All posts by Caroline

St Mary’s University, Twickenham: Festival of Learning and Teaching

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On the 19th June, the St Mary’s University Festival of Learning and Teaching concluded on a high note with V Global’s successful hybrid presentation on virtual field work in the context of global change, led by Sophie Wilson and Maria Angeles for EUROGEO. The session introduced V Global’s recently available MOOC, which was designed to enhance environmental education within higher education institutions and to support university teachers in adopting digital and innovative teaching methods.

The MOOC uses virtual field trips and participatory tools to raise awareness about global change, serving as a catalyst for educators to integrate sustainability topics into their curriculum. This approach aims to help educators develop effective pedagogical strategies. The session featured case-study examples from various cities, offering attendees practical references to teach with or use as a foundation for creating their own virtual field trips using the innovative tools presented.

The session highlighted the importance of digital skills, emphasising their relevance to future employability across a range of occupations and businesses committed to sustainability. The presentation was well-received, marking a successful conclusion to the festival.

Link: Learning and Teaching Festival 24

UNED Launches MOOC: Virtual Field Trip at XI International Symposium on Social Science Didactics in the Ibero-American Context

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XI International Symposium on Social Science Didactics in the Ibero-American Context

On June 5th and 6th, 2024, Zaragoza (Spain) hosted the XI International Symposium on Social Science Didactics in the Ibero-American Context, themed “New Challenges in Social Science Didactics.” With over 200 attendees participating both in person and online, the event was a resounding success!

One of the highlights was the plenary session led by Maria Luisa de Lázaro from UNED, Spain. She presented the innovative project “Virtual Field Trip in the Context of Global Change – a Blended Learning Approach for Higher Education.” This project aims to enhance environmental education within higher education institutions by supporting university teachers in adopting digital and innovative teaching methods. By using virtual field trips and participatory tools, the project strives to raise awareness about global change and encourage the integration of sustainability topics into educational practices.

Image 1. Presented the VGlobal program at the  XI International Symposium on Social Science Didactics in the Ibero-American Context. Source: UNED

The initiative not only consolidates the project’s outcomes but also empowers educators to develop effective pedagogical strategies that address global change and sustainability, fostering a new generation of environmentally conscious students.

 

Synergy with Open Landscape Academy and Urban Heat Watch Community.

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Multiplier event and hands-on in Athens

29-30 May, Agricultural University of Athens!

V-Global Participatory Toolkit

Commonspace and Participatory Lab presented the V-Global project and tested the participatory toolkit with the academic community of Agricultural University of Athens post graduate students and professors of landscape architecture from International Universities. The students, tutors and professors had the opportunity to use several digital participatory tools and methodologies, exploring the thematic of landscape transformation in challenging urban context.

On the 30th of May, the team realised a hands on workshop on Virtual Field Trip creation with the participants.

Image 1. workshop on Virtual Field Trip creation with the participants, Athens source: commonspace

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Participatory toolkit A guide of tools and methods for collective creation of Virtual Field Trips

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What is a participatory process, and for whom? Can we create a Virtual Field Trip collectively? What participatory tools could we use?

We are happy to announce the release of our participatory toolkit!

V-Global Participatory Toolkit

The main goal of this toolkit is to provide methodological steps, tools, and techniques for co-designing Virtual Field Trips (VFTs) and to familiarize teachers with blended learning methods and participatory tools. It is a self-explained guide that can be used to apply a common glossary among tutors and professionals in geography and urban planning/design.

Image 1. Problems and ideas collective mapping with the residents in Halandri Neighborhood, Athens source: commonspace

The main target groups are the following:

          • Teachers in higher education.
          • High education students and academics.
          • Researchers in the fields of geography, urban planning and spatial design.

In this toolkit you can find the following chapters and content:

        1. What is a participatory process? A more theoretical framework regarding participatory processes.
        2. The goal and target groups of the participatory toolkit
        3. Step by step process in Athens and Hamburg. The different participatory methodologies that the project partners followed to experiment and create Virtual Field Trips in the two cities.
        4. Different examples of methodological frameworks. The different methodological workflows and approaches that the project partners have developed and followed during their Virtual Field Trips creations.
        5. Categories and examples of participatory tools. Tools, blended learning methods, guidelines, participatory techniques, easy-to-use templates, links to tutorials and tips to match digital tools to physical processes and participatory steps.

 

Image 2. SWOT template. Source: Commonspace’s participatory LAB, https://miro.com/app/board/o9J_l4dVM_w=/?share_link_id=877444891119

This toolkit proposes a variety of proposed tools that you can use to design a participatory process and create your Virtual Field Trip, by combining field work with digital techniques. The tools are dived in categories such as:

  • Aspiration mapping, brainstorming & Co-design of field trips and excursions
  • Sensory mapping (sensations, perspective, sentiments)
  • Collaborative SWOT analysis tools
  • Data collection and Mobile data collection tools
  • Story-telling and story map tools
  • Consultation/voting/evaluation tools

We invite you to use our toolkit, walk around and discover your local environment, collect your data, choose collective processes and get inspired to create your Virtual Field Trips with your team!

The Participatory Toolkit is also available in different languages:

Discovering Global Change: V-Global Results in Ciudad Real, Spain (EUROGEO)

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Multiplier event in Spain

18 April, EUROGEO

MOOC

The V-Global Project focuses on the concept of global change, offering a comprehensive explanation and showcasing examples of virtual journeys developed within the initiative. Utilizing digital storytelling and GIS-based maps, known as story maps, the project vividly illustrates various global change scenarios.

A notable workshop was held in Ciudad Real where participants created a virtual journey using ArcGIS Online StoryMaps, leveraging toolkit tools. This session highlighted the potential of education for sustainability through the creation of these virtual journeys. Each module of the MOOC was thoroughly explained, providing detailed insights into the project’s educational framework.

The primary target audience comprised university teachers, although secondary school teachers and local stakeholders also showed significant interest in learning about the V-Global project.

Dissemination activities were carried out before, during, and after the multiplier event, primarily through social media and the web pages of various partners.

Image 1. workshop on Virtual Field Trip in Ciudad Real (University of Castilla-La Mancha) Source: EUROGEO

 

Water points in our city. Discover the presence of the water element in the urban fabric of Athens, through a Virtual Field Trip.

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The metropolitan area of Athens is an extensive and densely populated area that brings together most of the country’s inhabitants and the main economic and administrative activities. The capital’s urban landscape has been defined for decades by a building pattern dominated by buildings and hard surfaces (mainly asphalt). Open and green spaces and even more so water surfaces (excluding the sea) cover a very small percentage of the city.

Yet water points in our city exist!

There are places we can visit and discover the water element either visible or hidden. These places with symbolic, historical, mythological or even physical presence influence and give context to the urban environment and the relationship of citizens with it. Streams and their estuaries, natural wetlands (they exist even within the city center!), lakes and other natural or artificial elements with a constant or seasonal flow of water exist, often even within the city’s densely populated neighborhoods.

Image 1. The National Garden. Sketch created for the Atlas of Mediterranean Liquidity. Source: commonspace

As part of the call for the Atlas of Mediterranean Liquidity, commonspace in collaboration with the Goethe Institute participated in a collective research around the identification of water points in Athens with symbolic, natural, cultural, environmental or historical value for everyday life in the city. In the context of the project, sketches were created, an extensive research on the biodiversity, history and collective memory was carried out by experts. Finally, all the points were placed on an interactive map open to the public. In addition, walks with interested members of the public around water routes in the city were organized as part of the project.

This Virtual Fieldtrip is based on the Mediterranean Liquidity Atlas and provides an educational aspect including a brief historical overview of the water element in the city and guidelines for researchers that want to detect and map water spots in other cities. It encourages students, educators or everyone interested in studying the relationship between urban environment and water element to walk around, sketch and map scenes of water in their daily life. The VFT gives guidelines on how to search and map the water spots in a neighborhood/district/city.

The Storymap is developed in the following parts:

  1. Water in Athens: A brief historical review
  2. Categories of the liquid element in the Athenian urban context
  3. Map tours regarding the different typologies of water in the city:
  • Places in the city with artificial water features
  • Places in the city with natural water features
  • Places in the city with historical water features
  1. Concluding thoughts and online form that can be used by students or researchers for water scenes and spots mapping.

Check the Virtual Field Trip here:  https://arcg.is/0bC1a4

Image 2. Well of the Hadrian Aqueduct in El Alamein Street, Halandri. Source: commonspace

Image 3. The fountain of Chaseki, at the Agricultural University. Source: commonspace

Launch of the VGlobal Program at the National Technical University of Athens

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Exciting Launch at the National Technical University of Athens!

On March 21, 2024, we proudly presented the VGlobal program at the  National Technical University of Athens, specifically at the School of Rural and Surveying Engineering – Geoinformatics Engineers. This significant event was graced by esteemed professors from the Department of Geography & Spatial Analysis.

The launch event was followed by an engaging workshop where students from the Postgraduate program actively participated. Utilizing the MOOC and the comprehensive toolkit provided by VGlobal, these bright minds embarked on preliminary virtual fieldwork, exploring innovative approaches in geoinformatics and spatial analysis.

Image 1. presented the VGlobal program at the  National Technical University of Athens, specifically at the School of Rural and Surveying Engineering – Geoinformatics Engineers. Source: School of Rural and Surveying Engineering – Geoinformatics Engineers

We were thrilled to see the enthusiasm and dedication of over 40 attendees who contributed to making this event a success. The collaboration and insights shared during this session mark a promising start for the VGlobal program.

Stay tuned for more updates and join us as we continue to advance the frontiers of geoinformatics and spatial analysis! 🚀📊

Glossary

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V-Global Glossary

Choosing the right words to describe our teaching is not always easy. Blended learning? E-learning? What’s the difference? The V-Global glossary is a useful tool for identifying practices and issues related to blended learning and global change.

Discover a virtual field trip about the noise in Metsovo (Greece)

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NTUA students create a virtual Field trip about the noise in the village of Metsovo. Please discover it here.

Description of  virtual fieldtrip: The problem of noise in the traditional settlement of Metsovo. This virtual field trip is based on a participatory learning methods enable students to acquire the skills and values that allow them to enhance awareness and play a role in Global Change. These methods are based on a holistic learning approach that helps in understanding real problems, co-creating, and developing transferable competences (technical, creativity, teamwork, critical thinking, etc.) among students. Each of the methods can be used to focus on various subjects related to Global Change issues

  1. Objective: investigate the hyper-tourism impact
  2. Understanding the problem
  3. Collect primary noise data
  4. Propose scenarios

Learning objectives : the process implies not only engaging students’ interest in lessons to encourage group discussions and critical reflections but also enhancing their involvement in more practical activities, such as connecting academic achievement with everyday life issues. It aims not only to comprehend the impact of individual actions on the community but also to foster a deeper understanding of such effects.

Short description of the experiment :

The team’s task is to design, build, and assess itineraries that aim to familiarize students with various representations, fostering a deeper understanding of diverse concepts. As part of the project, we need to develop instruments to assess communication performance, ensuring that students can effectively convey their ideas and understanding. The next step involves running scenarios that provide conceptual frameworks, helping students grasp and apply key concepts in practical situations.

The skills required:

  1. a) Improve problem-solving , decision-making and communication skills .
  2. b) increase interpersonal interactions.
  3. c) positively change student’s
  4. d) Increase motivation and participation in the learning process.

 

Image 1 Map of the noises in Metsova