Program Overview

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Unit Overview

The unit EXSC312 - River Journeys and Connections to Place is designed to provide students with the skills and knowledge required to support participants as they move through and connect with natural environments. This unit aims to equip students with the skills that form part of the professional standards expected of all outdoor leaders, as well as create conscious and informed citizens who recognize their responsibility to the common good, the environment, and society.

Unit Rationale, Description, and Aim

As an outdoor leader, it is essential to facilitate group living, connections to place, different ways of moving through environments, and various methods to engage with natural spaces. This unit requires students to apply solo journeying and reflective observation techniques, use and recommend advanced group living and travel skills, and demonstrate leadership, decision-making, and judgment capabilities in outdoor contexts.

Learning Outcomes

To successfully complete this unit, students will be able to:

• Create and present engaging river ecological learning activities that improve environmental knowledge and awareness
• Apply solo journeying and reflective observation techniques in an outdoor program
• Use and recommend advanced group living and travel skills to support connections with natural environments
• Apply and demonstrate the leadership, decision-making, and judgment capabilities required in various outdoor contexts

Unit Content

Topics covered in this unit include:

• Principles of eco-literacy and environmental interpretation
• Environmental approaches to land use, management, and conservation
• Ways of moving through environments and engaging in natural spaces
• Ways of thinking in outdoor learning, including connections to place, environmental stewardship, sustainable living and travel, and slow travel
• Paddling-related safety management skills, including rescue, safety, and emergency protocols
• Leadership, decision-making, and judgment in outdoor contexts

Assessment Strategy and Rationale

The assessment strategy for this unit includes:

• Environmental Resource Project (30%): requires students to present and develop an ecological-based resource
• Individual Written Report (35%): requires students to investigate alternative perspectives, ways of thinking, and operating in the outdoors
• Written and Practical Test (35%): requires students to demonstrate leadership knowledge and skills for safe group travel and living in outdoor environments
• Experiential Learning Activities (Hurdle): enables students to demonstrate competency, a culture of respect, and professionalism in all experiential learning activities

Learning and Teaching Strategy and Rationale

The learning and teaching strategies for this unit include active learning, collaborative, cooperative, and enquiry-based learning, just-in-time teaching, peer and problem-based learning, along with project, small group, and team-based learning strategies. These strategies aim to provide students with opportunities to meet the learning outcomes and graduate attributes of the unit, as well as the industry professional practice standards.

Representative Texts and References

The unit draws on a range of texts and references, including:

• Berns, G. N., & Simpson, S. (2009). Outdoor recreation participation and environmental concern: A research summary
• Bobilya, A. J., Kalisch, K. R., & McAvoy, L. H. (2005). An investigation of the role of the instructor in the solo experience
• Brown, M. (2008). Outdoor education: Opportunities provided by a place-based approach
• Nicholls, V. (2009). Quiet time: A sense of solitude
• Phillip, G., & Wattchow, B. (2008). Slow pedagogy and placing education in post-traditional outdoor education
• Stewart, A. (2004). Decolonising encounters with the Murray River: Building place responsive outdoor education
• Stewart, A. (2008). Whose place, whose history? Outdoor environmental education pedagogy as 'reading' the landscape
• Strevens, S. (2006). Slow River: A journey down the Murray
• Wattchow, B., & Brown, M. (2011). A pedagogy of place: Outdoor education for a changing world
• Wattchow, B. (2008). Moving on an effortless journey: Paddling, river-places and outdoor education

Credit Points and Year

This unit is worth 10 credit points and is offered in the year 2026.