What's new in park and recreation education?

The future of the field lies in the education of students who will serve as the next professionals as well as in the education of informed citizens who will influence recreation policy. These future professionals and citizens will matriculate through our country's higher education systems. Thus, practitioners and educators may be interested to learn of some of the current topics and issues that are being discussed and researched in higher education.

Schole: A Journal of Leisure Studies and Recreation Education is in its eighth year of publication. The purpose of this Society of Park and Recreation Educators' project, published by NRPA, is to highlight information related to park and recreation courses, curricula and teaching. Articles based on conceptual, philosophical, and empirical inquiry have addressed such undergraduate and graduate topics as: curriculum planning and design, future employment requirements, trends and their impacts, student and faculty profiles, course content, fieldwork and internships, teaching methods, accreditation and certification, community education, leisure and the humanities, and tenure and promotion. The journal originally was published as the "SPRE Annual on Education" for the first three years. As a refereed journal, all papers are reviewed formally by at least three colleagues before selected for publication.

The purpose of this "Research Up-date" column is to describe some of the recent research about education that has appeared in Schole Journal over the last two years. Research about education in the field of parks, recreation, tourism and leisure studies can be divided into three broad categories: philosophical issues, curriculum and teaching and faculty/student concerns.

Philosophical Issues

To do anything, one must have a philosophy or a basic conceptual understanding of life's meanings. Several articles addressing philosophical issues in education have been published in the past two years. John Hemingway (1993), for example, described how educators might approach leisure philosophy in the classroom. He suggested that "learning philosophy is doing philosophy," and offered a number of possibilities for teaching students how to think about complex issues. He concluded that if educators fail to think themselves and fail to help students think about critical issues, the field of parks and recreation will be in serious trouble.

Harper and Hultsman (1993) described how a direct relationship exists between the 20th Century burgeoning of parks, recreation and leisure services and the impoverishment of the lived experience of leisure. They discussed the implications of this argument for leisure education and proposed an approach to the education of leisure service providers that differs significantly from the currently accepted practices. They suggest that perhaps educators "professionalize" students too soon before they have any understanding of what life is really like. They also question the use of the terms recreation and leisure and what they mean to the profession and to the public.

Shape Meaningful Experience

Riggins (1992) asked similar questions in his discussion of liberal education and professional studies at the undergraduate level. He advocated a shift from liberal education solely as a content area toward a view that incorporates the consideration of liberal education as a process and product. He supports the melding of the best elements of liberal education with the best elements of professional education to shape a meaningful undergraduate experience. Ultimately he wishes for an educational environment, to quote Clinchy, where students "think about the things they care about and...care about the things they think about."

Similarly, Butts (1992) argued that a diverse, varied undergraduate program of study can benefit students as they enter the economically and politically unstable decade of the 1990s. He believes that many programs of study have become so narrowly focused that students are unable to face the workplace of the future. He suggested that leisure studies professors and administrators reevaluate program design and requirements in light of today's changing world. Specifically he asks that educators offer more electives within degrees, promote the education of "generalists" in the field of recreation, and strengthen and expand existing courses rather than develop new ones.

A number of different philosophies seem to be guiding higher education at this point, ranging from highly specialized technical training programs to those that aim to address liberal-arts-educated generalists. The issue of how education should be provided in relation to professional preparation is an area that will require further debate in the future.

Curriculum and Teaching

How curricula are developed and the best ways to teach the knowledge base in the area of parks, recreation, tourism and leisure studies are areas of concern for educators. The majority of articles in the Schole Journal have examined issues as they pertain to curriculum content and teaching methods.

Rothschadl and Russell (1992) examined the modes of learning in the college classroom. They used Kolb's learning cycle as the basis for recommending how teaching effectiveness might be improved. The styles described included concrete experience (feeling), reflective observation (watching) abstract conceptualization (thinking) and active experimentation (doing). They detailed the learning cycle and its applications to leisure studies. They suggested that if a student knows his or her learning style and if the teacher is aware of his or her styles, better teaching and learning methods can be developed and applied.

The use of collaborative learning in the classroom was the focus of an article by Norman and McGuire (1992). The collaborative approach focuses on positive social interdependence, face-to-face interaction, making the individual accountable for mastery, and developing interpersonal and small group skills. They described the benefits of such learning for students and showed how it may be used by teachers in the classroom. In addition, Norman and McGuire pointed out some of the problems that must be addressed by faculty members if they are to use the collaborative approach effectively. They suggest that collaborative teaching is not a panacea and will not transform students into scholars, but it is an alternative to traditional teaching that will enable students to take an active part in their learning.

Creativity is an area in which most educators are interested for themselves and for their students. Murphy and Weissinger (1992) provided an overview of the theoretical components of creativity and their potential application in recreation and leisure studies. Suggesting fluency, flexibility and originality as the components of creative behavior, Murphy and Weissinger described a number of ways that creativity can be nurtured and showed how instructional strategies can be used to develop creativity. They concluded that practitioners will be creative only when they have had previous opportunities in the classroom to develop these skills.

Involve Students

Anderson, Schleien and Green (1993) described how developing a sense of social responsibility among students is a mandate for educators in recreation and leisure services. One way to develop this sense is to involve students in community service projects. Their study investigated the effectiveness of having students volunteer to work with people with disabilities. They found that such a community service project was an effective method of raising awareness of the concerns of including persons with disabilities and for fostering genuine respect and caring. The authors also raised some questions about the ethical issues of requiring an activity such as community service.

Bedini (1992) also addressed issues related to changing attitudes toward people with disabilities. She concluded that the negative attitudes of some college students can be changed by using teaching methods to discourage these attitudes. She advocated such methods as direct contact with people with disabilities, providing data- based information about disability, persuasive messages, an analysis of the dynamics of prejudice, disability simulations and group discussion. In a study at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, she found that this combined approach resulted in changes in the attitudes of students when compared to a control group who did not receive the course content. Bedini affirmed that through a multi-method technique, leisure and recreation courses can become an arena for social change and enlightenment.

Gay and lesbian issues have come to the forefront in the society. Grossman (1993) provided information about how he designed a course to address gay and lesbian issues at New York University. He contends that future park and recreation professionals should be prepared to work with diverse populations including gay, lesbian and bisexual people. Therefore, it is important that courses be offered to address these populations. Grossman described his experience of developing a course by providing a theoretical framework to justify such a course and a description of various teaching strategies have been effective in his teaching.

Internships are an essential element of professional preparation for anyone entering the leisure services field. It is becoming more and more difficult for faculty members to provide all the necessary face-to-face help to assist students in setting up internship sites. McLean and Hill (1993) have developed computer technology to assist with internship tasks at Indiana University. They described the various aspects of using a HyperCard stack to help students make internship decisions. They concluded that this computer program does not eliminate face-to-face action but helps to focus and enhance that interaction because students come prepared with the information needed to work effectively with the faculty member.

Faculty/Students Concerns

An analysis of faculty and student concerns related to the field of parks and recreation is important to consider in acknowledging the trends that are occurring in higher education. Since dissertation research ought to be on the leading edge of information generation in our field, Valerius and MacKay (1993) examined the content of students' doctoral dissertations over the past decade.

They found that the total number of dissertations has declined but the number of tourism-related dissertations has increased. The authors suggested several possible implications from this information including the possible need for more faculty in certain areas of higher education in the future.

Kanters (1992) examined the current state of recreation educator training, the perceived teaching competence of faculty, and attitudes about teaching skills courses taught at the doctoral level. Kanters suggested that university teaching is the only profession that does not require formal training. Beginning instructors often experience anxiety and frustration when approaching courses for the first time. The results of his research suggested that park and recreation doctoral training programs should be responsible for preparing students to be effective teachers.

Student concerns often relate to strategies for recruiting and retaining quality students in recreation programs. Becker, Miko and Rubio (1992) suggested that a greater emphasis on promoting careers in the park and recreation field at the high school level, faculty involvement in on-campus advisement for undecided majors, increased public awareness of park and recreation employment opportunities, and establishing leisure education classes within the undergraduate liberal arts core will be most helpful in recruiting good students. They further suggested that to retain those students through to graduation, more focus on student advisement and "listening to" rather than "lecturing to" might be advisable.

This summary of the articles that have appeared in the Schole Journal give some idea of the issues that educators are addressing in the 1990s. Philosophical, curricular and organizational issues are all important. The major implications of this research is how faculty use it to educate the best possible professionals and citizens for the future.

If any of these descriptions of recent scholarship are of interest to you, you may want to purchase a copy of Schole: A Journal of Leisure Studies and Recreation Education (Volume 7 published in 1992; Volume 8 published in 1993) available through NRPA publications department. Potential authors are also reminded that manuscripts are being accepted for 1994 (Volume 9) of the Schole Journal up until November 15, 1993. To order a Schole Journal, contact NRPA; to submit a manuscript, contact Dr. Deb Bialeschki, CB #3185 Evergreen, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3185.

References

Anderson, L.S., Schleien, S.J., & Green, EP, (1993). Educating for social responsibility: The effectiveness and ethics of a community service project with persons with disabilities. Schole:A Journal of Leisure Studies and Recreation Education, 8.

Becker, W.A,, Miko, P.S., & Rubio, S. (1992). Undergraduate park and recreation education: Strategies for recruitment and retention in the 199Ds. Schole: A Journal of Leisure Studies and Recreation Education, 7, 17-23.

Bedini, LA. (1992). Encouraging change in attitudes toward people with disabilities through undergraduate leisure studies and recreation courses. Schole:A Journal of Leisure Studies and Recreation Education, 7, 44-54,

Butts, F.B. (1992). The leisure studies and recreation undergraduate curriculum: Are the academic requirements in tune with the times? Schole: A Journal of Leisure Studies and Recreation Education, 7, 74-80.

Grossman, A.H. (1993). Ten percent of those we teach and they serve: A case study of incorporating gay and lesbian studies into the classroom. Schole: A Journal of Leisure Studies and Recreation Education, 8.

Harper, W., & Hultsman, J. (1993). Whaling away at leisure. Schole:A Journal of Leisure Studies and Recreation Education, 8.

Hemingway, J.L. (1993). Recovering the world: Varieties of philosophical experience, Schole: A Journal of Leisure Studies and Recreation Education, 8.

Kanters, M.A. (1992). Teaching the professor to teach. Schole:A Journal of Leisure Studies and Recreation Education, 7, 55-64,

McLean, D.D., & Hill, J.M. (1993). Supporting internship preparation: A case study in computer-based support. Schole: A Journal of Leisure Studies and Recreation Education, 8.

Norman, A., & McGuire, F.A. (1992). Using collaborative learning in the park and recreation curriculum. Schole:A Journal of Leisure Studies and Recreation Education, 7, 65-73.

Murphy, W.D., & Weissinger, E. (1992). Creativity in the classroom: Promoting fluency, flexibility, and originality in students, Schole: A Journal of Leisure Studies and Recreation Education, 7, 36-43.

Riggins, R.D. (1992). Liberal education and professional studies at the undergraduate level: Still circling Moose Jaw. Schole: A Journal of Leisure Studies and Recreation Education, 7, 5-16.

Rothschadl, A.M., & Russell, R.V. (1992). Improving teaching effectiveness: Addressing modes of learning in the college classroom. Schole: A Journal of Leisure Studies and Recreation Education, 7, 24-35.

Valerius, L., & MacKay, K.J. (1993), A decade of doctoral dissertations in recreation, parks, and leisure studies departments. Schole:A Journal of Leisure Studies and Recreation Education, 8.