Best Practices in Collegiate Outdoor Recreation
Open Access
- Author:
- Spohn, Christina L
- Area of Honors:
- Recreation and Park Management
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Dr. Andrew Justin Mowen, Thesis Supervisor
Dr. Andrew Justin Mowen, Thesis Honors Advisor
Deborah Lee Kerstetter, Faculty Reader - Keywords:
- outdoor recreation
college recreation
student engagement
programming
best practices - Abstract:
- College outdoor recreation programs serve as a way for students to engage outside of the classroom, recreate with friends new and old, and build skills and relationships in beautiful places. These programs have a rich history in the United States, but are not without the challenges of adapting to the changing nature of post-secondary campus recreation operations. The purpose of this study was to further explore the themes generated from exploratory research at Penn State and assess if they were applicable to a broader range of college and university outdoor programs across the country. From the exploratory research, five core themes were identified as areas in which programs triumph and struggle: a) programming, b) organizational structure, c) financing, d) student leadership, and e) risk management. These five themes were subsequently incorporated as open-ended questions in a survey distributed to outdoor program leaders at thirteen U.S. public colleges and universities with more than 10,000 undergraduate students. The results from this survey illustrate the diversity of campus-based outdoor programming across the country. Yet, respondents mentioned similar challenges in areas such as academic relevancy, safety and staff training, availability of resources to provide professional staffing, and desire to engage as many students as possible. Outdoor programs need to prove their worth and provide for students if they are to stay viable within their respective campus recreation programs. While the results from this study represent just a small sampling of schools, programs and ideas, they may inform future efforts to foster collaboration between universities (and within universities) in order to implement best practices for the benefit of students.