MHC instructor wins provincial innovation award
Jennifer Usher, an Early Learning and Child Care (ELCC) instructor at Medicine Hat College (MHC), is being recognized for her innovative approach to teaching and learning. She will soon receive the ACIFA Innovation in Teaching Award for her creative hands-on approach to teaching.
Usher began her research in outdoor pedagogy in September 2022, exploring the benefits and opportunities for children to interact with nature in all seasons. In Fall 2024, she developed a course which encouraged her class to use nature as their inspiration and a playground for learning.
“It’s a new endeavor that we're trying with our classes and for it to have gone so successfully is really rewarding,” says Usher, who hopes to spread the idea to institutions and programs across Alberta. “I don’t think that taking teaching and learning outdoors has to be just early learning. I think there's other ways that we can share it with other kinds of programs and that is really exciting to think about.”
Physical, cognitive, and social skills are being developed simultaneously as children play outdoors, as they run and climb, use their imaginations, problem solve, and collaborate with others. Usher also believes that being in nature is essential for mental and emotional development, noting that fresh air can enhance mood for children and adults of all ages, including her ELCC students.
“The second-year students we have right now are a little bit of a quieter group in the classroom and the conversation was much easier and much more rich in the outdoor environment,” explains Usher, who recalls the freedom students had to express themselves outside of the classroom. “At the end of the course, we had our own little sharing circle around a campfire and the students shared how much they enjoyed the class and that it was such a great way to start the day.”
As part of the outdoor course, Usher also hosted free play sessions, in which community members could bring their children to interact with her students in Kin Coulee Park. This allowed the students the benefit of practicing the theories of early childhood development.
“Bringing the children in really made a big difference, because they could learn about something and then they could try it out with the children right away. It wasn't like there was this delay between learning about a concept and then maybe you don't get to see that in action until practicum. It’s so important that we're tying the theory to real life and to practice and to children's real experiences.”
Usher hopes to continue to find ways to bring classes outdoors and create a guide for other post-secondary institutions to implement the approach. She will be presented with the Innovation in Teaching Award at the ACIFA Conference in May.
To learn more about the ELCC program, visit www.mhc.ab.ca.