Abstract
COVID-19 has impacted education on all levels, with many institutions turning to online formats to deal with the global public health crisis. This study aims to carefully consider participatory risk management, given concerns about the specific impact of COVID-19 upon environmental and outdoor education. An environmental and outdoor education expedition-style university-based field course at the Laponia World Heritage Site provided the context for considering environmental and outdoor education’s response to COVID-19. Whether or how risk could be effectively managed in the unique setting during the COVID-19 pandemic was explored using action research methodology. A combination of systematic instructor observation, student–instructor communication, and surveys to student participants provided the data to consider the research question. Outcomes underscore the critical role of participatory risk management in environmental and outdoor education settings and highlight the concept of interdependence in environmental and outdoor education risk management. In addition, the research provides support for the action research idea of practitioners as researchers.
Highlights
In mid-August 2020, amid the COVID-19 global pandemic, a group of 14 university students and one instructor embarked on an environmental and outdoor educational adventure, a field-based course that required ten days of group travel in the mountain region of Swedish Lappland
In a notice dated 25 June 2020, the Outward Bound USA Official Position announced a significant reduction in programming for summer 2020 [7], and National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) reported an 85% reduction in field courses for July and August 2020 in response to COVID-19 risk management [8]
The use of action research methodology allowed for ongoing analysis of the risk management in context
Summary
In mid-August 2020, amid the COVID-19 global pandemic, a group of 14 university students and one instructor embarked on an environmental and outdoor educational adventure, a field-based course that required ten days of group travel in the mountain region of Swedish Lappland. The adventure was the field component of a two-course landscape science program from Kristianstad University. In addition to the content of place, the course is designed to help students use outdoor education methods to develop their environmental communication skills. The course provides several risk management challenges; a group of students with varying backcountry travel experience come together for ten days of hiking and sharing close living conditions in mountain stations and cabins. Even the journey to the course start in Jokkmokk requires extensive travel (up to 20 h on an overnight train)
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