University of Cincinnati - College of Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services (CECH)
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Environmental Education Course Offered On-line

On-line instruction is rapidly growing in popularity as a means of professional development and it is being used for increasing numbers of on campus courses as well. A new on-line course entitled ?Fundamentals of Environmental Education? will be offered at the University of Cincinnati this summer.



Professor Linda Plevyak was selected by the Environmental Education Training and Partnership at the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point to receive the environmental education course for use at the University of Cincinnati. Dr. Plevyak?s proposal was one of many received from faculty across the nation who are interested in obtaining the course for use at their institutions. Six faculty members were selected to receive the course and the right to use it. Additional faculty will be selected in 2007. The Environmental Education and Training Partnership (EETAP) is the national environmental education training program for the United States Environmental Protection Agency.



"Fundamentals of Environmental Education" will be available to educators from June 10 to August 17. The course (18-PRFS-623) will be offered via the Internet for three graduate level credits. Enrollment is now open to teachers (formal and nonformal) in Ohio.



According to EETAP Director Rick Wilke, one of the course developers, ?The course should be valuable to current teachers, those training to be teachers, and those who work in settings like nature centers, state and national parks, wildlife refuges, and museums.? The course was offered for the first time in 2003 and educators from 48 states and eight foreign countries have completed the course offered by the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point. EETAP wants the course to be available to more individuals and that is why they are partnering with Dr. Plevyak at the University of Cincinnati to make it available to more individuals in the state of Ohio.



The "Fundamentals of Environmental Education" course was developed in collaboration with national EE experts, using materials produced by organizations such as the North American Association for Environmental Education, World Wildlife Fund, Project Learning Tree, Project WILD and Project WET.



The course will run 10 weeks and begin on June 10 and ending on August 17, 2007.



There are a variety of assignments and readings associated with the course. These include a journal with brief writing assignments, group assignments completed in cooperation with other students via the Internet, individual assignments in conjunction with each unit, and a culminating assignment.



The course is based on the "Guidelines for the Initial Preparation of Environmental Educators" document produced by Dr. Bora Simmons and NAAEE. There are six units in the course, which correspond to the units in the Guidelines document.



According to Dr. Plevyak, ?It will be exciting to work with online students to promote the University of Cincinnati. I look forward to discussing environmental education concepts with nonformal and formal teachers from across Ohio.?



Holly Carson, who took the course recently, says this about her experience: ?I have found a definite direction for the EE I present, and new insights into how I can provide better EE. I think that it's wonderful to have such a class available, and as a distance learning course!?



For more information about the course or enrollment information, please contact Marcia Deddens: Marcia.deddens@uc.edu for registration materials. Please include your name and mailing address.



The development of this course was funded by EETAP, the national training program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Environmental Education established through the National EE Act of 1990. The University of Wisconsin Stevens Point (UWSP) administers EETAP through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.