Adventure Learning: Teaching Food and Agriculture From a Bicycle in Africa.

Adventure learning (AL) is a hybrid distance education approach that provides students with opportunities to explore real-world issues through authentic learning experiences within collaborative learning environments.

Spring semester 2009 we offered an AL course entitled “Food and Agriculture from Cairo to Cape Town at 10mph”.  This course provided students with an introduction to food, agriculture and agroecosystems in 10 African countries (Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa).  From 10 January until 18 March Paul Porter traveled by bicycle over 6000 kilometers through the first five countries, but a bicycling accident in southern Tanzania cut short his travel.  The group he was traveling with arrived in Cape Town on 9 May.

The course was co-taught by teaching assistant Margaret Mangan, and involved a series of faculty guest speakers, student group presentations and related readings.  Utilizing a satellite phone and the internet Dr. Porter provided daily written and audio-blogs of his experiences, focusing on food, agriculture and agroecosystems (and to a lesser extent the ride itself).  Each day he would travel about 120 kilometers, and report on what he encountered that day.

There was no textbook for the course.  Assigned readings included peer reviewed article, current events, development reports as well as daily blogs posted on <http://paulporter.wordpress.com>.  The course was offered as a general elective for undergraduates as well as to honors students and graduate students – basically any student who had an interest in 'coming along' for the ride.  Thirty-four students enrolled in the 3-credit course.  They came from five different colleges and represented 13 different majors.  A summary of their experiences and their course evaluations will be presented.  Based on lessons learned, a similar course will be offered in spring semester 2010.