Outward Bound Professional:
Case Studies: Lewis and Clark College
Client Background:
Our client, Lewis & Clark College, is a national college with a global reach that prepares students for effective and meaningful participation in public and private life.
Business Situation:
Lewis & Clark's Professional Development and Research Program turned to Outward Bound Professional to help add an experiential component to a three-day conference inspired by Lewis and Clark's expedition. The conference provided a mechanism for school communities to address the daily challenges of resistance to innovation, strained collegial relations, unbalanced leadership, fear of the unfamiliar, and limited educational and emotional resources. Roland Barth, PH.D., educational consultant, and author of "Improving Schools from Within" led the conference
Program Objectives:
The purpose of the Outward Bound Professional custom designed, three-day program was to provide expert consultation and training for the following outcomes:
- Select and design appropriate experiential activities to support conference objectives.
- Create activities that connect specifically to the Lewis and Clark expedition as highlighted in "Undaunted Courage" by Stephen Ambrose.
- Develop multi-level teaching progressions to allow the faculty team delivering the conference to learn the activities for themselves and be able to instruct and lead conference attendees.
- Train and deliver activities to faculty team and supervise program delivery during conference.
Program Outcomes:
The partnership between Lewis & Clark College, Roland Barth and Outward Bound Professional was a great success. Specific outcomes included:
Powerful Experiential Activities:
The custom design and selection of specific activities provided a valuable and thought provoking link between the Lewis and Clark expedition and the conference agenda. The participants learned by doing.
Teambuilding:
The custom activities created the opportunity to get to know each other better in a different context. Attendees within the same school district identified an increased and renewed sense of team cohesion.
Train-The-Trainer:
Through training, the faculty members felt confident in delivering activities to the participants which added value to the entire process.
What the client said:
"When other organizations focused on why we could not do things, Outward Bound focused on making it happen. The value of their services greatly outweighed their costs. We are looking forward to a long-term relationship with Outward Bound. I really appreciate all of the hard work and dedication! It was just what we needed. Thank you for wanting it to be a success."
Sabra Bradshaw, Director Professional Development and Research
