Learning Opportunities

Core Offerings
For Programming information, contact Michelle Pearce at programs@eenc.org

Look for eeCOURSES in our offerings! eeCOURSES are top-quality, competency-based courses on specific topics across the breadth of environmental education. eeCOURSES are developed by NAAEE Affiliates and endorsed by NAAEE.

Guidelines for Excellence

The Guidelines for Excellence is a series of materials that helps environmental educators hone their practice and programs to national standards for high-quality environmental education programming. Developed by the North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE), the Guidelines document the collective wisdom of hundreds of educators across our nation; these guides are updated periodically to reflect new research, changing best practices, and an increasing attention to equity and inclusion.

Workshops focus on one or more of the Guidelines publications:

K-12 Environmental Education
Professional Development of Environmental Educators
Environmental Education Materials
Nonformal Environmental Education Programs
Early Childhood Environmental Education Programs
Community Engagement

For those pursuing EE Certification in North Carolina managed by our partners at the NC Office of Environmental Education and Public Affairs, these workshops qualify for Criteria I/continuing education credit. You make take multiple Guidelines workshops for credit, so long as each workshop focuses on a different Guidelines publication.

Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Environmental Education

This online course is designed to provide a strong foundation in the language, concepts and principles of equity work for environmental educators and environmental professionals. It is meant to be an introductory course and spark interest in further learning around justice, equity, diversity and inclusion (JEDI).

The main topics for the course include:

Foundations of communication for sensitive topics, including group agreements and nonviolent communication.
Developing a common language for discussing JEDI topics
Understanding historical intersections of the environmental movement with social justice topics, how those historical events might still be causing impacts today.
Understanding bias, stereotypes, and oppression
Reflecting on power and privilege that different identities afford, how that power and privilege manifests as microaggressions and how to use the power and privilege you had to develop a personal action plan.

This course was developed through a partnership between Center for Diversity and the Environment, EcoInclusive, Justice Outside, Environmental Educators of North Carolina, Kansas Association for Conservation and Environmental Education, and Kentucky Association for Environmental Education.

Each cohort will have 8 weeks to complete the 10-15 hour asynchronous course. Cohorts will begin quarterly. Course qualifies for Criteria I/continuing education credit for the NC Environmental Educator Certificate.

Accessible by Nature: Designing EE to Support All Learners

This course uses the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework to guide the design of learning environments that are accessible and challenging for all, rather than making modifications for individual students’ needs. This course will encourage you to reflect deeply on your practice to focus on how you plan and teach, not just the content you teach. Whether you’re a classroom teacher or outdoor nonformal educator, are an experienced professional or just getting started in the field, and are new to inclusion or have been leading inclusive programming for years, we hope this course will inspire you to strengthen your pedagogical practices so they are more welcoming, inclusive and accessible for all learners.

Focus areas include:

Understanding the principles of Universal Design for Learning
Describing terms, techniques, tools, and resources to promote inclusivity and access to better serve diverse populations, specifically those with learning differences, physical accessibility needs, and language barriers
Evaluating your current teaching practices/pedagogy and your setting to identify barriers to participation
Applying the principles of universal design for learning to your pedagogical practices to redesign a lesson, activity, or program

This course content was designed by Michelle Silvers of Silver’s Lining PLLC, Estrella Risinger with the Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education, Michelle Pearce and Lauren Pyle with the Environmental Educators of North Carolina, with contributions from Rebekah Jones and the Cooper Center for Environmental Learning. This is an endorsed eeCOURSE with NAAEE.

Inquiry-Based Outdoor Learning: USING BEETLES IN NC

The BEETLES (Better Environmental Education, Teaching, Learning, and Expertise Sharing) learning sessions are active experiences crafted to encourage instructors to look at specific aspects of research-based science pedagogy and to inspire shifts in instructors’ thinking about their own teaching and learning. Developed by the Lawrence Hall of Science, these hands-on and interactive sessions promote a student-centered approach to help participants better engage with science and the natural world through inquiry. Learn more about BEETLES at http://beetlesproject.org/

Inquiry-Based Outdoor Learning workshops fully explore 2-4 of the eleven Professional Learning Sessions in their entirety during the 6-10 hours of the workshop:

Adaptation & Evolution
Assessing for Learning
Constructing Understanding
Evidence & Explanations
Field Journaling with Students
Making Observations
Matter & Energy in Ecosystems
Nature and Practices of Science
Promoting Discussion
Questioning Strategies
Teaching & Learning

For those pursuing EE Certification in North Carolina managed by our partners at the NC Office of Environmental Education and Public Affairs, these workshops qualify for Criteria I/continuing education credit. You make take multiple Inquiry-Based Outdoor Learning workshops for credit, so long as each workshop focuses on different BEETLES.

Environmental Education and the NC Science Standards

Environmental Education and the NC Science Standards is a 4 week course designed to help practitioners review NC Essential Standards and popular EE curriculum to better understand how they can support eachother.

This workshop is for educators (formal, nonformal, and higher education) who want to:

Explain the purpose of academic standards and their role in our educational system
Describe the components of the academic standards.
Use the science standards to illustrate the interdisciplinary nature of environmental education.
Demonstrate how these academic standards correlate with environmental education curricula.

Format: This course will be a completely online course that uses Moodle and shared documents platforms like Padlet and Google Docs.

For those pursuing EE Certification in North Carolina managed by our partners at the NC Office of Environmental Education and Public Affairs, this course qualifies for Criteria III/continuing education credit.

Embracing Evaluation in Environmental Education

What is this course about?

A primary goal of this 5 week course is to give participants the skills to develop an evaluation plan that goes beyond the satisfaction survey many providers use. The best evaluation plan is intentionally connected to program goals and created and implemented in collaboration with the program audience. By giving more environmental educators the tools to carry out meaningful evaluations, we can improve our efforts to build a healthier and more equitable future.

Who is this course for?

This course is intended for anyone working in or adjacent to environmental education. The course will cover evaluation basics and is intended for practitioners with no evaluation experience as well as those with many years of experience. If you are someone with evaluation experience, the course content may help you think of evaluation differently and give you new ideas.

Upcoming Courses & Workshops

Membership Offer
Thu, Sep 18
2025 Pre-Conference: Echoes in the Gorge - Climbing Toward Renewal
109 Terrace Dr, Chimney Rock, NC 28720, USA
Details
Sep 18, 2025, 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM
109 Terrace Dr, Chimney Rock, NC 28720, USA
This experiential field trip takes participants into Hickory Nut Gorge, an area actively rebuilding after Hurricane Helene.
Membership Offer
Thu, Sep 18
2025 Pre-Conference: Hood Huggers/Peace Gardens/Service Day
54 Burton St, Asheville, NC 28806, USA
Buy Tickets
Sep 18, 2025, 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM
54 Burton St, Asheville, NC 28806, USA
This field trip will tour the historically African American Burton Street neighborhood, visit an art garden founded in that neighborhood, and provide service work for their community garden.
Membership Offer
Thu, Sep 18
2025 Pre-Conference: Project WILD Workshop
Mission Health/AB Tech Conference Center
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Sep 18, 2025, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Mission Health/AB Tech Conference Center, 16 Fernihurst Dr, Asheville, NC 28801, USA
This workshop will be a unique exploration of Project WILD activities and Cherokee culture and language.
Membership Offer
Fri, Sep 19
EENC 2025 Annual Conference
Mission Health/AB Tech Conference Center
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Sep 19, 2025, 9:00 AM – Sep 20, 2025, 5:00 PM
Mission Health/AB Tech Conference Center, 16 Fernihurst Dr, Asheville, NC 28801, USA
The 2025 conference will be September 19-20 at AB Tech Conference Center in Asheville, with pre-conference programs taking place on the 18th.
Membership Offer
Sat, Sep 27
Inquiry Based Outdoor Learning: Using BEETLES in NC Workshop
Eastern 4-H Center
Buy Tickets
Sep 27, 2025, 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Eastern 4-H Center, 100 N Clover Way, Columbia, NC 27925, USA
The BEETLES learning sessions are active experiences crafted to encourage instructors to look at specific aspects of research-based science pedagogy and to inspire shifts in instructors’ thinking about their own teaching and learning.

About our Events

SECTION EVENTS

Throughout the year, EENC offers regional section events across the state. These events vary greatly in length, topic, and format - but their goal is the same: to bring local environmental educators together! Some events might be more recreational in nature, like kayaking or a group hike. Others may be more social, like brewery/film screening meet-up or cookouts. Still others may be more content-driven, like a guided wildflower walk or teaching strategies seminar. We've also hosted book-clubs, behind-the-scenes tours, and family-friendly gatherings.

EENC Regional Section map, showing county breakdown of Western, Piedmont, Central, and Eastern sections.

WEBINARS

North Carolina is a large state. EENC provides virtual opportunities so that educators from Murphy to Manteo to gather together, to learn with and from one another. EENC currently hosts monthly webinars on the third Thursday of the month. We invite presenters to share their expertise and experience about hot topics impacting our EE community. If you are interested in presenting a webinar, contact the Program Coordinator. All webinars are free for participants. Recordings are sent to all participants afterward.

COMMUNITY CALLS

Community calls are a great chance to share what you're thinking, listen to what others are planning, ask questions of one another, and feel a sense of community. These drop-in interactive calls provide virtual opportunities to engage with your peers throughout the year. Some calls have specific themes for target audiences, while others are more general. We don't have the answers, but we're hoping that together, we can create solutions!

EVENTS FROM OUR PARTNERS

EENC is an Affiliate co-host of the NAAEE Monthly Webinar Series, an Outdoor Learning Store workshop partner, and a Green Teacher Webinar partner. You can find many of EENC's signature and partnered events listed on Facebook. Looking for additional professional development? There are a wide variety of environmental education organizations that offer professional development for North Carolina's EE community.

PROGRAM EVALUATION DASHBOARD

https://eenc-visualization.streamlit.app/~/+/#welcome-to-the-eenc-dashboard