Getting Started: Guidelines for Excellence Workshop Resources
Welcome to the Guidelines for Excellence Workshop Resources. Here you will find a series of workshop outlines designed to help you plan and lead professional learning experiences focusing on each of the five Guidelines for Excellence publications produced through the National Project for Excellence in Environmental Education.
Excellence in Environmental Education: Guidelines for Learning (K–12)
Early Childhood Environmental Education: Guidelines for Excellence
A set of recommendations to be used in the development of comprehensive early childhood environmental education programs or to trigger improvements in existing ones.
Simmons, B., Bahgwanji, Y. and Ribe, R. (2015) Promoting Excellence in Environmental Education. In Monroe, M.C, and Krazny, M. (eds) Across the Spectrum. Free download available
Some Background: National Project for Excellence in Environmental Education
The National Project for Excellence in Environmental Education, initiated by the North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE) in 1993, has developed a series of guidelines that set the standards for high-quality environmental education. Each of these publications was developed by a diverse team of professionals, and each has gone through a substantive review by thousands of professionals prior to its publication.
Through the National Project for Excellence in Environmental Education, NAAEE is taking the lead in establishing guidelines for the development of balanced, scientifically accurate, and comprehensive environmental education programs and materials. Quality environmental education programs help develop an environmentally literate citizenry that can compete in our global economy; has the skills, knowledge, and inclinations to make well-informed choices; and exercises the rights and responsibilities of members of a community.
In an effort to ensure that these guidelines reflect a widely shared understanding of environmental education, they were developed through a national process of review and comment. For each publication, a writing team comprised of environmental education professionals from a variety of backgrounds and organizational affiliations was formed. The writing team took on the challenge of turning ideas about quality, gleaned from environmental education practice and research literature, into a detailed outline. This outline, along with successive drafts of the guidelines, was circulated widely. Revisions were made based on an analysis of comments from literally thousands of individuals and organizations. Review comments were used not only to test and revise the basic framework for the guidelines, but also to develop every detail of the final document from overall structure to examples, and glossary terms to references.
The National Project for Excellence in Environmental Education has received funding from the US Environmental Protection Agency through the Environmental Education and Training Partnership (EETAP) and EE Capacity, plus the US Forest Service, the National Environmental Education and Training Foundation, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the University of Oregon, Northern Illinois University, and World Wildlife Fund.
Want to Access the Workshop Materials?
The latest versions of printed materials in the Guidelines for Excellence series, including all five of the Guidelines for Excellence publications and the workshop modules, are available as free downloadable pdfs (see top of page).You may also purchase bound copies of the Guidelines for Excellence series from NAAEE.
Getting Started
Organizing a workshop takes time and effort, especially if you don’t conduct workshops regularly. Using the following checklist may make the process a bit easier.
Pre-workshop Planning and Preparation
Discuss workshop plans with your sponsor and host and build institutional support
Decide how you will advertise the workshop and recruit participants
Identify your audience and conduct a needs assessment, including an assessment of participant background, knowledge, and interests
Locate and reserve an appropriate workshop site and consider its suitability (e.g., parking availability, access to public transportation, room configuration, access to food and other refreshments, availability of AV equipment, and other attributes that may impact the success of your workshop)
Identify and address needed accommodations for people with disabilities
Select which Guidelines for Excellence publication will be the focus of your workshop
Develop workshop goals and objectives
Determine workshop format, techniques, and time requirements
As the facilitator, thoroughly read the Guidelines for Excellence publication being introduced to the participants, including information on the “Roots of Environmental Education”
Explore potential for partnerships and assistance (e.g., funding, in-kind support, logistical support)
Decide if you would like a co-facilitator or to include additional presenters with specific expertise
Determine evaluation strategies and criteria, and how results will be used and communicated
Plan the Learning Sequence
Review the participant needs assessment and use it to plan the workshop and, if necessary, revise specific workshop elements such as the learning objectives, activities, icebreakers, and areas of emphasis
Review the appropriate workshop module and select activities that fit your audience, focus, objectives, and available time
Decide how you will engage participants before and after the workshop
Create a detailed workshop agenda that maps out the flow of learning and time necessary for each activity (see workshop modules for ideas):
Revisit your workshop objectives and plan appropriate learning progressions
Determine how you will engage participants throughout the workshop and ensure that each participant receives the experiences and time needed to process learning
Make sure you allow time throughout the workshop for reflections and at the end for closure
Map out strategies for staying on schedule. If time adjustments must be made, identify what can be trimmed without losing too much learning, and what activities can be seamlessly drawn out or inserted to extend learning meaningfully
Include wrap-up time at the end of the workshop and budget time for evaluation.
Decide how you will encourage and provide opportunities for participants to extend and deepen their learning following the workshop
Consider promoting networking among workshop participants
Compile your facilitator’s agenda and develop a participant’s agenda
Plan for Active Participation
Contact participants, as needed, several days prior to the workshop
Welcome them, thank them for signing up, confirm attendance
Confirm logistics of time and place, and include helpful hints such as driving directions, use of public transportation, appropriate dress, and nearby restaurants
Provide participants with an overview of the workshop, objectives, and agenda—tell them what they’ll be learning and why
E-mail participants any pre-workshop activities or reflection questions
Depending on the workshop module selected, ask participants to bring computers, electrical cords, thumb drives, copies of activity guides, and copies of state or national student standards
Determine what “table roles” you wish to use during group work
Timer
Reporter (can have more than one)
Recorder
Table energizer leader—at around halfway time, give the group a 17-second movement break to get glucose to the brain and refresh, energize
Table leader—in larger groups
Joke of the day—this person will return from lunch with a joke to share with the group
Decide if you want to use a “parking lot” (chart paper listing of items that come up for discussion and should be discussed by the end of the day). Determine how you will use a “parking lot,” including how you will describe it to the participants
Purchase or create reflective journals for each participant
Preorder Guideline for Excellence publications as needed
Identify and gather needed AV and computer technology, and determine if the workshop site has Internet access
Develop a PowerPoint presentation, if needed
Identify and gather additional equipment needed for the support and comfort of workshop participants (e.g., coffee maker, hot water for tea, refrigerator or ice chest for cold drinks)
Prepare table buckets with supplies that allow for reflection, notetaking, participation, etc.
Decide if you will want candy or snacks for tables (suggested for longer workshops)
For all day workshops, make plans for lunch (e.g., arrange for lunches to be catered, ask participants to bring a brown bag lunch, identify nearby restaurants)
Some Things to Think About
Keep the workshop as interactive as possible
Avoid “death by power point.” Determine the best use of technology, and be familiar with all of the resources to be employed
Use cooperative learning strategies to encourage discussion and problem-solving
Incorporate nonlinguistic representations such as models and drawings, tap into as many sensory experiences as possible, and create opportunities to elicit emotional connections
Use formative assessment strategies and gauge participant engagement throughout by listening and watching for evidence of understanding, and adjust the timing and strategies accordingly.
Think through best uses of the available learning environment, including outdoor spaces
Familiarize participants with the layout of the meeting building, addressing comfort and safety issues
Arrange tables, workspaces, and graphic displays so all participants can access materials and presentations comfortably
During the Workshop
Early in the workshop, do the following:
Walk participants through the agenda, including the workshop objectives (tell participants what you are going to tell them)
Clarify the purposes of the workshop
Introduce yourself and establish your credibility as the facilitator
Establish that this workshop is designed to introduce participants to a set of tools to ensure quality environmental education practice
Allow time for participant introductions to establish a sense of involvement and connection to others
Use an icebreaker that helps participants get to know one another, but also introduces an important component of the topic (see individual workshop modules for suggestions)
Depending on the audience and workshop goals, discuss the following:
What makes environmental education unique
Definition of environmental education
How environmental education helps learners build their identities as environmental stewards
How environmental education can play an important role in the development of 21st-century thinking and systems thinking skills and the implementation of state and national standards (e.g., NGSS, CCSS)
Provide background information on the Guidelines for Excellence, including the following:
How the guidelines were developed
Because the guidelines were based on research and developed through a participatory process, they are based on our collective wisdom and articulate best practices
Development of the guidelines continues to be an intentional, iterative process with widespread input and consensus (thousands of individuals and organizations have provided input)
Because environmental educators come from many sectors, the guidelines can help educators with different backgrounds share language and ideas
Even though the guidelines were first developed over a period of time, they are updated regularly so that they remain relevant to current thinking
Each product has similar hierarchical structure—overarching idea (e.g., key characteristic), specific features of that overarching idea (e.g., guidelines), and examples or indicators
Take time to reassure participants that most educators address 70–80 percent of these guidelines already, just by being conscientious educators. The guidelines were developed to ensure that the additional 20–30 percent of educators are “filled in” and make sure that important practices are not unintentionally overlooked
During the workshop, do the following:
Highlight specific workshop objectives as they are covered:
For this specific workshop or audience, highlight most critical or most relevant objectives
Commonalities of objectives of all sets (for example, ongoing evaluation is fundamental to all, and ensuring balanced approach is always key)
Unique aspects of objectives of specific sets (for example, K–12 is a learning progression, or early childhood is more program-oriented)
Spend time addressing how participants can use the guidelines to improve their practice
Point out how the guidelines can be used for
gap analysis
comparative assessment
self-reflection
Reinforce that this workshop is designed to familiarize participants with the guidelines so they can use them as tools going forward, building our profession’s capacity
Provoke thinking in terms of both immediate applications and that which needs to be built upon over time
Workshop Wrap-Up and Closure
Summarize main ideas (tell them what you told them)
Elicit final, culminating reflections
Ask participants to complete a workshop evaluation
