Facilitating an Experience: Tools and Theory for a Truly Experiential Adventure - Online Classroom

6:00-7:30pm PST via Zoom Meeting
Meeting link will be sent to registered attendees the day of the session

This presentation will contain some lecture to establish vocabulary and theory baselines as well as contain opportunities for participants to engage directly with the content in real time. Opportunities for breakout sessions with small group conversation will be offered, but folks who prefer not to join will also be offered that choice.

As a trip leader, the best gift we can provide participants is the gift of meaning. No one is a greater expert on what holds meaning than the individual. This virtual workshop focuses on pulling over 10 years of facilitation experience via formal and informal training and education. Focusing on key concepts for volunteers to help their participants create deeper meanings during their experiences. About 30% of the content will cover group management and group dynamics information that is foundational to going deeper with reflection. The remaining 70% will focus on creating opportunities for reflection at multiple levels.

Reflection is considered the hallmark that sets an experience as truly experiential, going beyond the “hands on” component. The covered methods and activities will expand upon a post-trip debrief, and provide a "how-to" on incorporating reflection throughout an experience by including research, theory, and practice. The best part: the skills are adaptable to many levels of depth.

Schedule:

• 6-7pm - Presentation and activities
• 7-7:30pm - Open discussion and Q&A

Presenter

Deidra Goodwin (any/they/she) is an experiential and outdoor educator with a spectrum of experiences. From collegiate outdoor recreation to federal park ranger, middle school after school program, commercial zipline guiding, adjunct professor-ing, and storytelling coaching-Deidra is driven by facilitating experiences for people to find their personal definitions of "outdoorsy", "stewardship", and "leadership" one experience at a time. Fostering the connections people make with themselves, each other, and their environments to make personal meaning and create change is the motivation behind the work that Deidra does. Professionally, Deidra is a Campaign Strategist with the Sierra Club’s Military Outdoors campaign and an adjunct professor with Brevard College’s Wilderness Leadership and Experiential Education program. Deidra has a BA in Integrated Studies and an MS in Experiential and Outdoor Education, gets really nerdy about reflection, and beyond outdoor hobbies, can also be found figuring out the world of dog agility.

Lead image: Mt. Tahoma. By Mike Warren