James NeillUniversity of New Hampshire, USA, 2002

James.neill@unh.edu

CAN THE MOUNTAINSSPEAK FOR THEMSELVES?

Outline

Summary of James’ paper» Mountains vs. Facilitation

Workshop & Group Presentations Take-home Points

<---------------------------------------------------------------------->Mountains Facilitation

Where is Your Preference?(ideal program for you as a leader…where do you feel most

comfortable?)

Thomas James (1980) issue paper for COBS:

“Can the Mountains Speak for Themselves?” Distinguished between 2 basic ways of leading OE

experiences:

1: Letting experience speak

2: Debrief/Processing

Summary of James’ paper

a ‘defining tension’ in OE leadership a dilemma that is continually in the minds of

instructors:

“Should I let that experience go,

allowing participants to make their own learning,

or should I try to use my skills and observations

to facilitate participants’ reflection

and analysis of the experience?”

<---------------------------------------------------------------------->Mountains Facilitation

Can the Mountains Speak for Themselves?

Thomas James (1980)

Rustie Baillie: “Let the mountains speak for themselves”

1960s: counselling techniques introduced to control group processes

Ongoing debate about how to best facilitate OE groups

THE MOUNTAINS

James (1980): Mountains

The mountains argument suggests that if we have:

A good course structure, e.g. Outward Bound Standard Course

Safe, professional, inspiring leadership

we are likely to have an impressive OE program.

James (1980): Mountains

Argues for the inherent power in nature, good programs, adventure activities, and human growth orientation, effective leadership.

Key elements of ‘mountains speaking for themselves’: Nature Program Adventure activities Human growth orientation Effective leadership

Nature

‘Nature has an inherently positive effect’. Fits with:

Nature philosophers Mountaineers Indigenous view ‘Simple OE’

Program

Tried and true course structures provide good experiences:

“The rappel works;

the expedition teaches;

solo asks the questions that need to be asked”

» e.g., Outward Bound Standard Course “Life of action is often composed of mental

activity of the most significant kind.”

Adventure Activities

‘OE activities inherently demand a high degree of consciousness and self-scrutiny’

Real, immediate experience Action-consequence

Orientation to Growth

Learning occurs naturally Allow ‘pure’ experience Humans move naturally towards personal

growth (e.g., Maslow, Rogers, May, etc.)

Effective Leadership

Creates a: safe supportive challenging

series of adventure learning opportunities

FACILITATION

James (1980): Facilitation

Verbalization/reflection in addition to action Dewey: learning = thinking about experience Generalisation/transfer of learning Facilitation can be subtle acts or comments

which help guide participants to valuable self-reflections

Crucial to maintain authenticity of experience

James (1980): Facilitation

Candice Chrislip: helping students “to isolate a particular success on the course, to identify the process they went through, and to make this success available to them as a future resource.”

Be wary of expecting too much of a program and perhaps we should stick with what we do best - leading people in extraordinary outdoor adventures

WORKSHOP

Key Questions

Do you accept Thomas James’ mountains vs. facilitation continuum? Perhaps there are better models that could better organize those concepts.

For example, most OErs are uncomfortable placing themselves at a single point on the continuum, so how could greater ‘flexibility’ be introduced?

Take-home points:» understand your personal orientation» understand the range of others’ orientations» develop flexibility in instructional style (build

complementary skills)» develop expertise in preferred direction» participants will have their own individual

orientations!» this issue forms the basis of understanding

more recent developments of facilitation techniques in OE (e.g., see Gass)

MORE NOTES for Presenter

- Mountains - letting the experience speak for itself

not for the leader to impose or prescribe private, individual learnings and experience

focuses responsibility on participant does not endorse ‘chuck them out there and see’ policy, since instructor

sophistication is indicated by careful setting up of program, program design, activity sequence, pace of program, and group management

May suit certain clients/cultures more than other cultures, e.g. males? adolescents? intellectually challenged? taciturn cultures?

May not achieve maximum possible program effects by not employing facilitation techniques; although it could be argued that totally self-derived learnings may be more powerful than facilitated learnings?

May lend itself better to achieving recreational type goals than higher-level therapeutic goals

minimalist nb. culture comment in Priest & Gass book

- Facilitation - guiding reflecting about the experience

centers an emphasis on instructor-facilitation of participants’ learning and experience seeks to harness power of self-reflection, self-analysis, expression of thoughts,

sharing of insights, etc. to develop and ‘lock-in’ new understandings about self and group

instructor must observe and guiding reflective facilitation processes following experiences

may not maximise the inherent value of nature, adventure and group processes May suit certain clients/cultures more than other cultures, e.g. females? adults?

intellectual? gregarian cultures? May enhance the outcomes through this ‘plus’ model - insights which might otherwise

not have been achieved are likely to be created May be most effectively applied to achieving educational and therapeutic goals; may

be of relatively less use in achieving recreational type goals some reflection is always going to be present even in the purest ‘mountains’ program.

it is virtually impossible to rid oneself of constant analysis and reflection. (this is partly why we can say that human nature is oriented towards improving constantly improving oneself)

Comments: Overall

ref James re both methods effective v. limited research comparing techniques (cite Priest study) propose DNA metaphor to solve continuum draw on board Hattie, J.A. (1992): “it does appear that the more cognitive oriented [self-concept

change] programs have substantial effects, than the affectively oriented programs on self-concept” (p.226)

We need the tension maintained to continue furthering the development of effectiveness in programming at both ends of the continuum. We need the tension from both ends to balance the ‘product’ in the middle. See Sufi quote.