Courtesy : www.aieaworld.org

Eco-tour education

Cooperative education (co-op) at Drexel University dates back to 1919. According to Peter
Franks (2008), Executive Director and Associate Vice Provost of the Steinbright Career
Development Center (SCDC) at Drexel University, “Each year, more than 9,500 Drexel students
are enrolled in co-op programs and this center effectively manages more than 4,000 student
placements into cooperative education work experiences”. While the center had historically
worked with on-campus programs, the center and Masters of Science in Higher Education
Program (MSHE) collaboratively developed a fully online graduate co-op program in spring
2006 for the first MSHE cohort. In support of Drexel’s strong commitment to work-integrated
learning, a conceptual framework was designed for the MSHE online graduate co-op building
upon cooperative education, learning simulation, and online human touch (OHT) instruction and
programming. Additionally, an online master’s defense was developed for MSHE students that
are hosted in Second Life or Horizon Wimba. This model was used to develop the MS in Global
& International Education’s (GIE) Co-Op experience at Drexel University in fall 2007.
The significance of the Co-op experience is to create a bridge between college and industry that
allows students to gain practical training that is formally recognized as part of their college
education. It is important to note that Drexel’s Co-op is based on the research literature of
‘Experiential learning’ or rather a structured learning sequence guided by a cyclical model of
experiential learning. Less contrived forms of experiential learning (including accidental or
unintentional learning) are usually described in more everyday language such as ‘learning from
experience’ or ‘learning through experience’.
As this equation suggests (Experience + Reflection = Growth), and as John Dewey has argued,
we do not actually learn from experience as much as we learn from reflecting on experience.
Reflective thinking means “turning a subject over in the mind and giving it serious and
consecutive consideration.” Dewey insists that reflective thinking frees us from mere
“impulsive” and “routine activity.” “It enables us to act in deliberate and intentional fashion” to
achieve what we need. This type of reflection is at the heart of GIE’s International Co-Op
Experience.
Additionally, those who do not reflect on their experiences instead rely on routine behavior and
are guided more by impulse, tradition, and authority. They simplify their lives by uncritically
accepting everyday reality. They can then concentrate their efforts on finding the most effective
and efficient means to achieve ends and to solve problems that have largely been defined for
them by others. In contrast, reflective practitioners actively, persistently, and carefully consider
and reconsider beliefs and practices in light of the ground that support them and the further
consequences to which they lead.
In the GIE international Co-Op field experience, reflective thinking allows participants to act in
deliberate and intentional ways, devise new ways of acting rather than being a slave to tradition,
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and interpret new experiences from a fresh perspective. Reflection with no experience is sterile
and generally leads to unworkable conclusions. Experience with no reflection is shallow and at
best leads to superficial knowledge. If one merely “does” her field experience without thinking
deeply about it, if she merely allows the experiences to wash over her without savoring and
examining it for significance, then growth will be greatly limited. The logs or journals written
and kept…the questions participants try to answer and other activities in which they engage are
all merely tools to facilitate reflecting thinking about the Co-Op field experience.
Ecotourism: What is it?
No accepted definition of ecotourism exists (Black, 2007; Luck, 2003; Patterson, 2007). The
definition depends on whom you talk to. Tour group operators, government officials, business
owners, and conservationists have spent a great deal of time trying to agree on a common
definition, but have failed to do so. Some people feel that nature tourism, adventure tourism,
cultural tourism, educational tourism, and historical tourism are all parts of ecotourism; others
believe that ecotourism is a separate category by itself (Patterson, 2007).
For the purposes of this presentation, ecotourism is conceptualized as a form of development that
respects tradition and culture, protects and preserves the environment, educates and welcomes
visitors and is economically sustainable over the long-term. What is important is that ecotourism
operations are defined by their commitment to the environment, culture, nature, and education.
Additionally, according to many scholars (Black, 2007; Boo, 1990; Brandon and Wells, 1992;
Stem et al, 2003; West and Brechin, 1991; Wunder, 2000), ecotourism involves a two-fold
developmental goal: environmental conservation and local people benefits. The objectives of
ecotourism are to provide a nature-based, environmental education experience for visitors and to
manage this in a sustainable fashion. As forests become logged, as streams become polluted, and
as other signs of human activity become ubiquitous, the requirements of a true ecotourism
experience are increasingly difficult to fulfill. To compensate for the invasion of human
disturbance, ecotourism has promoted the educational aspects of the experience. Examples
include opportunities to work with researchers to collect field data in a remote area (e.g.,
Earthwatch) or travel with a naturalist to learn the secrets of a tropical rain forest (e.g.,
Smithsonian Institution travel trips). Environmental education serves to provide information
about the natural history and culture of a site; it also promotes a conservation ethic that may
infuse tourists with stronger pro-environmental attitudes (Black, 2007, Lowman, 2004).
Ecotourism and Education
The relationship between ecotourism and education is one which is concerned with ensuring that
agencies deliver effective interpretations of environmental, cultural and resource management
values. Education in this context is more than just a one-way transfer of information. It is about
explanation, stimulation, provocation, revelation and understanding in a manner that personally
involves the ecotourist in an interesting and enjoyable fashion. This is challenging, even in face
to face situations, but particularly so when operators have to rely on non-personal techniques like
signage and brochures. However, this is the challenge of interpretation, and a key goal for
ecotourism, i.e., to enhance people’s attitudes and actions towards their environment. In many
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instances this is the major contribution of ecotourism, by exposing a wider cross-section of the
community to the need to value and protect their natural and cultural areas, resources and
heritage.
Ecotourism offers a great opportunity for education as well as professional and personal growth.
It can help instill values in participants that will lead to serious involvement in environmental
and social issues in the future. Activities can be fun and educational in the present, while
building a foundation for responsible travel and tourism in the future (Black, 2007).
In essence, the international dimension of ecotourism as an educational experience is the creation
of a new window from which to view the world and one’s self. It’s an opportunity to show the
growth and development of various learning experiences and indepthly explore another
country/culture and self-define by questioning one’s pre-conceived values, while going beyond
one’s self perceived limitations.
The Site: The Condor Lodge Conservatory
Located in Apurimac Canyon, Perú, the world’s third largest/deepest canyon and about four
hours from the former Inca capital city of Cusco, the Condor Lodge Conservatory is settled in a
natural environment, facing the community of Antilla (30 kilometers away) and surrounded on
all sides by an “eco-farm,” with horses, cows, mules and chickens. The Conservatory, still in its
first phase of development, is currently composed of one lodge constructed in eucalyptol wood
and adobe and has a total capacity of twelve guests. One central lodge serves as restaurant and
lounge. Since the Conservatory minimizes energy consumption, the illumination for guests is
provided by an electrical generator that functions between the hours of 6 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. As
of yet, there is no internet or TV cable connection, but there are future plans for having these.
Water for hot showers is provided by a propane gas heater.
The community of Antilla is 12,096 feet above sea level in the Peruvian Andes. The community
is an annexation of the district of Curahuasi, which represents one of the nine districts of the
province of Abancay in the Apurimac region of Perú. Antilla counts about 2,000 rural inhabitants
who are mainly speakers of Quechua; only a few speak Spanish. Most of the small adobe homes
have dirt floors, no running water, and no in-door bathrooms. Many families share sleeping
space with dozens of cuyi (guinea pigs), which scamper underfoot before becoming the family’s
meal. Additionally, the community is surrounded by several gold mines. Carlos Javier Alfaro,
founder and director of the Condor Lodge Conservatory, pointed out his preoccupation of the
impact of the mining for the mission and goals of the Condor Lodge (Interview with Urias, July,
2008). He explained that the Peruvian economy, heavily dependent upon exports of naturally
occurring resources, must ensure that the use of the mining sector, as a major source of foreign
exchange and industrial growth, is sustainable and does not lead to exploitation and degradation
of the environment or people. The mining industry has been unregulated for decades and there
are some questions as to where the liability lies for past environmental abuses, and what plans
will be put in place to ensure future behavior as responsible and not environmentally damaging.
Alfaro expressed his willingness to be eventually part of the assurance of these plans.
The Conservatory, established in 2006, has been at the forefront of ecotourism efforts in the
region, creating strong networks with local tourist agencies and international tourists, and
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planning small-group tourist visits aimed at creating a harmonic relationship with the
environment. Since its inception, the Conservatory has hosted several tourists from Europe, the
U.S., and Australia, but has received only one student-teacher group from the U.S. during the
summer of 2008 to foster an appreciation of and knowledge about ecotourism practices. Specific
goals of the program included:
• Examining the history, biogeography, ecological diversity, and related social and cultural
contexts of Perú;
• Increase appreciation and understanding of the culture and the people of Perú and their
relationship to the land;
• Identify the impacts of human actions on the natural systems, and human responses to
those changes, using the case of Perú;
• Develop an understanding of ecological education practices, integrated natural resource
management, and conservation actions throughout Perú;
• Address relationships between human societies and their natural environments from
multiple disciplinary perspectives;
• Develop a complex, multi-faceted and holistic view of human – environment
connections that cross traditional disciplinary boundaries;
• Examine impacts of local decisions in a regional context; and
• Assist in the preservation of rare landscape elements and associated species; specifically,
the Andean condor.
A Student’s Experience
I am very excited and grateful today to share with you a unique and productive learning
experience that has impacted both my personal and professional growth. Through my Drexel coop experience in the summer of 2008 I had the chance not only to analyze the field of ecotourism
and to understand its main concepts but it was also an opportunity of constant reflection of my
own experience, a reflection that started at the Condor Lodge Conservatory and continues still at
the present moment shaping the view of myself in the community where I live and in the world.
Let me start first with describing the site of where the co-op took place.
The Conservatory, as previously mentioned, is still in its first phase of development and is
composed of one lodge constructed in eucalyptol wood and adobe with a total capacity of twelve
guests. One central lodge serves as restaurant and lounge. Since the Conservatory minimizes
energy consumption, the illumination for guests is provided by an electrical generator that
functions between the hours of 6 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. As of yet, there is no internet or TV cable
connection, but there are future plans for having these. Water for hot showers is provided by a
propane gas heater.