Filed under: ICT4ESD
As part of the “Innovative Practices in the Use of ICT in Education” project, UNESCO has launched the Innovative Practices Awards, an initiative which aims to acknowledge and reward innovators in the Asia-Pacific region who are using ICT to change the way we teach and learn.
The activity will document good examples, so as to inspire others, and will use innovative activities as the basis for workshops which will multiply the impact of good efforts. The initiative also aims to build networks for educators to collaborate and share resources.
CALL FOR ENTRIES
Entries are now being accepted for consideration for the Innovative Practices Awards.
The closing date for entries originally was 31 October 2007 but has now been extended to 30 November 2007!
“Creativity is thinking up new things. Innovation is doing new things.”
Theodore Levitt
Filed under: ESD learning materials
Under the auspices of the United Nations University (UNU) the Global Virtual University (GVU) is a consortium of universities that work together to enhance learning for environmental sustainability. Through a range of online study programmes and courses offered by partner universities, the mission of GVU is to increase people’s sensitivity to and involvement in finding solutions for environment and development issues. The consortium acknowledges the importance of education for development and is particularly designed to meet the educational needs of the developing world.
Online learning (e-learning) forms the basic educational method for all our study programmes and courses. This implies that a substantial part of teaching, collaboration, and supervision take place on the Internet. The pedagogy has a social constructivist approach, which means that group work, online discussions and joint assignments are important. It further implies that an active and regular participation among the students is essential. Students meet their classmates in virtual classrooms, in some cases supported by a face to face session in the beginning of the course.
Filed under: Your say...
To all ESD-NET members:
This blog could be much better and more attractive if we had nice pictures to add with the postings.
If you have pictures of the workshop we had in August or any picture that you want to share with us.
Please, email them to me.
Thanks.
Bart Cornille
Filed under: ESD learning materials
One of the main activities of the ESD programme is the development of Regional Centres of Expertise (RCE).
An RCE should have four elements:
- Governance – addressing issues of RCE management and leadership
- Collaboration – addressing the engagement of actors from all levels of formal, non-formal and informal education in RCE activities
- Research and development – addressing the role of R&D and its inclusion in RCE activities, as well as contributing to the design of strategies for collaborative activities, including those with other RCEs
- Transformative education – contributing to the transformation of the current education and training systems to meet local/regional goals of sustainable living and livelihood.
If you want to learn more about it you can visit the UNU/IAS website. You should also go through the impressive publications list, there are a lot of working papers that you can download in pfd format.
Check it out!
On the socalled Web 2.0 you can find a lot of free and simple tools that can help you teaching ESD topics. There are numerous things you can do with those tools.
For example: A groupwork on ESD for you students while documenting it with an online photo album of Flickr or Picasa. Maybe you can organise contractwork and ask your students to hold an e-portfolio on a blog or a joomla site. If this is too complicated, you start practising what you preach and open a favourites list for your students- this can guide them while undertaking internet research on ESD! As educators you can also subscribe to some newsletters of collegues like George Siemens, he will keep you abreast of the latest trends in education. Of course you can also visit the web2.0 website!
Filed under: Your say...
This is what the ESD-Net claimes educators should have…
KNOWLEDGE
- Environmental science- Indigenous practices- Globalization- Concept of ESD- Complexity, interdependence- Humanities- Biology- Cultural diversity- Inter-relationship among sustainable development issues- Economic, political, social issues- Gender disparities and the benefits of equality
VALUES
- Respect- Love and caring - Cultural/moral values- Selflessness- Respect for others- Compassion- Sympathy/empathy- Sense of responsibility- Economic/consumer values- Simplicity- Respect for the environment- Peace/ harmony/ moderation- Commitment- Sufficiency: lack of greed
SKILLS
- Living together in harmony- Independence- Skills to teach ESD- Ability to infuse ESD to various subjects- Communication- Negotiable leadership- Pedagogical strategies for ESD- Interpersonal and managerial skill- Creativity - Lives sustainable development by example (e.g., turns off the air conditioner and lights when leaving the classroom).
Filed under: ESD learning materials
The ESD-NET Training Workshop Report est arrive!
It gives a very detailed overview of what ESD-NET has been doing during the ‘Reorienting Teacher Educators to infuse ESD through ICT’ workshop in August 2007. But it is more than just a report- it is a valuable resource with active links to presentations, lessons learned and excercises online.
Here are some links that can be of interest to the whole ESD community:
For example presentations of Renato Operetti or Joy de Leo and Chan Lean Heng
Filed under: Uncategorized
We probably have all been watching or reading news on the protests that are currently taking place in Burma. However, these days it is hard to find independent media that write their stories somewhat objectively. There is just too much media involvement in politics.
The news site that I often consult is indymedia, a collective of independent media organisations and hundreds of journalists offering grassroots, non-corporate coverage. Indymdia is a democratic media outlet for the creation of radical, accurate and passionate tellings of truth. Check it out on http://www.indymedia.org/
It is available in different languages too.
Bart Cornille
Something that I also want to bring back to your attention is the MIT Open Course Ware site.
There you can find a lot of free online learning materials. For example on Womens’ and Gender Studies:
It is an interdisciplinary undergraduate program, providing an academic framework and broadbased community for scholary inquiry focusing on women, gender and sexuality.
Check it out on http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Women-s-Studies/index.htm
There is a lot of material out there!
Do you remember Joel Bacha’s presentation on ESD indicators during our ESD workshop in August? They have now finished two books on ESD indicators. I had already a chance to browse through this book, it’s what we all have been waiting for. Look out for it the coming weeks!
1. UNESCO (2007) ‘Asia Pacific Guidelines for the Development of
National ESD
Indicators’ Bangkok: UNESCO Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for
Education ISBN 92-9223-121-9 (print version);
ISBN 92-9223-122-7 (electronic version).
2. UNESCO (2007) ‘Monitoring and Assessing Progress During the UN DESD
in the Asia Pacific Region: A Quick Guide to Developing National ESD
Indicators’ Bangkok: UNESCO Asia Pacific Regional Bureau of Education.
ISBN: 92-9223-115-4 (print version); ISBN: 92-9223-124-3 (electronic
version).
