薇閣田園教學-未來的展望

Future

A) Looking into the future.

1) Boarding School

The WEGO Mountain Program has Overnight Classes that last two days and one night. The success from these classes has improved the learning experience for the students. This success drives the school to develop a boarding school system. The number of days of activities and content that they will learn are heavily correlated. The completion of a student dormitory is the prerequisite for building the foundation for this improved style of learning. The duration of the course will be expected to be from two days to one entire semester. The boarding school will be for teenaged students.

2) Teacher Apprenticeship

Through direct experience, they can gain outdoor leadership skills. The mode of training is to teach the students spontaneously in the outdoors.

3) Neighborhood Development

Today, most people in society have few opportunities to go to the wild to observe the animals and plants. The school wants to hold outdoor education classes for local residents. By providing ecology field trips, the program expects the participants to gain outdoor skills and obtain a sense of responsibility for preserving the environment.

4) Therapy

Experiencing nature incites the deep sense of humanity to create a more natural life and behavior and develop a correct perception of how man fits into the greater meaning of existence. Juvenile delinquents can benefit from this experience to help push them back onto the right path. By using specially designed classes and activities, the youth's misbehavior can be clarified and therefore targeted for correction.

This new way of teaching can help the development of special education in Taiwan. The USA for many years has promoted outdoor training as a foundation for therapy curriculum success. For example, He Adventure Based Alternative School, University Height High School, Dekalb Alternative School, the Rainbow Lake School, and the YMCA all research and develop their own unique training plan.

5) Corporate Training

Teamwork is the main reason that corporations succeed. By attending these trainings, teams will come together to step to the rhythm of the same drum and therefore move their company forward. Students who develop a positive attitude because of being in a natural environment will learn skills in trust, establishing group goals, and learn the importance of teamwork. According to Europe and American countries, many corporations are using this method and finding great success. It is a natural expectation and trend that Taiwan will follow.

B) The Plan of Future Developments

1) The WEGO Mountain Program Campus Facilities

a) Activity Areas: forest for physical training and wilderness survival classes, camping area, farming area, plant and flower gardens, fish ponds, animal and horse trails.

b) Buildings: dormitory, classrooms, lecture halls, office, health center, cafeteria, and storage rooms.
c) Sheltered Areas: Animal and horse pens, animal food and supplies storage, tools and equipment, greenhouses, gazebos, BBQ cooking area, and bathrooms.
2) Material and Design

Not only running the course, the WEGO Mountain Program is continuously developing new courses for the future of educations. Here are some inspirations for the future:

a) Discover more natural teaching resources

b) Publish WEGO Mountain Program news and DVDs

c) Design online learning courses
d) DIY structures and teaching materials
3) Teacher Training

To improve the quality and diversity of teaching, the program's teachers need not only the program's knowledge and skills, but the ability to research and learn skills from abroad. Training plans include:

a) Sending teachers abroad for training

b) Inviting guest teachers from abroad to exchange skills and ideas

c) On the job training

d) Foreign language training

C) Conclusion

In the beginning, the limitations of the environment, hardware, and facilities meant teachers and staff had to use only ropes in the forest to start the WEGO Mountain Program, which were based off environmental resources and knowledge from class research and teacher training. With these activities, students immediately got used to life in nature, new observations, and different perspectives on learning. What is dangerous and/or fun in the forest is not specifically taught by teachers, but experienced by the students as they walk among it and participate in the activities there. The results of the experiment show that nature is the greatest teacher. By experiencing nature, the students will be able to learn how to use their senses to feel the environment and things going on around them. Their actions become very clearly more natural. They will get along with their classmates more easily. Both their body, heart, and mind will also become healthier.

The result of education is not revealed within a day. In so many years, there is much joy to see the students growing and learning happily. More dedication of time and resources are being invested in developing more experiential education facilities and activities. The WEGO Mountain Program philosophy and lessons learned were applied to create a cultural and outdoor education boarding school and summer program in Taihu China in 2006, Taihu Great Learning Center. In the future, they will provide an international school environment for local students and international students to experience environmental and outdoor education.