Welcome to Adventure Education

This page includes a break down of the adventure education learning outcomes, course listing and a general description of the program. For a more specific description of the major, please click the "majors and minors" link to the left.

Adventure Education Curriculum
The adventure education curriculum at GMC utilizes intentional learning progressions - that is to say every course is critical to overall student success.  Students begin learning foundational skills and subsequently move to learning how to teach outdoor skills via the integration of human, outdoor and educational skills later in the curriculum.  This integration is polished in the final field course of the curriculum when students are put in charge of their own four to five day field course as juniors.  This progression is challenging, but prepares students for the best internships and jobs.  We invite you to take a look at the "Internships" and "Grads in the Field" links to see how professional life is going for our students.   

Core Courses
REC 1000 Introduction to Recreation & Outdoor Studies
REC 4010 Management of Outdoor & Adventure Programs
REC 4051 Recreation & Outdoor Studies Seminar
REC 4053 Internship in Recreation & Outdoor Studies
MAT 1015 Introduction to Statistics

Professional Emphasis Courses
REC 1041 Outdoor Living Skills
REC 2027 Outdoor Program Design & Management
REC 2033 Foundations of Adventure Education
REC 2062 Outdoor Leadership Practicum
REC 2063 Adventure Group Processing & Facilitation
REC 3062 Human Dimensions of Leadership
REC 3064 Ecological Connections in the Pursuit of Adv.
REC 3066 Field Leadership Capstone

The program also includes elective outdoor skill based courses including: rock & ice climbing, winter mountain travel, paddling, SCUBA, ropes courses and mountain biking.

Learning Outcomes for Adventure Education Majors include:

• To develop superior graduates well-prepared for leadership positions in a globally expanding adventure education industry.

• To ensure that students are able to quickly build effective working relationships as the result of a curriculum that accurately reflects the real world of adventure educators.

• Be able to plan, implement and evaluate high quality and safe adventurous learning experiences for others in a variety of activity areas.

• To be able to effectively and accurately self-assess relative to human, outdoor and educational skills and to be able to deliver articulate feedback to others.

• To have the integrated skill set required to facilitate desired learning outcomes into learning for their own future participants.

• To be able to perform a variety of administrative functions important to adventure programming.   

• Be able to articulate and utilize knowledge of adventure programming as it pertains to both natural and human ecological systems.

• To be career ready upon graduation as a result of individualized student development in and out of the classroom via projects, electives, practicum, internship and self-designed opportunities.