Old toys and imagination help students finish off an experiential backcountry course
Like the rest of his colleagues, in March Associate Professor Ian Sherrington was tasked with somehow finishing the winter semester online. Sherrington, assisted in the creation of a lot of the ecotourism and outdoor leadership (ETOL) program quickly found himself in a bit of a blizzard.
With 22 years of teaching experience under his belt, Sherrington was able to get all 15 of his students to finish his HPED 3884 Winter Backcountry Travel course online. As its name denotes, the course includes an outdoor unit where students embark on an Avalanche Skills Training (AST) course, an entry-level certification through Avalanche Canada.
Navigating Sherrington's type of course material is a challenge even under normal circumstances, and not for the faint of heart. HPED 3884 is an "activity" course requiring a high degree of theory, which is then put into practice on a three day, off-campus trip. The excursion is typically a key element to cementing the "in-class" aspect of the course. This year, the stoppage of face-to-face learning as well as travel restrictions imposed on both provincial and national parks made it impossible for Sherrington to facilitate the trip. That left him with a huge question mark as to how to continue with the second half and provide students with a fulsome experience.
"I decided to see this as an opportunity to find creative ways to engage students who are used to active, experiential learning," Sherrington says. "The theory aspects were an easy switch: using Google Meets in the same manner as most professors at MRU, I was able to complete these aspects of the curriculum. This was not without anxiety; my first attempt was fraught with technical glitches and false starts. The students were extremely gracious and patient with these challenges and I felt that they were on board."
