No abstract

This is an unusual article in that it brings together the perspectives of many on this journal's editorial board, around the issue of contending with COVID-19. Twenty statements showcase a range of thoughts and experiences, highlighting the differences and similarities in the way the pandemic is impacting on the educational practice of outdoor and environmental education. The future is not yet written, of course, so it is worth thinking about how the current moment may impact on the months and years to come. The aim of this article is to influence and support such thinking.

The literature on facilitation describes the skills, methods, models and theories of facilitation but gives less coverage to the assumptions and philosophies that underpin the processes by which facilitators develop. This paper reviews the literature on facilitation and provides a typology, which classifies the different approaches to facilitator education, based on the levels of consciousness proposed by Giddens' (1984). In the typology, technical facilitator education approaches are skills-based and formulaic, whereas intentional facilitator education approaches purposively ground facilitation skills and methods in theory. Person-centered facilitator edu cation approaches intentionally emphasize the attitudes, personal quali ties or presence of the facilitator, whereas critical facilitator education approachesseek to raise the awareness of the political nature of facilita tion. The typology provides an interpretive framework to stimulate reflec tion, discussion and further research into the theory and practice of facil itator education within experiential education.

Background: Many disciplines use outdoor fieldwork (OFW) as an experiential learning method in higher education. Although there has been an increase in research into the pedagogical approaches of OFW, the use of OFW is contested. Purpose: The purpose of the study was to synthesize the OFW literature across a range of disciplines to identify common strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) and outline implications for how OFW is used as an experiential learning pedagogy in higher education. Methodology/Approach: A descriptive literature review was undertaken to examine each aspect of the SWOT at the micro, meso, and macro levels, drawing from disciplines using OFW including biology, outdoor and environmental education, archaeology, and the associated geosciences. Findings/Conclusions: Strengths of OFW include engagement, outreach, and professional competencies; weaknesses exist in the areas of equity, logistics, and standards. Opportunities include improving pedagogical practices, diversity, and collaboration, while threats to OFW were costs, funding, outdated practices, and governance. Implications: Academics from a range of disciplines using OFW have similar experiences; therefore, exploring ways to collaborate or learn from each other will further develop OFW as an experiential learning strategy in higher education.

A facilitator is commonly defined as a substantively neutral person who manages the group process in order to help groups achieve identified goals or purposes. However, outdoor educators rarely experience the luxury of only managing the group process, because they are typically responsible for the provision of leadership, skill instruction, and safety management. Based on personal experience, the literature on facilitation, and my research on the theories and practices of facilitator educators providing facilitation training courses in Australia and New Zealand, I recommend strategies for managing the potentially conflicting facilitation roles that outdoor educators may be required to fulfill. The five facilitator roles identified by Schwarz (2002), which serve as a theoretical framework for this paper, are facilitator, facilitative leader, facilitative trainer, facilitative consultant, and facilitative coach. The similarities and differences between these roles are discussed, as are strategies that outdoor educators can apply to optimise their use of, and movement between, these roles.