Michelle Song
9/25/2024 update: Added new course links for the 2024-2025 fiscal year.
Over the past year, two new courses have been developed by staff and select volunteer leaders to help set the benchmark for outdoor leadership training at The Mountaineers. These courses are the Foundations of Leadership and the Foundations of Instruction eLearning courses. They were designed for our current and future volunteer trip leaders and instructors, with the goal of fostering diverse and passionate connections throughout The Mountaineers.
These courses were created to share foundational principles that we think are most important for our volunteers. They provide a practical overview of leadership and instructional concepts and definitions with real-life applications.
These courses are for current or aspiring volunteers who are proficient in one or more outdoor activities, but are interested in learning more about leading and instructing in the outdoors. At the end of these courses, you will be able to understand how to mitigate risks, set up the groups you lead for success, identify how to facilitate your students’ learning, foster an inclusive environment for your trip, and more. If you don't yet have experience with outdoor leadership or instruction, these two courses and their respective pathways are a great place to start!
Course pathways
The Foundations of Leadership and Foundations of Instruction courses each comprises of their own individual eLearning pathways, outlined below. The individual courses in the pathway can be taken in any order, taken at your own pace, and will culminate in their respective final quizzes. Once you pass the final quizzes, you will be awarded the Foundations of Leadership badge or the Foundations of Instruction badge.
- Completion of the Foundations of Risk Management
- Completion of the Foundations of Group Facilitation
- Completion of the Foundations of Equity & Inclusion
- Completion of the Foundations of Admin & Logistics
- Passing score for the Foundation of Leadership Final Quiz
2. Foundations of Instruction Course Pathway:
- Completion of the Foundations of Risk Management
- Completion of the Foundations of Education & Instruction
- Completion of the Foundations of Equity & Inclusion
- Passing score for the Foundation of Instruction Final Quiz
becoming a mountaineers leader eLearning course
Please note that these two courses will replace the Becoming a Mountaineers Leader eLearning course, which is now set to expire at the end of this fiscal year, September 30, 2022. The Becoming a Mountaineers Leader Course content has been fully transferred into the two foundations courses. We hope the inclusion of additional resources in the foundations courses will better support our current and aspiring volunteer leaders’ learning.
Should you have questions or concerns about how to use the foundations courses' content in place of Becoming a Mountaineers Leaders, please feel free to email Michelle Song at michelles@mountaineers.org
feedback
Leadership is a lifelong journey and there is always something new to learn. We welcome feedback on what is and isn’t working in this new course. Please contact Michelle Song at michelles@mountaineers.org with any questions and comments regarding course material.
