Workshops often leave educators feeling inspired. But does anything actually change in their programs afterward? And which kinds of training are most likely to lead to new ways of working?
All three programs in this study were part of Expanding Capacity in Environmental Education (EECapacity). This five-year effort, funded by the US Environmental Protection Agency, worked across the US, Canada and Mexico. It aimed to build networks where environmental educators could swap ideas and resources with youth development professionals. Youth development professionals run programs that help young people build skills and confidence, sometimes through activities like community gardening. The idea was that mixing these groups would spark new ways of teaching.
The three programs (all ran in 2014):
- Pennsylvania State Consortium: 27 environmental educators and youth development professionals met through face-to-face workshops, monthly webinars and a Facebook group. Its goal was to bring youth development professionals into statewide environmental education leadership.
- Online learning community: 43 educators and community leaders used online resources, webinars and a Facebook group. In small groups, they wrote chapters for a free eBook called Urban Environmental Education.
- Community climate education fellowship: 26 educators attended two multi-day workshops, ran their own climate education projects, and later wrote a shared eBook.
How the study worked. The researchers looked at six parts of each educator's work: goals, audiences, settings, activities, resources and ideas. Before and after the programs, surveys asked educators to tick which goals, audience ages, settings and activities their programs included, so the researchers could count changes. Surveys also asked educators to rate how much each part had changed and to describe changes in their own words. The Pennsylvania group was surveyed only afterward. The researchers also interviewed 12 educators and read the fellows' project reports.
What they found:
- New resources and ideas spread in every program. In all three programs, educators said they were using new resources and ideas from other participants. Resources included lesson materials and people they could now call on for help.
- Other changes followed each program's design.
- Pennsylvania: educators added new goals. Environmental educators added community-building work, and youth development professionals began adding environmental education.
- Online community: educators added new activities, such as using social media with students. Writing their chapters pushed them to look up research, which made them more confident using new ideas. The finished eBook became a source of ideas in its own right.
- Fellowship: educators reached more teens and young adults, used new settings such as community centers, churches and theaters, and added activities like art and media.
- Who and where were hardest to change. Many educators had little control over their audiences or settings, especially those working in schools or nature centers. Some refined or narrowed their programs instead. One educator dropped a goal so her students could take "baby steps" first.
- Groups created new things together. Two programs produced eBooks that anyone can use. The Pennsylvania program became a model for a statewide network linking environmental and youth work. Facebook groups that grew out of the wider effort now have several thousand members who swap resources. The researchers see these shared products as clear signs of new practice.
- Online worked about as well as in person. The researchers saw no clear advantage for face-to-face programs. In the online program, small writing teams formed strong working ties without meeting.
What this means for your practice:
Build sharing into every training. Resources and ideas were the easiest things for educators to take home, in all three programs (finding 1). Make time for people to swap materials, contacts and stories. Give them a place to keep sharing afterward, such as an online group.
Give the group a shared project. Writing a book chapter or carrying out a project helped educators turn ideas into new activities (finding 2). Both eBooks are still used. Consider ending your training with a product the group creates together.
Use online learning with a purpose. If people can't meet in person, put them in small teams working toward a shared goal (finding 5). That structure built strong ties online in this study.
Mix professions. Bringing environmental educators and youth development professionals together led both groups to rethink their goals (finding 2). Invite people from neighboring fields into your training.
Focus on what people can change. Many educators could not choose their audiences or settings (finding 3). Ask early which parts of their work they control, and focus training there, often activities and resources.
Look for change in the group, not just individuals. The researchers suggest that shared products and lasting networks show new practice more clearly than counting individual changes (finding 4). Track what the group creates, as well as what each person changes.
Count refining as progress. Narrowing a program to make it clearer and more doable is also a real change (finding 3). Adding more goals or activities is not always better.
The Bottom Line
The researchers surveyed and interviewed educators from three programs, about 95 people in all, and looked for changes in their goals, audiences, settings, activities, resources and ideas. In all three programs, the clearest change was that educators began using new resources and ideas they picked up from one another. Other changes depended on how each program was designed. Educators changed who they taught and where least often, usually because their schools or employers decided those things. Online learning organized around a shared project worked about as well as meeting in person. For educators, the lesson is that sharing with peers and building something together are strong ways to spark new practice.