Go green, Go tech, Shout!

MANILA, Philippines   When Mark Prensky coined the word “digital natives” to refer to the generation born in the digital age, he probably didn’t envision a generation collaborating online on a global scale.

“Our students today are all ‘native speakers’ of the digital language of computers, video games and the Internet,” he wrote in his 2001 work “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants.” These digital kids now in classrooms all over the world and their teachers, who, Prensky says, may be non-natives in the digital landscape but only immigrants, will be most equipped to participate in a global undertaking that seeks to use technology to address issues on the environment.

The global concern for the environment may be too big a concept for students to grasp classroom-teaching style, but when you use collaborate online tools to introduce notions of “living with the land,” “changing the land” or “sustaining the land,” and you have a wildlife ecologist, a curator of photography at an American museum and a forest ecologist talking on video and addressing learners with interactive tools at their disposal, there might be a chance this generation  the digital natives  may listen and would get involved.

The first three sessions of these one-hour online conference series on the environment called “shouts” debuted last month at shoutlearning.org, a portal dedicated to the community of environmental experts, educators and students.

Featured in the inaugural shout are Dr. Bill McShea, a wildlife ecologist; Toby Jurovics curator of Photography at the Smithsonian American Art Museum; Geoffrey Parker, a scientist and forest ecologist; and Joshua Falk, an education specialist, who all discussed issues related to “living the land.”

McShea discussed the work of conversation biologists like himself who study wildlife and their habitats, especially species that are in trouble such as the most endangered deers. Jurovics showed “difficult” pictures of the most unusual landscapes and wilderness vistas that are basically unreachable, the goal of which is to build awareness of the wilderness that are threatened. Parker and Falk explained how they got US students and other learners to help in measuring diameters of trees as part of a massive tree banding project.

The lectures are only part of many online events Microsoft’s Partners in Learning Network, the Smithsonian Institution and TakingITGlobal are cooking up to explore diverse issues and perspectives about the world’s environmental concerns. In January, the topic shifts to “studying the land,” and the sessions will feature topics on biodiversity and our natural heritage.

Future “shouts” to be held through September 2011 will seek explorations and discussions on other environmental topics involving land use and conservation. The basic goal is to give the educational community a means to explore, connect and act, the three pillars of the SHOUT program launched at an elite gathering of 500 educators attending the sixth annual Worldwide Innovative Education Forum (IEF) of Microsoft’s Partners in Learning held in Cape Town, South Africa last October.

“This partnership is a fantastic way to build connections between teachers and students around the world, and address some of the most critical environmental issues of our time,” said Anthony Salcito, vice president of Worldwide Public Sector Education at Microsoft. “Technology is an amazing tool to reach beyond geographic and cultural boundaries and build meaningful, collaborative partnerships.

“Each year we see what happens when great teachers have access to technology-based tools at the Worldwide Innovative Education Forum. I am excited to see the Shout program expand these opportunities to teachers throughout the world,” he added.

In the next three years, Microsoft and its partners will make a commitment of more than $1 million to engage and empower a global network of teachers and students coming together to address environmental issues affecting land, air and water.

Beyond the online sessions

The environmentally themed Shouts can be watched live in real time or viewed at a later date and time. However, the project goes beyond the conference series with the experts. What the organizers of the project expect is to connect students and teachers watching the live event to each other and foster more collaborations, offline or online.

“Shout is at once a program framework and a call to action,” the website says, explaining that more tools and resources are available online to support calls for deeper involvement. “These can range from capturing and sharing scientific data to developing youth-led initiatives for positive change.”

The organizers said Shout grew out of a pilot program launched by Microsoft and TakingITGlobal at the Partners in Learning Regional Innovative Education Forum in Singapore earlier this year. The pilot program dubbed “DeforestACTION” connected students in many countries including the Philippines, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka and Australia.

“Students and teachers who participated in the event combined fundraising efforts, building awareness, and developing social action campaigns to support the protection of rainforests in the Asia Pacific region,” the website says.

Together, they helped create a public service announcement that is playing on national television in Sri Lanka, and are now working with a major motion picture production company in Australia to expose the problem of deforestation in a 3-D movie to be released in cinemas worldwide.

“My sixth-grade class has not only been learning how palm oil production is directly linked to the destruction of the rain forests in Indonesia and Malaysia, but they have been collaborating with classes around the world to teach other kids, reach out to their community and even petition their governments to stop deforestation,” says Australian elementary school teacher Emmanuelle Blake. “Our kids are learning how they can work together to make a real difference, and technology is breaking down borders to help them.”

At the DeforestACTION Classroom Experience page of the Shout portal, one can download the teachers’ guide and the “call to action” movie trailer. Meanwhile, at the Worldwide Innovative Education Forum in Cape Town last month, educators saw this same concept in action in at least two local schools.

First, Smithsonian researchers demonstrated how they use stainless steel bands to measure the growth of trees over time and to determine how trees respond to changes in climate. Then the schools  St. Cyprian’s and Hout Bay High School  will be the first in the world to participate in the global scientific research project.

Teachers and school leaders who attended the forum received free tree-banding kits. In January, the Shout partnership will also issue a global student challenge to engage hundreds of schools around the world in other tree-banding experiments.

In the quintessential way of the natives, the Shout program has a Facebook and Twitter page for the members of its community to follow.

“Get social with Shout,” the website urges the educational community, hoping among others that the message will get across the globe, and get viral across the Web.