Courses

This course will build on a solid base of writing skills to present information in formal, informal, and proposal styles.

This course is designed for park and public agency employees who are responsible for public health and safety in parks. A smoke-free playground issue will be covered.

Discover innovative public space development, programming, design, and management from cities across North America and the world.

Originating in England in 1996, the Green Flag Award program now recognizes and rewards over 2,000 well-managed parks and green spaces in 15 countries around the world. In this webinar we will explore what makes the program such a success - Is it the unique combination of peer-to-peer judging with political influence? The flexible approach to the 8 key criteria? Or its growing stance as a management ‘mantra’ amongst park professionals. In addition to this you will learn how you can apply the methodology to improve your day to day management of parks. Join us as we navigate these questions and more in this friendly and informative presentation. Learn More

In part two of this free webinar series, join us for inspiring ideas of play and resiliency from around the world. Learn about physical materials like playful care packages to combat social isolation in inner cities and Play It Safe Kits to re-envision streets for play; recreation opportunities using Indigenous games; and practical toolkits for families to connect with nature during COVID-19. Advocating for active and outdoor play at home and in parks and nature is uniting the world’s Parks and Recreation Professionals together to share ideas and expertise to help heal all families in the world. #naturenevercloses

Join City Parks Alliance, World Urban Parks and World Parks Academy for a webinar exploring strategies for managing biodiversity in a changing climate.

Opioids are effective medications for treating pain, but they have a high potential for causing addiction, and some individuals may start misusing opioids, whether that is prescription or illegal opioids. The rapid increase in the use of prescription opioids has led to a dramatic increase in overdoses and overdose deaths. Furthermore, some people who misuse prescription opioids may start using heroin and other illegal substances with similar chemical structures that are cheaper and more readily available.

This second course in the series provides a thorough overview of how to determine which strategies and actions to use when managing visitor use in wilderness.

The third course in the Visitor Use Management in Wilderness series employs the concepts from Fundamentals and Strategies to guide the learner through the specifics of monitoring impacts from visitor use and its management.

This is the first in a series of three courses in the Visitor Use Management course of study and is designed to introduce you to the fundamental principles of Visitor Use Management.

Learn how to use technology to your advantage by effectively integrating technology into your processes and procedures.

Explore the main elements of a communications plan, as well as how to create successful plans.

Explore important situations or concepts that public agency communicators are likely to encounter in their work.

Learn the basic information you need to know before learning more about how to interact with the media.

Obtain a background understanding of importance pertaining to the various communication tools available to and used by public agency communicators.

Learn about the need for communicating with the public and how doing so impacts the success of your agency.

Explore important situations or concepts that public agency communicators are likely to encounter in their work.

The causes of World War One are complex. This course explores the social and political factors that contributed to and shaped the conflict in Europe. The initial reluctance and ultimate participation of the United States is described and placed in a cultural and political context as well.

Survey Basics and Best Practices for Park and Recreation Agencies will provide a brief overview on how to develop and distribute a survey. It reviews the reasons for surveying and how to construct, conduct, and use the survey data.

Gain valuable skills that will help you train impactful interpreters. Interpretive trainers support interpreters in connecting people to parks, museums, zoos, and other places.

Trees are as important as ever in our growing cities – the need to provide large canopied shade trees to cool cities is important. Providing adequate root volumes to allow large healthy trees to grow without infrastructure conflicts is also important.

On average, 130 Americans die every day from an opioid overdose. The increase in the availability of opioid drugs is connected with an increase in opioid drug use and opioid related overdoses. Learn more about this epidemic and understand the true impact of opioid abuse.

This course will help you better understand special use permits and the roles and responsibilities of event monitors.

CEU include free for a limited time!

Explore how social media can be used interpretively to expand your reach.

In this course, you will explore the concept of sense of place and how it can be used to understand the relationship between human beings and our natural environments. You will also discuss environmental education and its importance in human health outcomes.

In this course you will develop an appreciation for the use of science in understanding the complex relationship between human health and natural environments. Topics include the scientific method, best practices for interpreting scientific reports, and identifying possible sources of bias.

In this course, you will learn about safety and health considerations on recreational sports, methods for mitigating and responding to potential problems, and strategies for reducing your agency's exposure to liability.

Gain the skills and confidence needed to interact with visitors informally and learn how to provide them with interpretive opportunities. This course explores three types of contacts: orientation, information, and interpretation.

Learn about the basic elements of designing and scheduling sports leagues and various types of tournaments.

In this course, you will learn the basics of facility management including selecting, preparing, and maintaining playing fields, courts, and other facilities for recreational sports use.

In this course you will learn about why it is important to effectively communicate and how to communicate with participants and other stakeholders to provide information and promote your recreational sports leagues and tournaments.

This course is aimed at improving your skills and learning new techniques that will give you the persuasive edge when you are making a presentation, fielding difficult questions, or presenting complex information.

This course will teach you how to manage your thoughts, body language, nervousness, and speech patterns to present yourself professionally. You’ll also learn how to present at meetings, use the five-S pattern to prepare a good presentation, and punch up your presentation with visual aids.

Gain understanding on how to effectively manage public relations and create comprehensive strategy regarding PR technique.

This course introduces you to industry-standard project management practices, including the phases of project management and useful strategies that keep a project on track.

This previously recorded one-hour webcast is designed for park and public agency employees who are interested in obtaining the Certified Park Professional (CPP) or Certified International Park Professional (CIPP) credential.

In this webcast participants will learn to think about green space as a canvas; a piece of art where people can interact with everyday landscape in a new and temporary way. Ralf Witthaus, International Land-Artist based in Germany, will provide examples from the Federal Lawn Show in Cologne and other lawnmower drawings to teach a creative and alternative approach to incorporate art in public parks.

Learn about various types of threats and hazards you may encounter as a park employee and strategies for responding to them.

Understand laws, regulations,and agency policiesrelating to health and safety and recognize common health,safety, and conflictsituations that may arise in parks.

Explore how to make networking work for you!

This course will allow you to gain an understanding of the different environmental attributes that affect human health. It will also discuss how our personal perceptions of the environment influence our behaviors and interactions with nature.

In this certificate you will learn the basic steps for decision making and management that are applied to federal wilderness areas, and how they can be interpreted and implemented on other, non-federal protected areas. These wildlands can benefit from the same systems and strategies the US government uses to identify the wilderness characteristics, develop plans for stewardship, manage visitor usage, and protect the natural resources.

This course will teach managers and supervisors how to prepare employees for the virtual workplace, create telework programs, build virtual teams, leverage technology, and overcome cultural barriers.

This training course addresses the management of rights-of-way and access to inholdings in designated wilderness.

This course will provide wilderness managers a comprehensive overview of their role in managing mineral rights in wilderness.

Promote healthy balance in a workplace by identifying and managing pressure points.

Gain an understanding of how to have productive and safe difficult conversations with your employees and teammates.

Making the Case for Nature & Health: Theoretical Arguments is geared towards park and recreation professionals and students in park, recreation, public health, and related disciplines. No prior knowledge is required to take this course. This course is recommended to be completed fourth in this series.

Lighting enhances, extends and promotes the use of parks and public places after dark. The way we light our parks can have serious effects on public perception of safety and can cause negative effects on people and the environment.

Explore a new approach to interpretation – dialogic interpretation. This course discusses three methods interpreters are using to present dialogic programs to visitors and guests.

This course provides an introduction to capital improvement. Capital improvement is defined and its connections to an agency’s mission are discussed.

Explore guided interpretive programs, which can take many forms: walks, hikes, house tours, canoe trips, bus tours, cave tours, just to name a few.

In this course, you will explore the many ways in which individuals have creatively engaged with the natural environment to improve individual and community health.

Explore the role(s) that the parks and recreation profession can have in making connections between the natural world and human health through this self-paced certificate program.

This course will prepare learners to develop a message and remain on topic when they are presenting that message to the media and public without straying from the point, or points, they want to make.

This recorded webcast is designed for park and public agency employees who are interested in the history of parks. The session will include historical details, drawings and photographs of the people and places who make up the story, their objectives, successes and failures.

This course will give you the skills and tools to hire successful candidates.

Explore cost-saving sustainability best practices to implement as part of your park and public lands operations, and develop ways to reduce your organization’s environment impact.

Understand how internal systems can be improved to best promote and implement green park operations within your organization and community.

Understand the basic principles of sustainability and green park operations as they apply to park operations and maintenance.

Gain skills in recognizing safety and conflict situations in your parks and how to respond and de-escalate conflict.

Establish a strong foundation in the basics of interpretation. This certificate program explores the history of interpretation as a profession and provides knowledge in roving, informal interpretation, audience identification and engagement, and interpretive talks.

This course will help you gain an understanding of the different movements in the history of parks, human health and natural environments. It will also provide you the tools to develop personal definitions for the terms “human health” and “natural environments.”

This course is designed for students and professionals who are interested in gaining a comprehensive understanding of the requirements for providing accessible programs, services, and activities within federal, state, and local recreation agencies.

Gain an appreciation of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary’s special resources and the important rules that protect both the resources and boaters in the Keys.

Para ver este curso en español, haga clic aquí.

This course has been created to make core facilitation skills better understood and readily available for your organization. It represents materials and ideas that have been tested and refined over twenty years of active facilitation in all types of settings.

This course is an introduction to the basics of preventive maintenance. In this course, you will learn about the benefits of incorporating regular preventive maintenance into a facility management program.

In this course, you will develop an understanding of how the health of the environment directly affects human health. We will discuss issues related to the contamination of public lands and the importance of regulating chemicals. We will also explore how environmental health is directly influenced by legal actions.

Gain a comprehensive understanding of sustainability and how to apply social responsibility in a business context to contribute to positive workplaces, communities, and futures.

Gain an understanding of the use and purpose of Lunch and Learn Programs as a way to encourage informal learning in the workplace!

A medida que usted avance en este curso, aprenderá a apreciar este ambiente especial y las reglas que tenemos para protegerlo. También se enterará de las muchas maneras en las que usted genera un impacto en los Cayos y en sus recursos naturales. El tomar este curso y utilizar los recursos que aquí se proveen lo convertirá en un navegante más responsable y seguro.

Gain a basic understanding of the importance of good customer service practices. This course outlines the six elements of customer service that help to make an organization successful. Communication techniques and strategies for dealing with problematic situations are discussed in detail.

Gain a comprehensive understanding of how to develop an impactful webinar to engage clientele or staff.

Gain an understanding on how to create successful proposals. This course focuses on sources of funding, types of proposals, and how to write the most effective proposals.

Explore the world of community gardening by learning how to initiate, structure, manage, and promote healthy gardening in your local community.

Promote meaningful communication by developing conversational leadership skills.

Learn about how to create effective performance reviews, first through defining performance reviews, describing the performance management cycle, and finally by going through the performance review process.

This course will teach you how to conduct accurate Internet research.

Explore the skills needed to be an effective interpretive coach. Coaching others to develop and deliver meaningful interpretation is rewarding because you multiply the opportunities for visitors to understand the relevance and significance of our resources. It gives you the chance to share your passion.

Gain a basic understanding of the elements of business writing.

Promote environmental responsibility by learning the tools to complete organizational audits.

Explore how to make your writing even better in this advanced writing skills course!