[Eenc-board] Guidelines and Conference

[Diane Silver]

Hi Folks --

I have been out of town and catching up on e-mail, so sorry for coming 
in late on this discussion:

I don't have the guidelines in front of me right now, but #4 of the 
Guidelines for Professional Development is Planning and Implementing 
Environmental Education. Wouldn't that include consulting the other sets 
of guidelines to make sure that EE programming meets standards of 
excellence? SO, if you're doing a conference workshop on growing 
mushrooms, or whatever, I think that would fall under Planning and 
Implementing EE -- you're teaching other environmental educators how to 
plan and implement this EE activity that you developed - and it would be 
understood that THAT activity should meet the guidelines for Learners, 
or for Materials, or for Programs.

So, OUR sessions should meet one of the 6 themes under the guidelines 
for Professional Development, but within any session, presenters should 
be demonstrating that the materials and activities meet the standards 
from the other guidelines.

Generally, conference activities that are about EE content (vs. EE 
methodology or pedagogy) will fall into either Environmental Literacy 
(increasing participants own knowledge on an adult level) or Planning & 
Implementing EE (teaching participants how to turn around and teach this 
content to others).

I think the 6 themes of the Professional Development guidelines are 
sufficient for quality control for our conference sessions. I think 
putting more on the application WOULD be overwhelming. However, we could 
include a little reminder that if a session is for EE content (rather 
than methodology, pedagogy, etc.) that content should meet the 
guidelines for Learners, Materials, or Programs.

Here's my suggestion of a small re-write, with changes in red:

NAAEE Guidelines for Excellence

/EENC has adopted the national Guidelines for Excellence / developed by 
NAAEE. These include four separate components: #1) Environmental 
Education Materials, #2) Guidelines for the Preparation and Professional 
Development of Environmental Educators, #3) Guidelines for Learners, and 
#4) Environmental Education Programs. Visit www.naaee.org 
<http://www.naaee.org/programs-and-initiatives/guidelines-for-excellence/materials-guidelines/educator-preparation> 
for more information about the Guidelines for Excellence and to download 
your own copies for free.

By adopting the Guidelines for Excellence, EENC has committed to 
providing our members appropriate training opportunities that will help 
them provide high-quality environmental education. All sessions and 
workshops need to fall under at least one of the six themes in the 
/Guidelines for the Preparation and Professional Development of 
Environmental Educators/.

Theme #1---Environmental Literacy

Theme #2---Foundations of EE

Theme #3—Professional Responsibilities of the Environmental Educator

Theme #4—Planning and Implementing Environmental Education

Please keep in mind that all EE content (lessons, activities, resources, 
materials, etc.) presented at the conference must meet the Guidelines 
for Excellence for EE Materials, for Learners, or for EE Programs).

Theme #5—Fostering Learning

Theme #6—Assessment and Evaluation


Which theme does your proposed workshop fall under? Please be specific 
by including any appropriate guidelines and indicators within each theme.

If your proposed workshop falls under Theme 4, please confirm that the 
programs, activities, materials, and resources you will be disseminating 
meet the relevant Guidelines for Excellence.

Whaddya think?

- Diane



Dee Thonnard Rudolph wrote:
> One last thing about incorporating the Guidelines...
>
> One option would be just include a statement about our commitment to the 
> Guidelines for Excellence and a check box (yes or no) where applicants 
> can mark whether their session or workshop falls under the guidelines.  
> We would then have to have a committee to take a look at all submissions 
> to determine if they do fall under these documents and where.
>
> Pros:  easier for applicants
>           we could use all the documents
>           we could put the committee's findings on our website or 
> conference program under each session title                 and know 
> that it is accurate
>
> Cos:  members may not take as much time to familiarize themselves with 
> the documents
>          time commitment for committee members
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