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Title: Comparing and contrasting associations that pertain to adventure education and outdoor pursuits


1
Comparing and contrasting associations that
pertain to adventure education and outdoor
pursuits
  • Geoff Wright
  • ESS 777

2
  • When getting involved in a specific outdoor
    activity, whether it is to teach a certain skill
    or enhance your own outdoor experience, there are
    many different associations that offer various
    accreditations.
  • The question is
  • Which association best fits my needs?

3
  • The purpose of this synthesis is to provide
    highlights of each association and quick
    comparisons between different associations that
    relate to the same specific activity.
  • This will help guide participants to which
    association is suitable for their own specific
    needs.

4
  • These activities that represent the associations
    being presented are
  • Kayaking and canoeing
  • Scuba diving
  • Ropes course building, maintenance and
    programming
  • Mountaineering, rock climbing and outdoor
    leadership
  • Wilderness medicine
  • Mountain biking
  • Activities and corresponding associations are
    presented in this order

5
  • Kayaking and Canoeing

6
  • American Canoe Association (ACA)
  • The ACA is a not for profit organization that
    provides education on matters related to
    paddling, supporting stewardship of the paddling
    environment, and enabling programs and events to
    support paddle sport recreation.
  • Founded in 1880, this association has been
    existence for over 125 years.
  • In 2005 the ACA had over 50,000 members in their
    organization.

7
  • Highlights if the ACA
  • The ACA is well known and respected credential
    program
  • They have extensive certifications in for all
    levels of paddlers in all types of boats and
    different boating environments.
  • The publications of assessments and materials a
    strong point for why their credentials are
    respected.
  • The ACA helps set boating regulations for the
    United States Coast Guard.
  • They have other publications such as Paddler
    magazine (six issues/year), Paddle Dealer (four
    issues/year) and Kayak Magazine (two
    issues/year).

8
  • Paddlesports Industry Association (PIA)
  • The PIA nonprofit trade industry that is focused
    on increasing business in the paddlesports field.
  • The PIA does not offer certification for people
    to learn how to boat, they are in affiliation
    with the American Canoe Association (ACA) for all
    of their training needs.
  • The PIA is comprised of over 1,300 companies that
    rent boats, outfit and/or guide trips, and retail
    and manufacture equipment and accessories.

9
  • Highlights of the PIA
  • Buisness members of the PIA get special
    discounted services on banking advice and
    information, business computer software, shipping
    discounts, and insurance discounts.
  • Business members of the PIA receive free
    membership to the American Canoe Association
    (ACA).

10
  • ACA or the PIA?
  • If your focus is teaching or learning how to
    paddle the ACA is the best company available.
  • The PIA would be a good association to be a part
    of if you owned or operated a paddling company.

11
Scuba diving
12
  • National Association of Underwater Instructors
    (NAUI)
  • NAUI is a nonprofit corporation that focuses on
    educating the community about scuba diving.
  • They are involved in teaching the United States
    Navy SEAL Teams as well as helping NASAs
    Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory where astronauts
    train for their space walks.
  • NAUI offers over 30 courses that range from skin
    diving to very technical dives such as ice dives
    and dives using alternate air recourses like
    helium and nitrogen mixes.

13
  • Highlights of NAUI
  • NAUI offers the more technical courses than any
    other association.
  • NAUI has involvement with the United States Navy
    SEAL Teams and NASAs Neutral Buoyancy
    Laboratory.
  • NAUI is a nonprofit association. Therefore, the
    business decisions that NAUI makes are probably
    not based as much around money as they would be
    if NAUI were a traditional business.

14
  • Professional Association of Diving Instructors
    (PADI)
  • PADI started as a way to make it easier for the
    average person to get into the sport of scuba
    diving.
  • Today over 900,000 people across the world are
    certified through one of PADIs courses.
  • PADI offers over 25 different courses that range
    from general beginner courses to specific courses
    such as night or wreck diving.
  • Many PADI courses can be used as College school
    credit.

15
  • Highlights of PADI
  • Has more members than any other association in
    the diving industry.
  • More recognized by dive shops around the world
    than any other diving association.
  • PADI offers over 15 courses that meet the
    American Council on Education requirements and
    can be counted as college credit.

16
  • PADI or NAUI?
  • If you are looking to dive for pleasure or teach
    a general scuba diving class you probably will
    end up going through PADI. This is merely because
    they are the dominant association in the scuba
    field.
  • Education wise there is not a big difference in
    the curriculum between NAUI and PADI so the basic
    educational aspect and experiences should be the
    same.
  • PADI is more widely known so if you wanted to
    travel and dive other places the PADI
    certification would be a better option because it
    is excepted in more places.

17
  • The NAUI certification would be a better option
    if you were interested in United States Navy SEAL
    Teams or the NASAs Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory.
  • NAUI would also be a better fit if you were
    interested in very specified dives such as ice
    dives or dives using alternate air recourses like
    helium and nitrogen mixes.

18
  • Ropes course building, maintenance and
    programming

19
  • The Association of Challenge Course Technology
    (ACCT)
  • The purpose of this association is to promote the
    use of Challenge Courses and to set minimum
    standards for Challenge Course installation,
    operation and inspection.
  • ACCT has over 1500 members and 37 different
    vendors (People who build ropes courses).
  • They are associated with building over 75 of the
    challenge courses in the United States.
  • ACCT provides certifications to individuals that
    are involved in running challenge courses.

20
  • Highlights of the ACCT
  • ACCT revised and published their 6th edition of
    their standards for the installation, inspection,
    ethics, and operations for challenge courses
  • This was with the help and supervision of the
    American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
  • The ACCT is the only association at this time
    that provides certifications to individuals that
    are involved in running challenge courses.

21
  • Professional Ropes Course Association (PRCA)
  • The primary goals of the PRCA is to produce and
    manage ropes challenge course and zip line /
    canopy tour standards, be a advocate for the
    development of the ropes challenge course
    industry.
  • The PRCA is an Accredited Standards Developer
    through the American National Standards
    Institute.
  • Together PRCA members have logged over 1 million
    participant days as well as been responsible for
    building hundreds of ropes courses.

22
  • Highlights of the PRCA
  • The PRCA is the only Accredited Standards
    Developer in the industry that is recognized by
    the American National Standards Institute.
  • The PRCA is a non-profit association.
  • The difference between a nonprofit association
    and a trade association (like the ACCT),
    according to the PRCA, is that a trade
    association governs practices for the economic or
    material gain of its trade members.

23
  • The ACCT or the PRCA?
  • At this time the ACCT is more experienced and has
    a better instructor training program.
  • The ACC has more vendors to chose from.
  • The PRCA is the only Accredited Standards
    Developer which I cant decipher why that makes a
    huge difference now, but it could in the future.
  • The PRCA will soon have the only instructor
    certification that is offered directly through
    the association itself and not a private vendor.
  • I think this set up is better because vendors can
    charge what ever they want.
  • Also, even though the vendors are teaching off
    the same ACCT standards, there is more of a
    chance that the material presented in different
    certification classes could very with what the
    vendor thinks is important and not what the
    association deems as valid teaching material.

24
  • Mountaineering and rock climbing

25
  • American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA)
  • In 1979, 12 professional guides decided to found
    the AMGA to formalize an organization that
    represents the greater guiding community in the
    United States.
  • AMGA is a representative to the 21-member
    International Federation of Mountain Guides
    Association (IFMGA)
  • The AMGA offers different levels of
    certifications in the disciplines of rock
    climbing wall guide, alpine guide, and ski
    mountaineering guide.
  • The AMGA has a very detailed certification
    process.
  • To complete just one discipline, such as becoming
    a certified alpine guide consists of taking 4
    prerequisite programs that each consist of about
    2,000 dollars and 5 to 12 days.

26
  • Highlights of the AMGA
  • AMGA is the only association in the US that is
    associated with the International Federation of
    Mountain Guides Association (IFMGA).
  • They use the IFMGA standards for all of their
    certification programs.
  • The AMGA has detailed certification programs that
    are very respected with in the industry.
  • The AMGA is the oldest association in the United
    States.

27
  • Professional Climbing Instructors' Associations
    (PCIA)
  • The PCIA is a non-profit organization focused on
    providing quality education and instruction for
    new and existing climbing instructors who
    primarily teach basic skills and/or facilitate
    climbing experiences.
  • The PCIA offers four different certifications
    the Climbing Wall Instructor Course, a Base
    Managed Instructor Course, a Top Managed Climbing
    Instructor Module and a Single Pitch Climbing
    Instructor Module.

28
  • Highlights of the PCIA
  • The PCIA is the sole accreditation program in the
    United States that requires formal examination
    and certification of all the accredited
    organization's lead instructors.
  • This means that guiding companies, schools, and
    other programs that become a part of the PCIA
    have to send at least one of their members
    through a PCIA training course.

29
  • The Wilderness Education Associations (WEA)
  • The mission of the WEA is to promote the
    professionalism of outdoor leadership through
    establishment of national standards, curriculum
    design, implementation, advocacy, and research
    driven initiatives.
  • The WEA offers a certification called the Outdoor
    Leadership Certification (OLC).
  • The OLC consists of 21- 28 days and nights in the
    field. The content of the class is based around
    their own curriculum which is an 18 point program
    that dissects different key components that are
    important in outdoor leadership.
  • The OLC is based on standards from other programs
    such as Leave No Trace and the Wilderness
    Medicine Institute.

30
  • The WEA or the AMGA?
  • The Alpine Guide certification offered by the
    AMGA is a more technical certification than
    anything that the WEA offers.
  • The WEA curriculum consists of an 18 point
    curriculum that offers basic survival skills, but
    their curriculum has more content about
    environmental ethics and communication skills
    than the AMGA curriculum offers .

31
  • The AMGA or the PCIA?
  • The AMGA has been the leading company in the
    field of training guides in the United States for
    the last 25 years.
  • With their affiliation to the IFMGA, which is
    well known world wide has developed written
    standards, the AMGA dominates the United States
    guiding field.
  • The PCIA is a very new company that is separating
    itself from the AMGA by focusing on how they
    award accreditation to organizations that want to
    be accreditation members.
  • Something to keep in mind, if there is a guide
    company or a school that is a member of the AMGA,
    that doesn't necessarily mean that anyone in that
    organization has gone through any AMGA training.
  • However, If a guiding company of school is PCIA
    certified that means that someone in that
    organization has been formally trained through
    one of the PCIA programs.

32
Wilderness Medicine
33
  • The Wilderness Medicine Institute (WMI)
  • The WMI is an association that since 1990 has
    been offering a range of course and certification
    opportunities that focus on wilderness medicine
    training.
  • In 1999, WMI was purchased by the National
    Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) and officially
    changed its name to WMI of NOLS.
  • The most popular courses are wilderness first
    responder, wilderness EMT and wilderness first
    aid.
  • The most accredited class that the WMI teaches
    is the Wilderness EMT.
  • This is a 180 hour course includes a National
    Registry Exam, which certifies the participant as
    a registered EMT in most states.

34
  • Highlights of WMI
  • The WMI has now trained over 75,000 students
    through the different programs that they offer.
  • The Wilderness EMT final test is accredited
    through the National Commission for Certifying
    Agencies (NCCA).
  • WMI programs are offered in many locations
    throughout the country and throughout the year.

35
  • The Stonehearth Open Learning Opportunities
    (SOLO)
  • In 1975 SOLO developed their first wilderness
    medicine curriculum called Mountain/Woods First
    Aid .
  • SOLO offers courses such as Wilderness First Aid
    (WFA), Wilderness First Responder (WFR),
    Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician (WEMT),
    and specialty courses such as search and rescue
    and travel medicine.

36
  • Highlights of SOLO
  • SOLOis responsible for developing the first
    Wilderness First Aid (WFA), Wilderness First
    Responder (WFR), and Wilderness Emergency Medical
    Technician (WEMT) curricula in the United States.
  • SOLO has begun publishing textbooks and other
    materials that pertain to wilderness education
    through a publishing company called TMC books, of
    which they are co-owners.

37
  • WMI or SOLO?
  • Traditionally SOLO has been the standard leader
    as far as developing and implementing wilderness
    medicine curriculum.
  • WMI actually branched off of SOLO and used their
    curriculum in the beginning.
  • WIM now has their own curriculum developer and
    the two companies find themselves working
    together to keep current curriculum for the
    wilderness medicine industry.
  • In my opinion, the certifications that are
    awarded by these two associations are comparable.
  • The WMI is now marketed better and offered in
    more places around the country so this is the
    certification that most people will probably end
    up obtaining.
  • SOLO offers more specialty courses such as the
    search and rescue course and the travel medicine
    course.

38
  • Mountain biking

39
  • The American Mountain Bike Association (IMBA)
  • The IMBA is a non-profit company that has a
    mission to protect, create, and enhance quality
    trail experiences for mountain bikers worldwide.
  • IMBA is responsible for more than one million
    hours to trail work projects on public land, and
    have created more than 5,000 miles of new trails
    worldwide.
  • A lot of this trail development is possible
    because of the ties that the IMBA has developed
    with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the
    U.S. Forrest service.
  • The IMBA offers a certification that called the
    National Mountain Bike Patrol (NMBP). This
    certification was developed to help people
    assist, educate and inform all trail users in
    order to enhance their recreational experience.

40
  • Highlights of the NMBA
  • The biggest contributor to the development of
    trails in the United States.
  • Good ties with government agencies such as the
    Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the U.S.
    Forrest service.
  • . The National Mountain Bike Patrol (NMBP) is a
    working volunteer program that manages local
    designated trails and promotes safe mountain
    biking experiences.

41
  • USA Cycling
  • The USA Cycling association is an association set
    up to promote and organize events in the biking
    community.
  • Racing events is USA cyclings primary focus.
  • USA cycling offers races for all ages and skill
    levels on mountain bikes, road bikes, track
    courses, bmx courses and cyclo-cross courses.
  • Cyclo-cross is a 2 mile event featuring pavement,
    wooded trails, grass, steep hills and obstacles
    requiring the rider to ride and carry their bike
    while and navigating around obstructions.
  • USA Cycling offers an annual Racing license.
  • The purpose of this license is to make sure all
    racers understand the basic guidelines and safety
    requirements that are required for their sport.

42
  • Highlights of USA Cycling
  • USA is the largest biking association in the
    united states with over 50,000 members.
  • 2,500 sanctioned races and fun rides a year are
    offered through USA Cycling.
  • Benefits of getting a USA Cycling license are
    being able to qualify for certain racing
    opportunities, different cycling discounts, and
    insurance benefits.

43
  • USA Cycling or the NMBA?
  • These two organizations are different in their
    focus.
  • The NMBAs main focus is on mountain bike trail
    building and maintenance.
  • The focus of USA cycling is to offer races for
    all ages in not just mountainbiking but also on
    road bikes, track courses, bmx courses and
    cyclo-cross courses.

44
  • References
  • American mountain guides association. Retrieved
    October 8, 2008, from http//www.amga.com/
  • International federation of mountain guides
    association. Retrieved October 8, 2008, from
    http//www.ivbv.info/en/the-ifmga/
  • Association of challenge course technology.
    Received September 22, 2008, from
    http//www.acctinfo.org
  • American National Standards Institute. September
    22, 2008, from http//www.ansi.org
  • American canoe association. Retrieved September
    30, 2008, from http//www.americancanoe.org/
  • National association of underwater instructors.
    Retrieved November 10, 2008, from
    http//www.naui.org
  • The american mountain bike association. Retrieved
    October 23, 2008, from http//www.imba.com
  • Professional association of diving instructors.
    Retrieved November 7, 2008, from
    http//www.padi.com
  • Professional climbing instructors' association.
    Retrieved October 29, 2008, from
    http//pcia.us/pro/
  • The Paddlesports industry association. Retrieved
    October 28, 2008, from http//www.paddlesportsindu
    stry.org
  • Professional ropes course association. Received
    October 7, 2008, from www.prcainfo.org
  • Stonehearth open learning opportunities.
    Retrieved October 28, 2008, from
    http//www.soloschools.com/

45
  • The national registry of emergency medical
    technicians. Retrieved October 28, 2008, from
    http//www.nremt.org/about/nremt_news.asp
  • Wilderness education association. Received
    October 9, 2008, from http//www.weainfo.org/
  • Wilderness medicine institute. Retrieved October
    22, 2008, from http//www.nols.edu/wmi/
  • USA cycling . Retrieved December 6, 2008, from
    http//www.usacycling.org/
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