Skagit Valley College

Catalog Course Search Details

 Course Title:   Parks Management

 Title Abbreviation:   PARKS MANAGEMENT

 Department:    CJ

 Course #:    265

 Credits:    5

 Variable:     No

 IUs:    5

 CIP:    030208

 EPC:    129

 REV:    2018


 Course Description  

Examines the myriad activities and issues that the contemporary park and recreation resource manager must face. Focuses on risk management principles, budgeting considerations, scheduling considerations, resources identification, and maintenance management. Covers the duality of purpose - the balance between protection and conservation of resources, and the demand for public use.

 Prerequisite  

None

Additional Course Details

Contact Hours (based on 11 week quarter)

Lecture: 55

Lab: 0

Other: 0

Systems: 0

Clinical: 0


Intent: Distribution Requirement(s) Status:  

Vocational Preparatory Required for ATA degree  

Equivalencies At Other Institutions

Other Institution Equivalencies Table
Institution Course # Remarks
N/A

Learning Outcomes

After completing this course, the student will be able to:

  1. Define and identify several types of historic resources and issues facing them.
  2. Define and identify several types of cultural resources and issues facing them.
  3. Define and identify several types of natural resources and issues facing them.
  4. Define and identify several levels of human resources and the dynamics of their management.
  5. Identify protection strategies for historic, cultural, natural and human resources.
  6. Know the principles of a major maintenance management system.
  7. Understand the principles behind at least three different types of budgeting systems.
  8. Understand basic risk management concepts, policies and procedures that must be undertaken at park level in order to protect an agency and its employees.
  9. Appreciate the dynamics behind staff scheduling and learn techniques for effective scheduling.
  10. Identify the components of a Classification and Management Plan process including land classifications and the use/protection implications of each.

General Education Learning Values & Outcomes

Revised August 2008 and affects outlines for 2008 year 1 and later.

0. Application and Integration

Definition: Applying information from one or more disciplines and/or field experiences in new contexts (Outcome 0.1); developing integrated approaches or responses to personal, academic, professional, and social issues (Outcomes 0.2-0.5).

Outcomes: Students will be able to . . .
0.3 Identify and evaluate the relationships among different perspectives within a field of study and among different fields of study.

1. Information Literacy

Definition: Recognizing when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information.

Outcomes: Students will be able to . . .
1.4 Evaluate issues (for example economic, legal, historic, social) surrounding the use of information.

2. Critical Thinking

Definition: The ability to think critically about the nature of knowledge within a discipline and about the ways in which that knowledge is constructed and validated and to be sensitive to the ways these processes often vary among disciplines.

Outcomes: Students will be able to . . .
2.1 Identify and express concepts, terms, and facts related to a specific discipline.
2.2 Analyze issues and develop questions within a discipline.
2.3 Identify, interpret, and evaluate pertinent data and previous experience to reach conclusions.
2.4 Evaluate decisions by analyzing outcomes and the impact of actions.
2.5 Identify similarities and differences in the ways in which data is collected and analyzed in different disciplines.
2.6 Recognize how the value and biases in different disciplines can affect the ways in which data is analyzed.
2.7 Identify and evaluate connections and relationships among disciplines.
2.8 Describe how one’s own preconceptions, biases and values affect one’s response to new and ambiguous situations.
2.9 Apply and/or create problem-solving strategies to successfully adapt to unpredictable and/or changing environments.

3. Communication

Definition: Understanding and producing effective written, spoken, visual, and non-verbal communication.

Outcomes: Students will be able to . . .
3.4 Produce academic and/or professional writing and integrate it into written and spoken projects.
3.6 Recognize, comprehend, and use visual communication appropriate to a given context.
3.7 Adapt communication to diverse audiences and media.

4. Community & Cultural Diversity

Definition: Recognizing the value of human communities and cultures from multiple perspectives through a critical understanding of their similarities and differences.

Outcomes: Students will be able to . . .
4.2 Understand, value and respect human differences and commonalities as they relate to issues of race, social class, gender, sexual orientation, disabilities and culture.
4.3 Understand the historically and socially constructed nature of—and the meanings attributed to—human differences.
4.4 Demonstrate effective communication across differences in human communities and cultures.
4.5 Adapt to and function effectively in communities and cultures different from one's own.
4.6 Utilize ethical practice in relation to diverse communities and cultures for the promotion of equity and social justice.

5. Global & Local Awareness & Responsibility

Definition: Understanding the complexity and interdependence of, and stewardship responsibilities to, local and global communities and environments.

Outcomes: Students will be able to . . .
5.1 Understand the impact of their own and other’s actions on local/global communities and environments and how those communities/environments affect them in turn.
5.2 Identify diverse communities and their shared/competing interests and develop strategies for prevention and resolution of conflict.
5.3 Understand the consequences of choices as they relate to local/global community and environmental issues.
5.4 Understand the concept of local/global stewardship, and its ethical components, to communities and environments.
5.5 Demonstrate ethical practices as part of stewardship to local/global communities and environments.

6. Individual Awareness & Responsibility

Definition: Understanding, managing, and taking responsibility for one’s learning and behavior in varied and changing environments.

Outcomes: Students will be able to . . .
6.2 Demonstrate standards of professionalism in manner, appearance, and setting appropriate to the context, including the classroom, workplace, and community.
6.3 Apply successful organizational strategies of planning, goal setting, prioritizing, resolving conflict, and managing time to specific goals and/or projects.

7. Aesthetics & Creativity

Definition: Interpreting human experience through engagement with creative processes and aesthetic principles.

Outcomes: Students will be able to . . .
7.1 Demonstrate an understanding of the creative process.
7.2 Demonstrate knowledge of aesthetic principles.
7.3 Use knowledge of creative processes and aesthetic principles to understand humans and the world around them.

9. Scientific Literacy

Definition: Understanding scientific principles, and analyzing and applying scientific information in a variety of contexts.

Outcomes: Students will be able to . . .
9.1 Demonstrate an understanding of fundamental scientific concepts.
9.2 Demonstrate their understanding of the principles of scientific methods, analysis, and reasoning.
9.3 Analyze, apply, and communicate scientific concepts and principles in context (for example, in technological, personal, and/or professional situations).
9.4 Use scientific concepts and principles to understand the natural world, human behavior and culture, and relationships between humans and the rest of the natural world.
9.5 Demonstrate an understanding of the political and ethical issues in science.

10. Technology

Definition: Understanding the role of technology in society and using technology appropriately and effectively.

Outcomes: Students will be able to . . .
10.1 Demonstrate an understanding of the development and impact of technology in human experience (history, global, and local).
10.4 Demonstrate an understanding of the impact of technology in one’s personal and professional life.

Course Contents

  1. Slides depicting resources types and issues.
  2. An open forum discussion on topics so as to solicit student inquiry about their selected method of dealing with an issue or situation.
  3. Charts describing the Classification and Management planning process.
  4. Risk Management presentation that is parks/recreation-based.
  5. Field trips to reinforce ideas.
  6. Local, county, state and federal methods of budgeting, policy/procedures, and scheduling.
  7. Topical matters related to parks and recreation issues, strategies and risk management.
  8. Scenario-based student testing.
  9. Project-generated materials and assignments.