Rewind 20 years from now and Rod Lee's future seemed soapy and lukewarm. Dishwashing his way through bills, and having no visa, finding a career seemed bleak and it was just about time to head back to his home country in the United Kingdom when he found an educational experience program and a passion for teaching.
It's hard to say Rod Lee drags his feet to work everyday as part of Shavers Creek Development Team when he's facilitating and engaging with so many new ideas to break the boundaries of modern day educational settings.
Coming back to present day, Rod can be found in the classroom but there are no desks and chairs in his classroom. Ofthe six to nine credits he usually teaches at Penn State, most of them include classroom settings where the chairs are pushed to the side and the students are interacting with one another. Three of those credits are typically a Recreation Parks and Tourism Management course called Teambuilding Facilitation, where students are learning the essentials of working through activities and challenges with others.
Many activities these students have participated in and conducted themselves have been used on corporate professionals to exercise the same collaboration techniques. Rod is also a firm believer in bringing his students off Penn State's campus to Shaver's Creek Environmental Center and Stone Valley's High Ropes course to remove students even further from the typical classroom setting and test their abilities to perform in groups at different levels of comfortability.
As one of the final teambuilding activities, Rod took his RPTM 230 class to Stone Valley Vertical Adventures for one last activity, 40 feet in the air. The test was to combine everything the class learned into one last facilitation using key skills like communication, trust, safety and adaptation.
Advocating "learning by doing" is something Rod feels passionate about and is taking every step possible to change the rules of the classroom.
Video: Students take on a challenge at the high ropes course
The Stone Valley Vertical Adventures course offers challenges to students at great heights. Teams work together to get through obstacle courses 40 feet in the air and combine all teambuilding skills in one experience.