The Challenge Course as a Tool

I once read that, in the opinion of one early outdoor education pioneer, the challenge course--in particular the high challenge course--was the "swiss army knife of outdoor education." That's an interesting notion, but one that is surely open to debate. I agree that, like swiss army knives, challenge courses are used a lot and used for a lot of different things. Sometimes (maybe much like the knife itself) they are used innappropriately OR we assume that they are able to do things that they may or may not be able to do.

Research I have seen, plus my own observations seem to indicate, that putting people on a high course does not necessarily result in the benefits aften ascribed to those kinds of experiences. It is often argued that challenge course experiences build "self esteem" (very debatable), "leadership skills" (doubtful), strengthens teams (maybe) or helps people succeed in real life (maybe with coaching and follow up). I agree that sometimes these experiences can be fun (for some participants but not all) and challenging (also true for some but not all). As most of us know, the outcomes from any experience has to do with a host of factors--some we control and some we don't. Most of us also know that success in any activity has more to do with how it is set up and framed then anything else. I would also argue that, as an activity, challenges courses (high courses in particular) may not always be appropriate, especially if your focus is on building solid collaboration skills. With that said though, we have been experimenting at Manito-wish over the years with ways to use the course as part of collaborative leadership training programs and I have talked to others over the years that are doing similar things. Once again, success has been based on framing and program design rather then the tool itself. Here are some things we are working on:

• Incorporation of the challenge course into other large initiatives. In this concept, necessary resources are located on the course the group needs to find a way to use their skills to retrieve those recources.
• The design of entirely new challenges on the course that incorporate multiple belay teams, additional challenges, etc. Examples include milk crate climbing, the marionette climb and other similar activities.
• The addition of goal setting, action plan and brainstorming session related to the challenge course experience into the program. In this situation the group needs to establish group and individual goals, set up an activity sequence and member roles during those activities and then send representives to a meeting to comprise on a final sequence.

There are many ideas out there that I know others have found successful. I particularly like the approaches Physical Education teacher Arnold Dort is using at Temple University. The idea of adding new challenges to older courses such as the "marionette climb," "milk crate climb," and other multiple belay and belayed problem solving challenges have come from him. There are a lot of possibilties here that need to be explored.

Please e-mail any of your ideas to: mark.zanoni@manito-wish.org

Mark