Postgraduate Certificate Greening Outdoor Practice
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Location Ambleside
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Duration 1, 3 year/s
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Mode of study Part-time
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Start date November 2012
Why study with us?
This is an exciting and cutting-edge course designed to meet the growing concern about climate change and environmental sustainability, and to develop the potential of outdoor practice to make a real difference to these issues.
If you are an outdoor practitioner, or someone who uses the outdoors for educational work - and you are concerned about environmental issues or would like to learn more - then this is the course for you. It will support you in gaining the skills and knowledge you need to enhance environmental input in the programs you run. Greening Outdoor Practice brings you up to speed on major environmental issues, local and global, and explores new ways to harness the power of outdoor experiences to help address them.
As well as exploring how you can reduce the environmental footprint of particular programs, you will look at ways of using outdoor courses to raise awareness of environmental issues; debate environmental values; connect participants (and colleagues!) with the natural world and harness the inspirational potential of outdoor experience to encourage a shift towards more sustainable ways of living and working.
What can this course lead to?
Graduates will be extremely well placed to contribute to the development of ‘green’ courses and practices across a wide range of outdoor contexts. Progression to the PgD or MA in Outdoor and Experiential Learning is also available.
Course Summary
The course has three main components.
The first module, Environmental Issues: problems and responses, engages you in a thorough review of current global, environmental issues and how they relate to local concerns - plus a range of analyses of the root causes of these problems. We then debate how best to tackle them. For example, can we solve these problems through technology alone or do we need deeper changes in values, lifestyles and world views?
The second module is your choice from a range of options in the Outdoor and Experiential Learning postgraduate program, including Know Your Place: Landscape Interpretation for Outdoor Practitioners; Experiential Learning; Critical Perspectives of Outdoor Learning; Working with Adventure or an independent study.
The third and central module, Greening Outdoor Practice, explores innovative, practical ways to ‘green’ outdoor practice. How can we reduce the negative environmental impacts of the courses we run? And, perhaps more importantly, how can we use these courses to inform others and, above all, to inspire positive environmental change?
All modules are assessed through coursework with a practical focus – there are no exams.
Resources and facilities
The teaching staff in Outdoor Studies include experts in environmental sustainability, ecology and environmental philosophy, as well as outdoor practice. (Do visit our staff pages. Key staff are likely to include Kate Rawles, Nigel Dykes and Chris Loynes). Our visiting lecturers come from a range of partner organizations and are chosen for their experience and their ability to motivate and communicate. We are located in the heart of the Lake District National Park, a leader in the field of sustainability and sponsor of the ground-breaking ‘Low Carbon Lake District’ project.
We are surrounded by practical examples of positive environmental action, many of which inform our case studies and practical visits - an important dimension of this course.
Entry requirements
1st or 2nd class honours degree
Students with other qualifications may be admitted to the course via APL procedures
More about levels and credits
Selection criteria
Degree and/or relevant professional work experience required.
Typically, you should hold a good first degree with honours and/or provide evidence of relevant work experience. You are likely to have worked in the outdoor sector and have an interest in environmental issues and/or a desire to develop in this direction.
A fee discount is offered to graduates of the University of Cumbria. Holders of undergraduate degrees obtained since 2008 can obtain a 20 percent discount on their first postgraduate course of study.
Visit
www.cumbria.ac.uk/outdoorstudies
Name: Kate Rawles, Course Leader
Email:
kate.rawles@cumbria.ac.uk
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