Building Capacity for 21st Century Environmental Education
KACEE will work in collaboration with the Nebraska Alliance for Conservation and Environmental Education (NACEE) and the Missouri Environmental Education Association (MEEA) to develop and deliver an eeCredential professional development program, through which we will be able to, as a region, prepare formal and non-formal educators with the skills and knowledge they need to deliver effective, high-quality environmental education. By co-developing platforms to make these courses available online, in a self-paced format, we will create an environmental education professional development system that can grow over time and be accessible no matter where you are in the region.
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The EE Associations in the NAAEE Affiliate Network, of which KACEE, MEEA and NACEE are a part of, have laid out a bold vision for the future of environmental education professional learning (eeCredentials) which amplifies the impact of environmental and outdoor education. By leveraging our expansive network of affiliate organizations, we envision EE professional learning that is more readily accessible, efficiently delivered, tailored to meet educator needs, actionable, sustainable, and that credibly recognizes mastery of EE content and skills. The professional learning will be easily replicable and transferable among state EE associations, reduce duplication of effort, and collaboratively build on existing work that is happening across the nation. Because we have an entire network of environmental educators contributing to the design and delivery of eeCredentials, the resulting professional learning will be of the highest caliber and will reach more educators nationwide. This transformative shift will ultimately lead to a diverse population of young people with the knowledge and skills to become productive environmental stewards.
In order to advance this mission, our overarching goal is to build capacity to develop, deliver, and sustain comprehensive environmental education professional development across the region. With funding from EPA, our region will develop and deliver an eeCredential program to ensure rigorous, effective, and accessible professional development grounded in the NAAEE Guidelines for Excellence. This grant will support the development of eeCourses to prepare educators in addressing climate change and improving air quality or waste and waste reduction with their learners; however, as previously mentioned, this framework can and will be built upon over time to add courses that address all of the EPA’s environmental priorities. The primary goal of this project is to build capacity for environmental education by providing educators with the tools they need to engage diverse learners of all ages in participation in local environmental issues.
Goals:
1. Build capacity for state EE organizations to more effectively and efficiently deliver high quality professional learning, building the knowledge and skills of educators to provide environmental education to PreK-12 students.
2. Expand delivery of high quality environmental education professional learning across affiliate organizations, which builds knowledge and skills of educators and provides increased opportunities for environmental and outdoor education for PreK-12 students.
3. Increase the mastery and professionalization of educators to effectively deliver environmental education through eeCredentials.
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