Keep
these five techniques in mind when developing or polishing
your outreach skills.
1. Use a Variety of Teaching Methods
and Strategies [1]
We each learn differently based on our learning style, multiple
intelligences and past knowledge and experience. We learn
best when we experience a teaching approach that matches our
unique learning profile. For this reason, educators need to
use a variety of teaching strategies to assure that they are
meeting the needs of their learners (audiences).
Explanation
of Teaching Continuum 
5 pp., 145 KB
2. Create Effective Presentations
A presentation is a spoken communication made in a prepared
and formal way. You can give a presentation to one person
or hundreds of people or thousands. The skills required can
be learned and are very much the same regardless of the size
of the group. Water management professionals are often called
upon to give a wide variety of presentations. You may be asked
to:
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Tools
for Teaching
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Facilitation
Skills
Teaching and
Presentation Skills
- Use a Variety of Teaching Methods and
Strategies
- Create Effective Presentations
- Use Audiovisuals
- Teach Outdoors
- Evaluate Yourself and Others
Tips for Programs
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- Give a progress report to your supervisor.
- Demonstrate to a group of contractors how to install a BMP.
- Speak to a civic group on how to reduce NPS pollution.
- Show your commissioners how county money is used to leverage
more money.
- Pique the interest of local farmers in renting your no-till
drill.
- Conduct a workshop for 40 educators.
- Persuade legislators to support an increase in cost-share monies.
- Explain a new procedure to employees.
- Teach a group of scouts how to do water quality monitoring.
- Deliver a keynote speech at an annual meeting.
- Give a dedication speech for your new outdoor education area.
With such diversity, a broad range of skills is needed. Developing
great speaking abilities is not unlike learning a new sport. Every
sport has basic skills that you have to master individually as well
as combined together in a game. Basketball players, for example,
have to learn to dribble and pass the ball, shoot foul shots and
lay-ups, grab rebounds and defend the opponent. While they may excel
in some skills, a certain level of expertise is needed in all areas
to have an overall successful game. In addition, ballplayers need
to integrate their skills with others to work as a whole, i.e.,
as a team.
Learning to become an effective speaker is similar. In the beginning
it can be just as frustrating as learning to properly dribble or
throw a basketball. However, after learning a few basic skills,
and, most importantly, practicing them, things usually improve.
But to really learn to present well takes constant practice and
mastery of the basic skills and the ability to weave them together
as a whole, i.e., into a presentation.
3. Use Audiovisuals
Audiovisuals include any teaching tool used to focus attention,
emphasize, clarify and reinforce key points. Visuals, in
particular, are important presentation tools because humans are
visual creatures we process visual information (pictures, graphs,
etc.) 60,000 times faster than text and retain it up to five times
longer.
Well-planned and well-executed audiovisuals can do many things
for the audience:
- Capture attention and focus attention
- Reinforce (but not repeat verbatim) the verbal message
- Clarify information
- Accelerate learning
- Increase retention
and for the presenter:
- Help organize the presentation
- Increase presenter credibility
- Help manage time and help maintain control
- Help keep presenter/audience on the same track
4. Teach Outdoors
Water resource professionals provide outreach activities and programs
for both youth and adults in outdoor settings. These include, for
example, pond clinics, field days, water festivals, teacher workshops,
camp programs, land lab activities as well as Earth Day, Arbor Day
and other special events. Outdoor experiences serve as a powerful
vehicle for first-hand learning and a means for helping youth and
adult learners make connections that are personal and relevant.
Whether learning best practices for pond management and soil erosion
or the effects of water quality on organisms found in a stream,
learners can become more engaged and successful through the use
of hands-on experiences in the outdoors.
While the principles of good education serve equally well inside
and outside, several strategies for outdoor learning can make these
experiences more rewarding for both the learner and the leader.
The following guidelines can help you as you explore the outdoors
with learners young and old.
5. Evaluate Yourself and Others
Becoming an effective presenter or teacher is a process,
not an event. It takes many years of practice, focusing on one skill
and then another and another, building your repertoire of presentation
techniques, your style and your confidence. The best way to improve
is through self-evaluation and comments by friends, colleagues and
experts.
[1] Adapted with permission
from Soil and Water Conservation District Outreach: A Handbook
for Program Development, Implementation and Evaluation . Ohio
Department of Natural Resources, Division of Soil and Water Conservation,
2003.
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Best
Education 
What are BEPs?