ACA's e-Institute is an online learning center providing self-directed and group learning experiences. Designed for child and youth development audiences, from camp professionals to afterschool staff to community based program leaders, the e-Institute provides a mechanism for personal professional development and for training large groups of paid and volunteer staff. Certificates of completion are available for all courses.

Culture and Climate: The Collective Marks of Trauma on the Identity of Camp

Course categoryOnline Courses

Explore the concept of collective trauma and its profound effects on individuals and communities in this insightful recorded webinar. As we enter the transformative space of camp, we often overlook the shared experiences that shape our identities. This session examines how significant cultural and climate-related events resonate within a group, influencing both psychological and physiological responses.

Discover how these collective experiences impact our work and contribute to the holistic development of our well-being. Gain valuable insights into navigating and supporting individuals affected by shared traumas, and learn how our shared histories shape our present and future.

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Crisis — It Can Really Happen to You 2024

Course categoryOnline Courses

Join us for an interactive session on lessons learned from the 2024 ACA Camp Crisis Hotline calls. We’ll highlight key areas of concern and tough questions camps faced, based on ACA’s 2024 data. Gain insights into unexpected situations, emerging issues, and explore real case studies to understand lessons learned. You'll also receive practical guidance and key considerations for refining your policies, practices, and improving preparedness for emergencies and crises in camp operations. 

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Strategies for Cultivating a Culture of Staff Retention This Summer

Course categoryOnline Courses

Together we will cover 5 ready-to-implement strategies that will support you in retaining your staff throughout this summer and also looking ahead to next summer.

The strategies that will be discussed include creating leadership opportunities for staff, giving and receiving honest feedback, providing genuine and timely individual praise, understanding staff member expectations, and cultivating staff connections with intentionality and precision.

Presenter: Daniel Shore

CEC's: 1.0

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Quality Improvement in Action Series

Course categoryOnline Courses

Camp is a setting where many young people feel safe to be themselves and supported to engage in new and exciting activities. This doesn’t just inherently happen, but instead must be created through intentional staff practices. The ways in which staff, activities, and culture create the environment of camp is called program quality. But how do you create high quality programs? Through initial training and continuous improvement!

This webinar will focus on two concepts, program quality and continuous improvement, and real examples of introducing them at a camp organization. Come learn about what camp program quality looks like in action and how to engage with continuous improvement in this context.

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Courageous Conversations at Camp with Candace Doby

Course categoryAdministration and Operations

A coworker makes a racially insensitive joke. A board member resists changes that foster inclusion. A supervisor's communication style impedes belonging. Hard conversations within the camping profession are real and waiting on you to engage them to help your teams (and yourself) tap into possibility and elevate to the next level. In this course, speaker and coach Candace Doby helps participants uncover beliefs and leverage techniques to help them have courageous conversations.

Critical Things Staff Need to Know about Bullying Prevention

Course categoryAdministration and Operations

Bullying is here to stay in summer camp and this course is designed to help you be prepared and ready to act this summer as well as between the seasons. Bullying can happen in 4 ways: physical, verbal, relational, and cyberbullying (through technology). You may face some or all of these situations with campers and staff. The way you respond to bullying and role model appropriate behavior sets the stage for a great summer or one that that can lead to very unhappy consequences. The goal for this course is to help you learn the right ways and avoid the wrong ways to manage bullying problems and create a great camp experience for your campers and staff.

Presenter: Joel Haber, Ph.D.

CEC's: 1.0

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Non-editing teacher: Marianne Bowen, Brooke Petryka

Effective Supervision Skills for Senior Staff

Course categoryAdministration and Operations

ACA is pleased to announce a new online course for the camp and youth development communities targeting supervision skills of upper-level staff. Effective Supervision Skills for Senior Staffcovers essential skill areas and best practices of the most effective supervisors at camp.

Presenter: Bob Ditter

CEC's: 1.0

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CampWell 101

Course categoryHealth, Safety, and Risk Management

No Outbreaks Here! Simple Strategies for Reducing the Spread of Communicable Disease at Camp

Course categoryHealth, Safety, and Risk Management

 This short course is rooted in lessons learned from the ACA Health Camp Study. Beginning in 2006, and continuing through the summer of 2010, the American Camp Association undertook a five-year surveillance study of injuries and illnesses in day and resident camps. This project, called the Healthy Camp Study, is to date the only example of a long-term illness and injury surveillance study conducted with a representative sample of U.S. summer camps.

The purpose of this course is to help you have less communicable illnesses this summer and to realize some strategies for making your campers and staff more resilient to sore throats, the common cold, and other communicable illnesses

Presenter: Linda Erceg

CEC's: 0.5

Recognizing and Reporting Child Abuse and Neglect

Course categoryHealth, Safety, and Risk Management

This course provides critical information for directors and frontline staff on the process of reporting possible child abuse and neglect, including an overview of types of abuse and neglect and possible indicators. The course explains the importance of conducting the correct type of "interview" with a child when abuse or neglect is reported.  Resources for identifying state laws on reporting requirements and locating penalties for failure to report are provided. 

Presenter: Mary Fuller Everhart

CEC's: 1.0

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Non-editing teacher: Michael Edwards, Kristine Mathieson

Youth Development Building Resilience Through Relationships Series

Course categoryYouth Development and Programming

Youth development webinar series discusses the core developmental stages of children over time and explore strategies for building meaningful, supportive connections with them every step of the way.

The three-part series, presented by Rachel Schwartz and Jennifer Streicher of JCC Chicago.

Camp Is for the Camper v.3

Course categoryYouth Development and Programming

ACA's #1 Best Selling Course and Book!

It is imperative that counselors see themselves as role models for campers and act accordingly. Parents place a great deal of trust in camps and camp counselors when they send their children to camp. Wouldn't it be great if staff could think about this aspect of camp before they even arrive at camp? Well now they can! ACA most popular online course will help you with the responsibility of training camp counselors.

The Camp Is for the Camper Online Training, Second Edition gives staff a jumpstart in considering their roles and responsibilities before arriving at camp. The program content draws from the best selling book, Camp Is for the Camper. 

Presenters: American Camp Association and Paul Schlag

CEC's: 2.0

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Non-editing teacher: Matthew Frohnhoefer, Sarah Tarjeson
Teacher: Sarah Taines

Designing Quality Youth Programs

Course categoryYouth Development and Programming

If you believe your program offers a quality experience for your participants but also think doing even better is ideal, this course is for you. Designing Quality Youth Programs takes you through an eight step process focused on a rewarding journey of organizational improvement that recognizes each setting is different, every program is unique, and each improvement requires a targeted set of strategies.

This course can be supplemented with the companion book, Designing Quality Youth Programs. Regardless of whether you choose to use the book or just want to stay with the online course, get ready to venture out of your comfort zone, get into a “stretch” position, and learn how to take a critical look at your program’s potential!

Presenter: American Camp Association

CEC's: 1.0

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