Description

The Outdoor Leadership One-Year Certificate of Completion prepares students to enter the outdoor leadership industry workforce immediately upon completion. The outdoor leadership industry often leads to careers in outdoor recreation, outdoor education, wilderness therapy, and tourism and leisure enterprises.

The Outdoor Leadership program is grounded in the principles of lifelong learning, environmental stewardship, personal growth, and leadership. The program emphasizes experiential methodologies to combine theory and practice in a strong, field-based curriculum. Students will develop current and accepted skills and will have comprehensive knowledge and standards. Highly skilled and knowledgeable faculty exemplify the highest level of standards, integrity, and ethics. 

The College offers two related options: Associate of Science with an Outdoor Leadership emphasis designed for transfer to OSU-Cascades; Associate of Arts Oregon Transfer with an emphasis in outdoor leadership.

Program Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of the program, students will be able to:

1. Create active and engaging adventure programming according to experiential pedagogy and professional standards.
2. Design and implement ethical outdoor leadership of diverse groups.
3. Solve risk-management problems to safely conduct adventure-based programming.
4. Model environmental and socially responsible behavior required of outdoor leadership professionals.

Entrance Requirements

Academic Entrance Requirements

While this program has no formal entrance requirements, individual courses may have prerequisites which must be met before enrollment.

Additional Program Costs (Beyond Standard Tuition/Fees and Textbooks)

Material Costs

• Students are responsible for providing much of their own gear and food for expeditions. 

Enrollment Fees

• There is no enrollment fee for this program. Specific courses will have a course fee attached for such items as maintenance of COCC class gear and certification costs. 

Course Requirements

Advising Notes

The Outdoor Leadership (OL) program is a cohort program where students complete courses each term with a single peer group. Before taking OL courses, students should complete as much of their general education requirements as possible.

Students begin introductory/fundamental OL courses courses in Fall term. This is a particularly special time as students attend courses in an outdoor classroom daily for the entire term and complete two five-day expeditions during the term. After Fall term, students complete prescribed courses in Winter and Spring terms. During Winter term, students work on advanced theory and application courses and gain more extensive understanding about the practices of professional outdoor leaders. Students complete another five-day expedition during winter term. In Spring term, students complete advanced skills courses aimed at developing students' practice of professional standards within specific activities.

Completion of the following first term courses (OL 111 Introduction to Outdoor Leadership, OL 263 Wilderness First Responder, OL 255 Outdoor Living Skills, OL 171 Technical Skills for Outdoor Leadership) is required to register for the winter and spring courses (OL 271 Facilitating Group Experiences, OL 273 Outdoor Recreation Leadership, OL 280 Co-op Work Experience-OL) with a grade of C or higher. See advisor for details.

Performance Standards

• Academic Requirements:
  • Students must have a 2.0 cumulative GPA to earn a COCC certificate or degree.
  • All courses in the program must be completed with a grade of C or higher.

Sample Plan