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Teaching Global change at university

V-Global is an innovative initiative aimed at introducing university teacher to the dynamic world of virtual field trips as a powerful pedagogical tool for addressing critical topics like sustainability and Global Change. At a time of climate change, teaching environmental and sustainability issues in higher education is a major challenge. How are these subjects addressed in higher education curricula? How can ESD be developed at university? These questions will be the focus of this forthcoming seminar event, which will present the analysis carried out on this subject as part of the Erasmus Plus V-Global project.

To learn more about this, please sign up by registering for our first multiplier event on Monday 23th October 9:00AM to 11:00AM (ECT).

Develop your teaching skills for environmental issues by registering for the MOOC Virtual Field Trip and Global Change: A Blended Learning Approach. The MOOC will open on 18 October 2024. Link to register for this course .

General Objectives:

  • Promoting Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) at the university level by guiding university educators in adopting digital and innovative teaching practices, such as virtual field trips.
  • Ensuring the provision of high-quality higher education, striving for excellence, and contributing to the development of a knowledge society by integrating teaching methods that address the challenge of enhancing students’ digital skills
  • Cultivating collaborative blended teaching concept within the framework of ESD.

Hamburg Field Trip

The next V-Global field trip tooks place in the urban center of Northern Germany, the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg. On the 15th of June, participants had the opportunity to collect geodata based on the overarching topic of the project global change. Four routes are representative for the different faces of the city.

The Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg is located 145 km upstream of the North Sea at the River Elbe and two of its tributaries the River Alster and the River Bille. Following Berlin, Hamburg is the most populated city with approximately 1.8 million inhabitants. At the river basin of the Elbe, the city is densely populated. 20% of Hamburg’s population live in the marsh area at mean sea level, which is why they are highly affected by sea-level rise. Therefore, flood resilience and implemented protection measures are of utmost importance (Kruse, 2017).

Hamburg’s economy depends on its maritime location as it is also Europe’s third largest containers port and ranks 18 on a global scale. This is why the city of Hamburg is often called gateway to the world.

 

Source: Picture taken by Jonas Tebbe for Unsplash (www.unsplash.com) under the Unsplash License https://unsplash.com/license

The harbor and city are well connected through the German railway network and a public transportation system of buses, underground trains and fairies. Mobility is crucial for the development of the city. In 2017, a “Sustainable Urban Mobility” fund was launched by the German government to promote measures to improve air quality. This fund serves to support municipalities in the longer-term design of sustainable and locally emission-free mobility. Parts of the project are the digitization of municipal transport systems and electrification of transport, in particular of public transportations such as buses in local public transport and urban commercial transport as well as cabs, rental cars and car-sharing vehicles. In addition, the upgrade of diesel buses in public transport will be promoted.

Overall, parks, nature reserves, environmental and urban sustainability projects make Hamburg one of the greenest cities in Germany. According to the annual global livability report, which includes health, culture and environment, education, infrastructure, and stability, Hamburg is Germany’s most livable city.

The routes to explore different faces of the city with regards to global change will therefore focus on in how far sustainable green urban development projects are in place and have been implemented in the city.

 

Source: Picture taken by Julia Solonina for Unsplash (www.unsplash.com) under the Unsplash License https://unsplash.com/license

  1. HafenCity ­– Europe’s largest inner-city urban development project as a model for the new sustainable European city on the waterfront.
  2. Wilhelmsburg – formerly known as run down district of the city has been sustainably developing especially through urban building projects connected to renewable energy.
  3. Steilshoop / City Nord – implementation of innovation urban development in order to either increase the attractiveness of large-scale housing estates or create an economic service center.
  4. Schanze – Visible gentrification processes in the most vibrant district of Hamburg.

 

 

 

Based on these routes, V-Global team is creating virtual field trip with participatory tools. We used Padlet to structure our work.

 

 

Fait avec Padlet

 

Sources

Behörde für Verkehr und Mobilitätswende. (no year). Hamburg – City of Mobility. Accessed from: https://www.hamburg.de/bvm/greencityplanhamburg/ [15.10.22].

Behörde für Verkehr und Mobilitätswende. (no year). Aktuelles zur Magistralenentwicklung Ein Masterplan für Hamburgs Magistralen. Accessed from: https://www.hamburg.de/stadtplanung/ [15.10.22].

Kruse, N. (2017). Klimawandel und sturmfluten: ein vergleich der mentalen modelle und risikobewertungen zwischen experten und bürgern der stadt Hamburg. Geographische Gesellschaft.

Port of Hamburg. (2022). Port of Hamburg – Gateway to the world. Accessed from: https://www.hafen-hamburg.de/en/portofhamburg/port-of-hamburg/ [15.10.22].

How to create a participatory workshop using Miro. Steps and tips

In the context of the Athens fieldtrip, we organized a collective mapping workshop to collect data and co-create stories. After walking around the city center, the working team implemented a collaborative mapping workshop with the help of the Miro tool.

Would you like to facilitate a collective mapping activity through Miro? Here you have some steps and tips you to follow.

Image 1. Where to search for templates. Source: www.miro.com

All the templates presented below can be found in the Miro templates or are very easy to create them yourself.

A. Define the goal and co-design the field trip

First of all, define the goals and the specific field you are going to study. Recruit all people interested in participating.

Then, discuss with them:

  • Why are you doing this? What is the collective goal of the field trip? (e.g., a virtual field trip, a public space study for future intervention, or a public space narration)
  • Where is the field trip taking place? What is the study area (e.g., a suburb, the city center, a specific neighborhood, a route, a public space, or a plot)? What is the scale (e.g., local level, neighborhood level, etc.)?
  • Who are the participants? What is their level of expertise and their interests? What is their connection to the field and area of study?
  • What data will you collect, and in which format?

You can run this step using Miro templates for brainstorming (idea trees, tables, or voting sessions).

Image 2. Brainstorming ideas. Source: created by commonspace in www.miro.com

 

B. Data and experience collection 

It is essential to be well-prepared. Organize the field trip, study the area from google maps, and explore secondary data. Design the routes and the points of interest to visit, get some water and snacks, charge your smartphone and camera and start walking! Don’t forget to discuss and agree with the participants about the form of data you will collect and how you want to save and store all the information (e.g., images, videos, notes, recordings).

 

Image 3. Walking around the city during the Athens fieldtrip. Source: Photos taken by commonspace

C. Co-design stories and co-reflect on the narrative

Meet with the participants online or physically. You can work individually or in groups according to the number of participants.

C.1 Create an inclusive and cozy atmosphere with an icebreaker game!

You can find many icebreaker activities in Miro templates or you can design your own. A straightforward introductory game invites the participants to write their names and field of work, along with a short sentence or an emoji that reflects their mood.

An example of an icebreaker game in Miro: https://miro.com/app/board/o9J_lE8_ef4=/

Image 4. Ideas for icebreaker games. Source: Games created by commonspace, Emotions Wheel Icebreaker by Anya Dvornikova, Monster Workshop by Nina Torr, www.miro.com

C.2 Discuss the data and pin them on a map or a plan

This is the most important step of the collective process. Define how the participants will upload and pin their data on the map. For example:

  • Ask the participants to choose three favorite photographs, sketches, or notes gathered during the field trip,
  • Pin those selected items on a map,
  • Write a sticky note explaining why they are important/interesting.

Another way of working is to note on a map the positives/negatives/ideas you noticed during your walk.

Image 5. Collective mapping ideas. Source: Created by commonspace in  www.miro.com

C.3 Chose data to include in the story

You can run a voting session in Miro. Invite the participants to decide what their favorite input data are. This step helps the group organize their thoughts and allows them to conclude ideas.

C.4 Create a collective narration

Let the participants discuss what they have collected, build consensus on the narration, or identify their perspective on public space. For example, their narration could be “The daily life in the city center” or “Global change and the city”.

Image 6. Ideas of collective narration. Source: Exercise during the Athens fieldtrip. Created by commonspace, www.miro.com

C.5 Present your work to the whole team

Allocate a few minutes at the end of the workshop for each team to present their story in a plenary session. Exchange ideas about the city, the public space, and the narratives. Empower reflection and promote discussion.

 

 

International Virtual field trip seminar

As part of the V-Global project, students from the University of Hamburg, Université Paris Cité and Oranim College are participating in an international seminar to produce virtual field trip.  These students are or will be teachers. They discovered their respective cultures, educational systems and issues related to global change. They also discovered Israel, Germany and France through virtual field trip.

Beyond the content, they discussed the interest and limits of each of these. These group discussions helped identify different pedagogical and technical approaches to virtual field trips. The next step is for the students to develop their own virtual field trip.

Discover Brusels

The VGlobal team met in last November 2022 in Brussels to further advance the work on virtual trip and main concept in Global change. An example of this can be found in the collaborative story map created on the issue of Global change in the cities applied to the city of Brussels. This city has many challenges and opportunities.

 

Collaborative tool : Miro

The V-Global project is based on collaborative work in blended learning. To get students to work together, we use participatory tools like MIRO. It is a free tool that allows doing individual and group work during or outside class, presentations, giving feedback on assignments, Q&A sessions, planning and structuring individual or collaborative work in order to construct knowledge.

Instructions : https://miro.com/blog/online-or-blended-classes/

  1. Lesson Plan

Template

It can be used for lesson plan can that will help organize lessons but help differentiate and plan for the different students’needs and ability levels. This template lesson plans can be modified and used again and again. One can organize the lesson in different sections:

  • A lesson overview
  • A summary of the tasks
  • The assignment deadlines
  • An area for student questions
  • Further material
  1. Syllabus Template

The Syllabus Template ensures that students are on the same time— literally with you when you want to be and figuratively all the time. It includes everything that’s happening to accomplish their work.

  1. Learning Objective Design Template

This template helps create a well-thought-out course that includes a supportive learning environment and skills practice, question & answers. The teacher has an overview in constructing knowledge. It means that teacher can “observe” all time the students’ progress on the one hand to create learner-centric statements that describe the desired behavior of the learner after the completion of an activity.

On the other hand, to helps identify and define assessment strategies that are aligned with established learning objectives. a simple way is provided by Miro with drag and drop components onto the canvas using sticky notes.

  1. Thinking Critically Template

This template allows you to pose a interesting question, share supporting materials, and then facilitate an experience (synchronously or asynchronously) enabling students to test out their knowledge regarding the question. The collaborative work help participants see what they and others think about the question and if their opinions change once additional information has been introduced.