Tools for Non-Formal In-Service Providers
by Nan Buckardt, Illinois EE Advancement Consortium
The Environmental Education Advocate - Spring 1998
The following information is provided to you as a service of the National
Environmental Education Advancement Project (NEEAP). We encourage you to use it and
please credit the National Environmental Education
Advancement Project where appropriate.
“This workshop was better than classes that we pay lots of money
for.” A compliment? I say a resounding YES!!!
This is one of the comments that a team from the Illinois Environmental Education
Advancement Consortium (IEEAC) heard while conducting a workshop in Minnesota. The
workshop, Tools for Non-Formal In-Service Providers, was designed in Illinois as a model,
and this experience showed us that we had a workshop that met a definite need.
Tools was developed over the past two years in an effort to strengthen in-service
training by non-formal educators. In Illinois, a major share of environmental
education training is conducted by non-formal educators. Since many
"non-formals" have no formal education background, a gap needed to be bridged in
order to provide the highest quality training.
That’s where the workshop comes in. Hours of planning, preparation and revision produced a model workshop held in a two-day session and a follow-up three months later. Through sessions on pedagogy, educational buzzwords, state learning standards, student assessment, connecting to schools and environmental education resources, participants get tools to improve their in-service trainings and make better connections with the classroom teachers. So far, two workshops have been conducted in IL reaching 60+ educators, and we have been to MN and WI too.
You probably are asking yourself, “How did IEEAC connect with Minnesota”? The original design was done as a NEEAP project (the revision was possible through a grant from the U.S. EPA Region V). Abby Ruskey knew about the project when she and Suzanne Saric (EPA Region V) went to Minnesota to help with that state's Interagency EE Summit. While in Minnesota, they planted the seed about the Tools workshop. Nine months later, the IEEAC team was in St. Paul with 70 people who represent eleven agencies within the state government.
In order to work with MN EE leaders, we easily made adjustments in the workshop. Robert Olson, with the MN Office of Environmental Assistance, worked with us to determine their needs and how to best fill them. During the day-long meeting, we conducted sessions on buzzwords, pedagogy, assessment and EE resources. MN provided presenters on state learning standards and diversity. Because of the number of people attending, some of the sessions were offered concurrently. This was a new twist to our design.
Several weeks later Robert Olson said, “The day was time well spent. People are taking the information they received and now trying to fit it into their own jobs and audiences. Many recognize that they need this information to make their training workshops more complete.”
The success story doesn’t stop there. Wisconsin also asked IEEAC for their expertise. In January, a team from IEEAC presented the workshop to fifteen EE managers in Madison. The workshop was again modified to fit their needs and they provided presenters for two sessions. Kathe Conn, Director of the Aldo Leopold Nature Center in Madison said, “The Tools workshop was very appealing to us because we realized we needed to connect better with teachers. Attending Tools helped me grow professionally and personally. It was just what we needed!” IEEAC also made a presentation at the Midwest EE Conference in October, 1997.
IEEAC is very proud of the model and thrilled that it has been modified to fit a variety of needs. If you would like more information or a Tools summary packet, please contact Nan Buckardt, IEEAC Chair, at (847) 948-7753 x 216 or ryersonwoods@co.lake.il.us.
"Tools" Update From 1998 Spring Leadership Clinic
The versatility of the “Tools” workshop was played out at the 1998 Spring Leadership Clinic in San Diego. The team from IL presented an overview of the workshop to 40 + participants. The two-hour workshop was a "taste" of the sessions as they were originally designed.
As a result, several states realized the potential for the “Tools” model. The Illinois team is now working to provide support and information needed to bring the training to non-formals in other states. Every person who dedicated time and energy to the development of the “Tools” workshop is delighted with the response. It is gratifying to know that what was once a small idea has grown into a product that can improve environmental education in-service training in the broadest sense.
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