Each link below contains a list of questions to consider. After each set of questions we've included a section called "our experience," which contains comments about, insights from, and lessons we learned during the pilot project.

Goals Partnerships Scope of Program Organization and Management

Operational Funding and Budgeting Evaluation

1. How will the Audubon Adventures After School Club incorporate the Audubon Education Experience?
2. What knowledge areas (themes, concepts, facts, theories, etc.) are essential to teach so that students can make informed decisions in selecting and carrying out a project? What will excite and intrigue club members?
3. What resources (people, places, equipment, etc.) will provide students direct knowledge- and skill-building experiences in the chosen areas?
4. What skills will students need to learn and practice? Focus on skills they will they need to identify an environmental problem and implement their project. Skills can be broadly described (such as "observation skills") or more specifically described (such as "learn to identify 25 local bird species").

Our experience

When planning our goals, our instructors referred repeatedly to the Audubon Education Experience document as our guide.

The skill sets we wanted the children to develop included the following:

• An understanding of how birds can be indicators of nature’s health through studying ecosystem concepts.
• Field observation, through the use of field equipment
• Data collection, through journaling and the recording of field data
• Data recording, through wildlife art sketching
• Multiple sensory awareness, through performance activities
• An understanding of nature’s needs and how we affect nature
• An understanding of the connection between nature observation and conservation
• Identification and assessment of environmental problems in their area
• A survey of existing wildlife habitats and associated wildlife on public lands
• Map reading
• Leaving no trace, helping nature through our day-to-day actions

Partnerships

1. Is a partner needed?
2. Is your intended partner's goal aligned or in conflict with yours?
3. What will each organization contribute in the way of expertise and qualifications?
4. What is the scope of the partnership? Define roles and responsibilities of each organization.
5. When and how will the partnership end?
6. How will you work with schools? What role should schools have?

• Our partner, Wingspan Arts, had a better connection with the area schools than did Audubon, and its good reputation benefited Audubon.
• Wingspan Arts handled the logistics of working with the school, teachers, administration, and PTA. This resulted in less paperwork for Audubon.
• Our partner’s expertise in art and theater added value to our syllabus.
• Because each organization had its own mission, programmatic goals and expertise, a considerable amount of effort was dedicated to articulating the pilot project goals. As the project unfolded week by week, and competing environmental and performing arts missions made it challenging to accomplish everything, our project goals helped us stay focused.
• Each group’s separate organizational jargon sometimes made it difficult for the instructors to communicate on a conceptual level.
• The chain of command was occasionally confusing, and it was unclear who had the final word on activities, agenda, etc.

Scope of Program

1. Timeline and scheduling
   1. When will the program begin and end?
   2. How many sessions will the program consist of?
   3. How much of a time commitment can your members make?
   4. What day(s) of the week will you meet? How many school vacation days fall on that day? Your club will likely not meet on scheduled school vacation days.
   5. Do you need to plan any extended day trips?
   6. How long will each club session last? Take into consideration travel time to your program site and outdoor site.
   7. What other after school activities are you competing against?
   8. How will you handle missed sessions?
      
      
2. Location
   1. Where will the club meet each week and call its home base? Where will instructors store supplies and equipment?
   2. Which outdoor locations are accessible to the club?
      
      
3. Audience
   1. Who do you want to serve?
   2. What are their needs?
   3. How many children will participate?
   4. What age group will you focus on?
   5. How do you recruit and retain club members?
   6. What do you expect from club members in terms of ability and commitment?
   7. Will you have the students sign an agreement promising regular attendance?
      
      
4. Syllabus
   1. What are the intended conservation outcomes?
   2. What are the activities and the time requirements for each?
   3. What field trips and other outdoor experiences will complement the indoor activities?
   4. How do you localize the program?
   5. How will you incorporate each of the five Audubon Education Experience principles?
      
      
5. Instructors
   1. How do you identify instructors?
   2. What qualifications are required?
   3. What salary is appropriate?

• Before you plan your program, discover what your audience already knows. Talk to teachers and school administrators to find out what your participants have been studying. The students may know more about a particular subject than you expected.
• When choosing the day of the week to meet, consider what other after school activities you are competing against. Many children have a long list of choices.
• Offer programs your audience will want, which may not necessarily be the ones you want to give.
• Consider collaborating with another organization or education provider in the community that has good standing with your target audience and that has a local network in place. This can jump start your program, and, you can often make a greater impact with less effort and money by working together rather than independently.
• Ask teachers, principals, and parents to help you recruit good candidates.
• Create a list of “qualifications” for potential participants. For our pilot program we listed the following traits: high commitment and interest level, underserved and diverse population, family support, untapped creativity and leadership potential, and piqued interest in science, the environment, or the arts.
• The instructor will act both as a teacher and a facilitator, assisting the students in brainstorming sessions, identifying projects, creating schedules, suggesting resources, etc.
• Decide how much time is to be spent outdoors. Our goal was to spend at least 50 percent of the time with the students outdoors doing hands-on activities.

Organization and Management

1. Are there any special considerations to succeed in this community?
2. Will other community groups or organizations be involved?
3. Who will...?
1. hire and train staff?
2. register students?
3. instruct the programs?
4. administer the program?
5. handle logistics, such as securing permission and release forms, ordering supplies, providing snacks, finding guest speakers, securing field trip sites and transportation, organizing volunteers?
6. coordinate and communicate with participating families, schools, and community partners?
7. collect feedback?

• Audubon and Wingspan Arts separated duties according to each organization’s specialties. For example, Audubon handled materials and guest speakers, and Wingspan Arts handled release forms, permission slips, and insurance needs.
• Procedures for approvals of purchases need to be agreed to in the beginning.

Operational

Questions to consider

1. What legal issues can arise?
2. Are certification or license requirements necessary?
3. Who owns the intellectual property created in the course of the program?
4. Will you need copyright permissions on content used? Will a trademark be used?
5. Do you have sufficient liability insurance?
6. Are there any safety, health, and nutrition issues?
7. Will you need permission slips for field trips and photo releases for media and promotional coverage?
8. Is a contract or Letter of Understanding needed between partners?
9. What equipment, if any, is necessary?

Our experience

• Parents of the students signed a standard Audubon photo release form at the beginning of the program, so that we would be able to use images of the students taken during the program in various Audubon materials.  
• Parents signed permission slips for field trips at the start of the program.  
• We always had a first aid kit and the emergency contact forms from the school on hand no matter where we were.  
• Both instructors carried cell phones at all times.

Funding and Budgeting

Questions to consider

1. How will club expenses be funded?
2. Will others share in the costs?
3. How much of your costs can be covered by in-kind donations of goods and services? What will its value be?
4. Will you charge participants a tuition fee? If so, can you offer scholarships?
5. What are the other money issues?
6. How do you sustain the program in the future?
7. How can you involve chapters and tap into their energy, commitment, and volunteer base?
8. Is the school’s PTA willing to contribute goods, volunteer time, or money?
9. Have you explored local, state, and corporate funding sources?

Our experience

• Tuition expenses for the pilot program were estimated at $350 per student or $8.75 per hour.
• Teachers were paid for their time during planning sessions as well as teaching sessions.
• A grant covered all club expenses.

Instructor fees
Planning and evaluation expenses
Guest artist honoraria
Start up project materials (journals, writing utensils, paper, first aid kit, snacks, etc.)
Group transportation to field sites
Program documentation (video equipment, photography equipment, etc.)
Administration/insurance
Admission fees paid to sites we visited
Final project materials

Evaluation

Questions to consider

1. How will you evaluate the program?
2. How well did the program meet the needs of the audience?
3. Where is there room for improvement?
4. How well did the program meet the needs and goals determined at the outset?
5. How well did your partnership work? What lessons can you apply to future partnerships?
6. Will you evaluate any impacts of the program on participants? How?

Our experience

In our pilot program, instructors and students both were required to keep journals of their experiences, including but not limited to activities, likes and dislikes, and conservation project outcomes. We asked the following questions:

• If we did it again, what would we do differently?
• How can we make this project better?
• Did everyone participate?
• What did we learn?

Our conservation project outcome was successful in the following ways:

1. The group learned how to create and deliver a conservation message through three different mediums: print, video, and live presentation.
2. The group successfully presented and disseminated its conservation project message to more than 120 fourth grade students in New York City.
3. The group learned about local bird species and the local waste management issue in preparation for its presentation.
4. The group members honed their communication and critical thinking skills and applied these new skills to a local conservation issue.
5. Our pilot program yielded field-tested activities for leading a group of middle schoolers through building its own conservation outcome.

The conservation project outcome could have been improved in the following ways:

1. The addition of more time during the final planning stages of the project would have prevented last-minute details from falling through the cracks.
2. An additional action component to the educational piece would have allowed students to engage in a project that would address the waste management problem, such as building recycling receptacles for their neighborhood. The lack of time and competing agendas in the students' lives were the biggest obstacles to the addition of this element.
3. Consider fewer conservation outcome choices. With such a short time frame, some of the students were overwhelmed with the idea of "owning their own project."