REIS320 Visitor Management in Recreational and Protected Areas

Credits (ECTS):5

Course responsible:Øystein Aas

Campus / Online:Taught campus Ås

Teaching language:Norsk

Course frequency:Yearly.

Nominal workload:Lectures appr. 25 hours, 25 hours colloquim, 15 hours excursions, students’ own effort: Appr. 60 hours.

Teaching and exam period:Spring parallell.

About this course

The growth in nature-based tourism and recreation in nearby nature during the pandemic has increased the need for knowledge-based visitor management of natural areas. This course provides the students with an interdisciplinary basis to understand, map, monitor and manage recreational and protected areas subject to active use. This includes understanding human behaviour and experiences in nature, as well as human impacts on vegetation, soil and wildlife. The course then addresses how goal-directed management measures should aim to create valuable experiences for visitors, prevent and mitigate conflicts between recreation, tourism, local communities and biodiversity.

Learning outcome

Knowledge: The students can analyse and monitor human use of nature, their experiences, consequences of their activities, and how its volume and character affect social and environmental conditions in a natural area. The students shall learn how to use social scientific and ecological theories and data in designing effective management of visitors to avoid negative impacts and prevent overtourism.

Skills: The students know the main methods to map, monitor and report environmental and social conditions in a natural area used for recreation and tourism, including monitoring equipment and secondary data.

General competence: The students have acquired experience in a field where social and natural sciences are actively combined to identify local, sustainable management.

  • Lectures, excursions, discussions, independent study.
  • The candidate's learning can be supported through discussions in class and in groups, and through academic supervision during the teacher's office hours.
  • Completed bachelor degree.
  • Portfolio assessment:

    1) Reflection note (e.g. in chronicle form) on a current topic for visitor management - individual submission (25%)

    2) Report from one of the exercises in the course (the exercises in the course are not mandatory, but at least one exercise must then be completed and form the basis for a report - individual submission (25%)

    3) Report from excursion - group submission (50%)

  • External censor evaluates the portfolio.
  • All students need to attend the first lecture as well as excursions.
  • 40 hours.
  • Letter grades
  • Minimum requirements for entrance to higher education in Norway (generell studiekompetanse)