Residential week enhances learning experience

UCLan Outdoors students enjoy a range of activities designed to underpin their academic studies.

Through our link up with the Plas y Brenin, the National Mountain Sports Centre in North Wales, these activities provide practical, coaching and leadership skills which are designed to develop highly employable outdoor practitioners.

Jack Ricketts was one of a group of students who recently completed their second residential week at Plas y Brenin. Canoeing sessions were the focus of the trip, with the students having the opportunity to develop personal and technical skills such as perfecting different canoeing strokes. The group were also able to apply their academic learning in a real world environment.

Jack commented: "While these residential weeks are extremely fun and physically demanding, the hardest part is integrating the theory learned in lectures to the decision making processes and methods of teaching used by the instructors.

"The emphasis was placed on problem-based teaching. While the instructors gave us tasks to do without much explanation, we had to come up with a solution to solve the problem. An example of this was performing rescues.

"The instructors chose a safe spot for us to practise with little consequence in case anything went wrong, and as we progressed they changed one of three things - the environment, the individual or the task.

"As each of these things changed the other two became increasingly difficult and more problems were encountered. This is an example of the theory developed by Newell and Simon in their 1972 book 'Human Problem Solving', and is used by outdoor instructors on a daily basis."

To find out more about our partnership with Plas y Brenin please click here.

Comments

1st year applied work at Plas y Brenin

1 st year applied work at Plas y Brenin During their first year on the BAHons Outdoor Adventure Leadership course , students spent 5 weeks at Plas y Brenin the National Mountain Centre, in North Wales. The focus of the first week was to consider the core competencies used when operating in the outdoors, and in that first week we kayaked, spent time in a canoe, rock climbed and had a day on a mountain. Over the subsequent four weeks, each group spent one week focusing on each of these adventure sports. Staying in the centre, the students also made good use of the climbing wall and rolling pool in the evenings, as well as attending talks from the staff at Plas y Brenin. Here are some of the thoughts from 1 st year students about their experiences at Plas y Brenin: “The environment was incredible as it allowed so many options” “The instructors that work with us are really good… they have a high level of experience” “Plas y Brenin allowed me to have an outlook i

MA Outdoor Practice

The Masters in Outdoor Practice is designed to enable those working in the broad professional environment of the outdoors to engage with postgraduate study. It is delivered by a team of practitioners, educationalists and researchers in the outdoors. The first year of the course involves taught modules which are delivered at weekends, with subsequent modules providing the opportunity to specialise in your own field of practice through research and/or innovation. A special feature of this innovative course is the flexibility to accommodate a diverse range of interests and promote learning through a portfolio of assessments that appropriately meet the needs of students. Thus, the ethos of the course is to enable students to follow their interests and design their own pathway through a master's programme. Click here for further information http://www.uclan.ac.uk/courses/outdoor-practice-ma.php Email : Rose Powell, Rpowell2@uclan.ac.uk

UCLan teams up with top mountain sports centre

UCLan students will benefit from practical lessons with one of the country's top providers of outdoor adventure activities, following a partnership agreement with Plas y Brenin , the National Mountain Sports Centre, to help deliver some of its sports and outdoor courses. This unique partnership between UCLan and the Sport England National Centre means UCLan students studying on the outdoor leadership and adventure sports coaching degrees will benefit from the expertise of staff from Plas y Brenin, as well as that of staff at UCLan, in one of the UK's most popular outdoor activity locations. A combination of UCLan and Plas y Brenin staff will jointly deliver a range of modules at the National Centre in Snowdonia that develop the students' practical, coaching and leadership skills. This includes mountaineering, rock climbing, white water kayaking, sea kayaking, mountain-biking and canoeing. In addition, the University's Institute of Coaching and Performance will wor

UCLan Outdoors Division

Search This Blog