Tom G. Potter

Lakehead University · School of Outdoor Recreation, Parks and Tourism

This article explores the influential role of planning on recognition-primed decision-making. Considerable prior thinking occurs and there is a need to trace and account for the cognitive processes that precede and guide decisions in dynamic outdoor environments. Seven expert leaders from four countries were interviewed about memorable decisions ma...

This article critically explores ‘if’ and ‘how’ outdoor education (OE) is a discipline. This exploration stems from our experiences that OE is often undervalued, and from the belief that if OE is considered a discipline, then it would have greater acceptance, enhanced academic standing, importance, resourcing and prestige. Our analysis is rooted in...

This research examined the decisions that highly experienced outdoor leaders made on backpacking expeditions conducted by a tertiary institution in the Southern Alps of New Zealand. The purpose of the research was to document decision problems and explore them as Recognition-Primed Decisions (RPD) within naturalistic decision making (NDM) contexts....

Outdoor education is often undervalued. As such, we believe there is merit in critiquing the field and focusing more attention on its value and importance. This paper seeks to offer a critical exploration of ‘if’ and ‘how’ outdoor education is a discipline. The paper begins with a brief overview of the literature that seeks to define a ‘discipline’...

Objective: Fifteen-passenger vans (15-PVs) are a convenient and economical way to transport small groups of people and many educational, community, and health organizations utilize them. Given recent tragic crashes involving 15-PVs, many organizations are reconsidering their use. The goal of this study was to examine driver, vehicle, and crash cha...

In the light of recent challenges facing the field of outdoor adventure education in higher education, this exploratory study sought to identify some of the underlying political and institutional factors and societal influences on an international level that have led to the success of some programmes and the closure of others. Thirty-eight outdoor...

Four teachers share the challenges they faced when creating and running outdoor-focused secondary school integrated programs in British Columbia, Canada. The five most common challenges were funding constraints, insufficient support from administrators and colleagues, time constraints, liability and risk management, and inadequate skills and qualif...

We provide an analysis of refereed papers published in the Australian Journal of Outdoor Education, the Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning, and the Journal of Experiential Education over the last decade. We developed a framework to classify the papers in terms of the authors' affiliations, the type of papers published, the context...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the link between sustainability education and outdoor education and to encourage outdoor recreation educators to evaluate their programs with regard to sustainability and sustainable living. Design/methodology/approach – This paper starts by presenting several factors that currently hinder the deli...

The outdoor education experience continues to be influenced by a proliferation of modern technological innovations, most of which have been accepted and even embraced by educators with little inquiry. Seldom do instructors of outdoor programmes consider the impact that modern techniques and equipment can have upon students' learning. This paper arg...

Canada is the second largest country in the world by area. With its diverse geophysical features and relatively small population density it is a mecca for outdoor enthusiasts of all types. In the Canadian outdoor adventure education field there is an awakened acknowledgement of the centrality of Native peoples that pervades its practice today. Ther...

Adventure education has its own set of unique questions that help to define what it is and how it differs from other fields of education. Adventure education has grown rapidly over the past several decades, and with its evolution, many critical topics for deliberation have emerged. This book contains 15 chapters, each arranged in a debate format wh...

Four canoeists who had completed four or more solo canoe expeditions of two weeks or longer were interviewed to understand their solitary wilderness experiences. Discussions of their motivations and experiences illustrate the opportunities that wilderness solitude provides for connection with nature, reflection on one's life, self-exploration, and...

This paper explores some aspects of building and fostering strong group dynamics to enhance expedition behavior and ultimately, successful wilderness group experiences. It attempts to reflect the needs of both large-scale expeditions and educational and camp groups traveling through wilderness, and includes various activities to allow for direct le...

This report discusses key components of the Wilderness Personal Growth Model that was designed to help practitioners attain maximum benefits through short-term wilderness programs accommodating large groups of students. The first component involves the successful transition of the students from their known and accepted everyday-life reality to the...