Optimizing your Environmental Education Program, and Moving Learners to Action

Monday November 15th, 12pm.
 to Thursday November 18th, 1:00 p.m.
Sanctum Retreat Centre, Caroline, Alberta

Thanks to the twelve organizations who applied this year - we'll let you know in late July if your application was successful.  The application process is now closed.

Please note:

• The Leadership Clinic is fully funded for all team participants upon successful application and acceptance into the clinic.

• The clinic will be facilitated by Nan Buckardt, who has run all of ACEE’s previous clinics.  She chairs the Leadership Clinic Planning Committee that will review all applications and select successful teams

• Your team doesn't have to all be from your own organization - in fact, it might well be a stronger team if it includes key partners, education 'clients,' etc.

THANKS  to the Calgary Foundation and Alberta Ecotrust Foundation for their support of the leadership clinic.

View video testimonials by clicking on the picture below! 

To learn about our 2008 and 2009 clinic, click here and  here.

What is a leadership clinic?

Welcome to Alberta‘s third annual Leadership Clinic, a transformative learning opportunity open to all groups that deliver environmental education in Alberta! This leadership clinic is so named because it gives teams the skills and plans they need to become leaders in their field.  It has the following characteristics:

• Developed specifically to build environmental education capacity
• Attended by a diverse team that comes from each organization
• Team-oriented and results-oriented, and designed to help teams improve their performance
• Teams identify a goal before the clinic, and commit to implementing that plan post-clinic

• Gives you time to plan. Around 40% of your time at the clinic is dedicated to helping your team create an action plan to accomplish your goal
• The goal that is set by each team must somehow contribute to more effective performance in the area of responsible environmental behaviour... we want to see more action by more engaged learners as a result of this clinic.
• The days are spent in individual team planning sessions, professional development sessions, and large group processes and plenaries.

Who sets the agenda?

You do. This event is participant-driven: team members help design the agenda to ensure it meets their needs. Here are a few examples of professional development sessions that might appear, depending on your stated needs:

• summary of the latest research
• how your organization should respond to tough economic times
  
• how to ensure well-informed and developmentally appropriate action by learners
  
• effective program design and evaluation
• organizational development

We are pleased to provide a sample agenda from previous leadership clinics, to let you see generally how these events are structured:

• download agenda from last year's Alberta Leadership Clinic

 Desired Outcomes

The Clinic Planning Team has identified the following desired outcomes for this clinic:

1. Help teams identify and implement an action plan that delivers on their goal
2. Enable teams to deliver programs that more effectively engage learners in responsible environmental behaviour
3. Provide organizations and individuals with relevant training
4. Provide a growing network of leaders in environmental education with opportunities to exchange information and ideas
5. Measure the success of the clinic through participant feedback and programs evaluations conducted by each organization

Who should apply

The planning team will consider applications from all groups that deliver environmental education in Alberta to formal, non-formal, and informal audiences. An incomplete list of examples:

• A school board striving to implement more environmental education in its schools and classrooms
• A government agency with an education branch dedicated to helping citizens practice some kind of environmental citizenship
• A provincial non-governmental group that delivers conservation education programs in a protected area
• A national group with a significant staff and programs in Alberta
• A high-potential regional or topical network of environmental education players

Please note that groups that attended the 2008 Clinic may re-apply to the clinic, but should recognize that the Planning Team’s emphasis will be on encouraging new teams to attend the clinic.

Who should be on your team?

• decision-makers within - and/or external to - your organization
  
• staff involved in program delivery
• representative from your target audience

What teams receive

• Registration and clinic attendance
• 3 nights board and lodge at Sanctum Retreat Centre in Caroline, Alberta
• The opportunity to set a goal to optimize part of their program, create an action plan, and document their success in delivering on their action plan.
• access to pre-clinic training during Fall 2010, and post-clinic support in 2011
  

What teams must commit to

Each team must....

• obtain a commitment from ALL of its team members to attend the entire clinic
• support all travel costs to attend the clinic
• create an action plan to accomplish its pre-identified goal
• commit to implementing the action plan post-clinic
• evaluate the effectiveness of their action plan

Selection Criteria

The planning team will be selected based on how well they meet the following criteria:

• have a clear, measurable, and realistic goal(s)
• show how accomplishing this goal will improve their ability to engage learners in responsible environmental behaviour
• explain how their team‘s diversity (cultural, professional, geographic, etc) positions the team for success in their planning and implementation
• demonstrate that their organization is well positioned to make the most of the clinic
•  the organization is a high-potential group that can create significant impact with its work

Timelines

Please take note of the following dates:

• Application process begins	April 2010
  Application deadline	25 June
  Teams selected	11 August
  Participant Input Survey	August 11-31
  Draft Agenda circulated	13 September
  Deadline to book accommodation	15 September
  Leadership Clinic	15 - 18 November
  Post-clinic interviews with Team Liaisons	mid-February 2011
  Post-clinic teleconference and celebration	August 2010

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  Past Leadership Clinics:

• Based on participant feedback, we believe that our 2009 Leadership Clinic created some long-lasting and positive changes! To see what we did last year, and appreciate the diversity of teams that can benefit from this experience and access on-line resources used by groups, please click here.  To view testimonials, click here, and photos click here.
  

Application Form:

Download the 2010 Application form.

Thanks to the Calgary Foundation and the Alberta Ecotrust Foundation for their support of this event.  View sponsors of other ACEE programs.

If you have questions regarding the 2010 Leadership Clinic, please contact Julia Lynx at Julia@abcee.org. 

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 Lodging and Meals

Each Leadership Clinic Team participant:

• Will have their own room
• can access one of the two hot tubs!
  
• Will enjoy hearty meals made in house
• Will have the chance for some time to explore the natural beauty of the retreat centre landscape
• Please visit the Sanctum Retreat Site for more information