UCLan Outdoors Division

UCLan Outdoors undergraduates recently tackled the Scottish Winter Skills Enhancement course as part of their studies. The group of 1st and 2nd year Outdoor Leadership and Adventure Sports Coaching students travelled to Scotland for a week of winter mountaineering. To read their blog about the trip please click here . For images from the trip please click here .

The UCLan Outdoors programme provides numerous opportunities to develop practical skills on top of our theoretical teaching. Bex Farmer is currently in the second year of her Adventure Sports Coaching course, and recently enjoyed a variety of activities to help enhance her technical skills and leadership abilities. This helps theory to inform practice and practice to inform research, which prepares students for their dissertations during year three. Bex commented: "To continue our development we must get out there on our own, making our own decisions and mistakes. The enhancement weeks allow us to take advantage of a break in lectures to do this. "I worked on my climbing skills at Stanage, logging the experience required for the Single Pitch Award. Taking the learning gained from instructional staff, meant I could safely go out in a peer group setting to develop decision making and practical skills, whilst ensuring good independent practice." During the trip Be

A group of UCLan Outdoor students staged an exhibition of work from their final year 'Outdoor Image' module. The event provided undergraduates with the opportunity to display and share their completed portfolios, final artworks and supporting chapters which showcased Pedagogies and Aesthetics in Outdoor Education. Sculptures, paintings and a range of multi-media items were on show, all of which expressed forms of critical artistic comment. The group explored topics including escapism and societal laziness, freedom and spirituality, and gender – perceptions of women in the outdoors. Module leader Dr Clive Palmer said the students had produced some thought-provoking art about engagement, perception and identity with the Outdoors. He commented: "Outdoor Image has been a tremendous success this year. The students relished opportunities to explain to other staff and students their philosophical ideas and what their comment to the world embodied in their tangible artis