Repertoire of practice: Reconceptualizing instructor competency in contemporary adventure education

Abstract

Historically, adventure educators have used the metaphor of hard and soft skills to understand their practice: hard skills representing technical competencies, and soft skills representing interpersonal competencies. In light of current research and in the face of increasingly complex varieties of adventure practice, the categorization of skills into “hard” or “soft” may obscure important aspects of experiential learning and limit the development of an effective pedagogy for adventure education. This paper interrogates the hard/soft metaphor from various perspectives and offers “repertoire of practice” (Wenger, 1998) as a possible framework to further discuss instruction and learning in contemporary adventure education. ‘What we have learned to see something as, becomes in turn, the guide to our outward practical activity’. (Wartofsky, 1979, p. 207)     

The human costs of part-time day release

Four cohorts of unqualified school leavers, starting in part-time day release engineering courses in local technical colleges between 1950 and 1960 were the subjects of four studies during their first three years at college.35% (714) of them replied to a questionnaire sent out in 1966. The enquiry covered their achievement at college, their careers in industry and the relationship between the two. Response rates were biased in favour of the more successful in the early years at college.This paper is concerned with the 110 respondents (17%) who had obtained a Higher National Certificate by 1966. The percentages varied with time from about 40% for those starting in 1950 down to 9% for the 1960 cohort.The evidence presented suggests that despite an inbuilt failure rate on the part-time National Certificate courses some students persisted against the odds for as long as twelve years in order to achieve professional qualifications by this route. This heavy price in terms of human endeavour is contrasted with the cost-benefit analyses of the economists which show that the production of qualified manpower by the HNC route provides higher rates of return to society than full-time University courses.In answer to the question about their plans for the education of their own children 59% of all respondents and 77% of those who had achieved the higher qualification wanted longer schooling, University degree and other full-time courses. It seems unlikely that those who have themselves struggled for years along the cheap, hard way will readily accept economic arguments for the continuation of these conditions for the next generation.

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Résumé Quatre cohortes de sujets ayant quitté l'école sans qualification et ayant entamé une scolarité à temps partiel en technologie dans des petits collèges techniques entre 1950 et 1960 ont fait l'objets d'une recherche portant sur leur trois premières années de scolarité.714 sujets (35%) ont répondu à un questionnaire qui a été administré en 1966. L'enquête portait sur les résultats obtenus au collège, sur la carrière professionelle dans l'industrie et sur les relations entre les deux. Les taux de réponse présentaient un biais correspondant à une surreprésentation des sujets qui avaient eu les meilleurs résultats dans les premières années au collège. L'article traite des 110 répondants (17%) qui avaient obtenu le Certificat national supérieur (Higher National Certificate) en 1966. Le pourcentage variait d'environ 40% pour ceux qui avaient débuté en 1950 à 9% pour la cohorte de 1960.Les faits montrent que, en dépit du taux d'échec aux cours du Certificat national, certains étudiants ont persisté contre vents et marées pendant quelque douze ans dans l'espoir d'acquérir une qualification professionnelle par ce moyen. Le prix ainsi payé, que l'on peut estimer très lourd en termes humains de sacrifices et d'efforts, contraste avec les analyses en termes de coûts et de bénéfices faites par les économistes qui montrent que la production de main-d'oeuvre qualifiée par la voie du Certificat national procure un taux de rétribution pour la société supérieur à celui qui est procuré par l'enseignement universitair à plein temps. en réponse à une question portant sur leurs intentions en ce qui concerne la scolarité de leurs propres enfants, 59% de l'ensemble des répondants et 77% des sujets qui avaient obtenu le plus haut degré de qualification ont déclaré viser une scolarité longue, un diplôme universitaire et un enseignement à plein-temps. Il semble improbable que ceux qui ont dû eux-mêmes lutter pendant de longues années pour avancer sur la voie ardue de la scolarité à bon marché accepteront facilement les arguments économiques que l'on avance pour justifier la prolongation de ces conditions à la génération suivante.

     

Technical Communication and Physical Location: Topoi and Architecture in Computer Classrooms

This essay presents analyses of two of the ten site visits of computer classrooms (CCRs) conducted between 1998 and 2003. The two sites are located institutionally within departments of English of two U.S. university campuses. The two CCRs examined here were: (1) observed on site by the author in 2000 and 2001; (2) analyzed according to a set of criteria established before the on-site analyses; and (3) photographed. In addition, a digital writing-rhetoric and/or technical writing faculty member was interviewed in person during each site visit. The analysis, part of a book-length project, provides partial data for determining some kinds of physical and architectural/design issues that existed in selected CCRs in the early 2000s and in a number of similar digital environments today