Teaching Recreation Programming Online: “Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable”

Abstract

Teaching an online course was always something I resisted. Like many of the colleagues I have talked to, I was worried that the lack of face-to-face interaction would significantly take away from the quality of the education for the students. With a class like Recreation Programming, I knew that students needed hands-on experience with running a recreation program or event. Recreation Programming classes help students learn the important steps in the programming planning process, and they prepare students for a variety of different careers in the recreation field. The COVID-19 pandemic meant I had to adapt to an online format, and the students were along for the journey. I framed the online format as a positive one in which students would gain experience with virtual program planning that would be extremely useful when they entered the profession. Several valuable lessons were gained from this experience, including the importance of regular communication, getting started on the project early in the semester, and the student-supervisor relationship. As one of Eastern Illinois University’s alumna likes to say, when you start working in parks and recreation you must learn to “get comfortable being uncomfortable.”