Applying a Collaborative Disc Golf Tournament to an Outcome-Based Model

Abstract

Finding valuable learning activities for students to both reinforce or teach class material and provide outcomes obtained in real-world experience can prove challenging for instructors. In an attempt to do this, four undergraduate classes (taught by three instructors) in a Department of Recreation Administration worked together to plan, host, and evaluate a special event, the intramural disc golf tournament held each spring by the university's Department of Campus Recreation. Three of the four classes involved—Microcomputers in Leisure Agencies, Research and Evaluation in Leisure Studies, and Administration of Leisure Services—are required for students in the department, and the fourth—Festivals and Special Events—is an elective course offered by the department and taken predominately by Recreation Administration students. The collaboration among the four classes on one event allowed each class to work on the project and integrate it into the course content, ensuring that each had a manageable amount of work to do and could work on components of the project that best related to their course. Furthermore, the collaboration allowed required courses to cover material related to National Recreation and Park Association's changing accreditation standards.