performing an activity, or partaking in a task. There is normally an outcome to reach, and that outcome will give you feedback on how will you have performed. However, I feel that the best form of reflection is lead by an onlooker to the task/activity, as they might have ideas you haven't thought of, or suggestions on how to improve next time that you didn't know about.

Jarvis (1987)

There should be no real reason why this approach to learning would not work if it is used and understood correctly, there needs to be a reviewing section to the learning process, as there always it, the outcome to anything we do in life acts as a review of out decision and actions that we take, and build on what we have learned from the outcomes.

Though is EL worth doing? My personal thought on experiential learning, is it is an important part of development and understanding for young children in every day life. It is a skill that will stay with you for life, as the experience learned will bring a life long change in perception of experiences that you may face in the future.

Further reading:

http://wilderdom.com/experiential/ (James Neil 2006).