At the beginning of the year, OEE students reflect on the skills they have and the skills they want to develop. These skills can be anything, from show puppetry to archery, as long as you believe developing the skill will either directly contribute to your educational practices or you think learning the skill will influence your educational philosophy. Once you identify 1+ skills you would like to develop, whether you have a background in the skill or not, you add it to the co-created syllabus, predict the weight of the skill for your final grade, and give a “due date”.

Many students become worried about the weight prediction because they do not know how much time and effort the skill will take to develop, or how much they will actually be interested in the skill. Do not worry about this too much! Throughout the term, you can adjust how much the skill should be worth in either direction. Also remember, we learn as much, if not more, from our failures, and the reflection about the skill is more important than the skill itself.

Consider the following questions when you reflect:

  • Why did you think the skill would be important to learn? Now that you have tried (and possibly succeeded), is it more or less applicable than you thought?
  • How would you be able to integrate this into a group setting? What supports (financial, spatial, more adults etc.) would you need to made this a group learning experience? How many people can you teach it to at once, safely, while ensuring each participant has a meaningful and fun learning experience (not necessarily successful skill development)?
  • What made the learning successful or unsuccessful? What would you change if you could “restart” the learning process? What tips would you give someone else who wants to pick up the skill?

Here are some example skills that our cohort explored, with initials so that if you knew us you know who to ask!

Here is a spreadsheet of courses/certifications that OEE students before us completed. This spreadsheet is up to date as of September 2023, so I encourage you to use it as a starting point – courses change prices and locations depending on popularity, trainer availability, and facilities!

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