PER's roots are in the woods and on the water.  It's where we came from.  Under the mantra of "remember who you are," it is likely we will continue to deliver many of our core courses in the context of wilderness environments.  At the same time, it is important to understand that the wilderness is a delivery context, not an end in and of itself.  It is an effective laboratory within which students conceptualize, test and integrate both learning and leadership skills into their lives.

PER's wilderness courses are delivered in a blended experience-based format.  Students receive content instruction prior to the wilderness experience, either in the PER Online Learning Center, in and on-campus classroom or in a one-day module format immediately prior to the event.  Students then participate a facilitated multi-level wilderness experience designed to aid in conceptualizing and testing learning objectives in a palpable way.  The post-trip integration project gives the student the opportunity to apply their learning in a way that directly integrates it into their world to meet an immediate need. 

Traditionally, "experience-based" or "experiential" learning has referred to courses delivered in a wilderness or outdoor environment.  In higher education, the term experiential education still refers primarily to courses delivered in an outdoor context.  Most of these courses are oriented toward sociological degree concentrations (i.e. therapeutic recreation) or toward skills necessary to function in the outdoors.  Many are broadly defined as leadership courses.  In fact, there are several schools that use the outdoors to deliver their freshman orientation courses (i.e. West Virginia University).  In any case, there is broad recognition in higher education of the outdoors as a valuable delivery method of course content.

Several of PER's learning and leadership courses are available either in the context of W.I.L.D. or stand-alone wilderness experiences delivered specifically for students of our partner schools.  Most school courses are delivered either in Algonquin Provincial Park (Ontario, Canada) in the early Fall or on the Appalachian Trail in the Spring.  On occasion, PER contracts with colleges and universities to deliver customized wilderness-based courses in other locations.

The following PER courses are available in one or more wilderness contexts:

Undergraduate

• WILD101 Introduction to Accelerated Learning
• WILD301 Wilderness Leadership

Graduate

• WILD601 Leading in Active Learning Environments

Post-Graduate

• WILD801 Developing Leadership Within the Organization