A Pre-Post Analysis of Participant Learning and Growth Using a New Outward Bound Outcomes Instrument

This study examined differences in participants’ perceptions of their Character Development, Leadership, and Environmental Service prior to and immediately following participation in a North Carolina Outward Bound School (NCOBS) course using the NCOBS Course Impression Survey (NCOBCIS). The three-fold purpose of this study was to confirm the a priori factor structure of the NCOBSCIS, assess true change in participants’ scores following completion of an NCOBS course, and to investigate questions that emerged in the quantitative data that could be better explained by qualitative analysis. Quantitative results indicated improvements in Character Development and Environmental Service. This study furthers our understanding of the NCOBSCIS using a true pre-post design, provides further evidence of the validity and reliability of the NCOBSCIS and its factor structure, and the qualitative inquiry enhances our understanding of the potential influence of program participation.

AN INNOVATION RESEARCH ON THE COLLEGE OUTWARD BOUND DEVELOPMENT THEORIES

The outward bound has been carried out as part of the PE course by many universities. In the teaching practice, however, it is not so closely connected with, or even deviated from, the PE instructional objectives in universities in China. In this essay, the research findings of modern physical education theory are applied to the outward bound course with significant theoretic innovation brought up to guarantee the healthy development of the outward bound in college PE teaching.

Outward Bound Instructors’ Experience of Stress: Storms, Students, and Role Strain

Background: Outward Bound (OB) provides experiential outdoor learning programs where students grow through overcoming challenges. Instructors leading these wilderness courses face numerous demands and situational conditions which may create stress. Purpose: This study sought to describe instructors’ experience of stress on OB courses with adolescents. Methodology/Approach: In semi-structured interviews, 31 OB instructors from two sites provided in-depth guided narratives of highly stressful course situations, which were analyzed using grounded theory methods. Findings/Conclusions: Findings indicated that instructors were stressed by unsafe and unpredictable situations (e.g., adverse weather, dangerous terrain, medical concerns) and student behavior, thoughts, and feelings (e.g., conflict, oppositional behavior, distress). Analysis also suggested that the internalization of role demands—for student safety, student learning, and control—intensified experiences of stress. Self-perceptions of failure to meet these role demands led to role strain. In addition, stress affected instructors’ functioning and their interactions with students. Implications: This study suggested several recommendations for OB and other youth-serving organizations. These include assessing the amount and types of stress instructors are experiencing on a regular basis and examining how these stressors might be reduced or mitigated by actors at multiple levels in the organization.

The Night Trains

The full physical and social cost of South Africa’s twentieth-century mining revolution, based on the exploitation of cheap, commoditised, black, migrant labour, has yet to be fully understood. The success of the system, which contributed to the evolution of the policies of spatial segregation and apartheid, depended, in large measure, on the physical distance between the labourer’s home and places of work being successfully bridged by steam locomotives and a rail network. These night trains left deep scars in the urban and rural cultures of black communities, whether in the form of popular songs or in a belief in nocturnal witches’ trains that captured and conveyed zombie workers to the region’s most unpopular places of employment. Through careful analysis of the contrasting inward- and outward-bound legs of the migrants’ rail journey, van Onselen shows how black bodies (and minds) were ‘recruited’, transported and worked in the repressive compound system—sometimes to the point of insanity—and then returned broken, deranged, disabled or maimed to their country of origin, Mozambique. It offers a startling new analysis of the commodification of African labour in an inter-colonial setting.

Empowering Student Learning Through Adventure-Based Counseling Activities

This chapter explores the use of adventure-based counseling (ABC) activities and a therapeutic lens to promote learning in graduate classrooms. ABC techniques originally stem from experiential education programs (i.e., Outward Bound and Project Adventure) and are versatile activities that promote change and growth in participants. The authors explore the use of various components of ABC, such as the Adventure Wave, hard skills, and soft skills, to enact learning through creative and innovative strategies. This chapter will explore the global appreciation for the impact nature and challenge experiences can have on ones' learning and provide activity examples and critical educator reflections to clarify implications for graduate classrooms.

Exploring the Inclusive Praxis of Outward Bound Instructors

Equity and inclusion are critical issues that need to be addressed in outdoor adventure education. Although some literature identifies inclusive practices for enhancing equity in outdoor adventure education, most research does not situate these practices within the contexts in which they were created and used. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore outdoor adventure education instructors’ inclusive praxis, and the conditions that influenced their praxis on their courses and in their instructing experiences. To this end, we conducted semi-structured interviews with ten instructors from four Outward Bound schools in the USA. The instructors varied in their gender, school, types of programs facilitated, and duration of employment with Outward Bound. Our inductive analysis of the interview data focused on the identification of themes illustrating the characteristics of instructors’ inclusive praxis, as well as the conditions that influenced their praxis. Themes emerged from our analysis that highlighted the macro and micro conditions that set the stage for instructors’ inclusive praxis, which focused on creating spaces that fostered inclusive group cultures on their courses. The findings from this study may be a useful starting point for enhancing the instructors’ role in fostering equity and inclusion on outdoor adventure education courses. We conclude with suggestions for future research.