Humak University of Applied Sciences

Team Iceland goes Canoeing with Humak – authentic learning experience in EOE Finland

Author: Jussi Hynninen, Master of Sport Sciences, Adventure Education Senior Lecturer. Humak University of Applied Sciences, 19.12.2023

Can you paddle in Iceland? Yes, for sure! The whole country is surrounded by water and it is very popular adventurous outdoor activity there. But can you canoe in Iceland? Not really. What, why? ” It’s so windy all the time and there’s basically no suitable lakes in Iceland. An open canoe- type vessel is impractical thing for us. But it was GREAT!” said one Outdoor Educator from Iceland when participating a canoe workshop in EOE- conference in Finland. The workshop was organized by two Adventure and Outdoor education -students and me as an Adventure and Outdoor Education Lecturer from Humak.

Picture 1. Ten canoes together on water as a raft in Canoe workshop EOE Metsäkartano Finland.
Picture 1. Ten canoes together on water as a raft in Canoe workshop EOE Metsäkartano Finland.

Humak in EOE 2023

The European Institute for Outdoor Adventure Education and Experiential Learning (EOE) was founded 1996 in Spital (Austria) by people from the academic, social and youth work fields who wanted to bring together outdoor professionals and researchers from different European countries. EOE is a non-governmental association registered in Marburg, Germany (EOE Network 2023). EOE conference is organized every year in one European country and year 2023 it was held at Metsäkartano Youth Center in Finland (Nuorisokeskus Metsäkartano 2023).

HUMAK students of Adventure and Outdoor Education (AdEd) were strongly involved in EOE activities this year as they organized the conference together with the Metsäkartano Youth Center Organizing the course was a way to fulfil the course Coaching based approach that belong to the curriculum of AdEd. This course is coached by the Lecturer Jussi Muittari. Since EOE is the most important Outdoor Education and experiential learning Conference in Europe Humak gives every year the opportunity for the students to join as a study trip.

Outdoor Educator from Iceland climbing on top of the boxes with the flag of Iceland in his/her hand.
Picture 2. Adventure education students organizing box climbing in EOE Metsäkartano.

Humak AdEd-staff was also widely present at the Conference in Metsäkartano. AdEd -Lecturer Eeva Mäkelä had a privilege to give a keynote speech with a timely topic of ”Resilience – Adventure Educator’s Future Competence in a Changing World” as the opening presentation for the Conference. Already mentioned canoe-workshop wasn’t the only outdoor activity workshop held by Humak at the conference. AdEd -Lecturer Miia Riihimäki had not one but actually two workshops which were ”Fight-Flight Response and Emotion Regulation” together with Kaisa Pietilä and ”Building a sustainable world – keeping hope alive and learning new professional skills through bilingual experiential education” together with Humak Lecturer Eeva Pekanheimo.

Woman giving a speech in classroom full of people.
Picture 3. Humak Adventure Education Lecturer Eeva Mäkelä giving a keynote speech in the gym hall about resilience.

 

Adventure – Uncertainty and authenticity

What is adventure for different people? According to Beames & Brown element of uncertainty represents a cornerstone of adventurous learning and authenticity involves linking participant’s present learning to their past experiences (Beames & Brown 2016; 50, 74). For the Outdoor Educator from Iceland, paddling with a canoe on a dead calm lake in Finland was a real adventure that brought a huge smile on her face. At the same time the ”Captain” of her Canoe, a qualified canoe trainer from England, had a different adventure. He was actually paddling half of the work shop backwards while sharing his canoe skills knowledge with the Icelander. Workshop was planned to give the participants a nature experience and adventure with the canoes and at the same time bring different nationalities together and to interact with each other. I have a strong feeling that goals were achieved. Maybe one day EOE conference will be organized in Iceland and I’ll have a chance to try out if the story for the canoe to be impractical there is actually true and I’ll have my own authentic adventure.

 

References

Beames Simon & Brown Mike 2016. Adventurous learning: a pedagogy for a changing world. Routledge.

EOE Network 2023. European Institute for Outdoor Adventure Education and Experiential Learning. Viitattu 11.12.2023. https://www.eoe-network.eu/

Nuorisokeskus Metsäkartano 2023. Viitattu 11.12.2023. https://www.metsakartano.com