Jordan Environment Watch : New Learning for Sustainability in the Arab Region

Blogging late better than never. I know it has been two weeks since I came back from Alexandria after participating in the IUCN CEC workshop entitled "New Learning for Sustainability in the Arab Region" but I have learned a lot from this event which made me think deep before blogging. Actually I was very busy with some work deadlines, thinking about the future of this blog and celebrating the holy month of worship, fasting and consumerism, Ramadan.

Back to the event. I have to say this was on of the most thrilling and exciting workshops I have been to, and I have managed to easily stay interested for all of the time, a fact not frequently acheived in other workshops.

To begin with the choice of the place was spot on. Bibliotheca Alexandrina is a fabulous place. This is one of the few places in the Arab World, and maybe the whole Globe that can be conisidered as a cultural acheivement.

The Bibliotheca Alexandrina is a breathtaking structure. Not only a library that captures the "lost" spirit of the old library but it is becoming a hub for knowledge and global exchange, where almost 500 events are held in its massive and highly advanced utilities.

We really enjoyed the facilities in the conference rooms and the high-tech learning environment, but what was really captivating is the speech presented in the opening day by Dr Ismael Serageldin the Director of Bibliotheca Alexandrina. He took us, via a fabulous presentation to the history and modern status of the BA focusing on the digital identity of the BA adapted to the developing global learning processes.

The presentation was a perfect setting for the workshop to launch. In the usual exciting IUCN culture the workshop was far from the boring formalities and developed a great sense of interactivity and dialogue which sent a high spirit among participants composed of education academics and practitioners, as well as scientists and media pundits.

IUCN CEC chair Keith Wheeler introduced the participants to the objectives of the workshop and then took a monitoring stand throughout the remaining procedings. Wheeler was successful in letting the flow of discussion go smoothy without interruption and provided an example of good facilitation by letting the natural dynamics evolve.

Salah Suleiman, Special Advisor in BA presented his views of the role of BA in learning and education as linked to the workshop, while Fayez Mikhail, the Alexandrian man working as IUCN IT manager was happy to be back in his home town and present an exciting overview of the development of IT use by IUCN.

Sherif Kandil from the Egyptian Educational Reform Programme and the CEC coordinator for the Arab Region provided an interesting insight about new knowledge and learning methodologies and how individuals and organisations can encourage the progression from knowledge to action, and how we can transfer our learning in one context to apply it in another.

At the end of the first day, Gillian Martin Mehers Head of Learning and Leadership programe in IUCN presented the schedule and used approaches for the workshop.

Maybe in a Second Life:

The second day was all about applications of new learning methodologies. It started with Dr Salah Soliman describing the BA League of Young Masters project where students help professors enter the digital age by converting text-based material from their academic courses into animated presentations, which has been receiving with a lot of praise from the participants.

After that Mr Vance Stevens, an educator working for the Petroleum Institute in Abu Dhabi provided an exciting introduction to the role of Web 2.0 in informal education and how it can be utilised for formal education. The talk identified eight aspects of the paradigm shift required for Web 2.0 acceptance. After that an exciting presentation was done by the two co-founders of Taking ITGlobal Michael Furdyk and Jennifer Corriero who both showed an example of the potential that can be realised by the combination of enthusiastic and creative youth and the availability of resources. Taking ITGlobal has became a remarkable network of more than 100,000 youth in 120 countries.

In the next presentations yours truely provided an overview of blogging in the Arab World and how this tool can be used for environmental awareness and education focusing on the Arab Environment Monitor experience. Buthaina Al Othman from Kuwait presented a case study of blending formal and informal education and learning for a group of bankers in Kuwait to integrate learning with work.

Menka Parekh an Indian enterpreuner provided an impressive and well articulated overview of the opportunities to accelerate social and environmental innovation in the Arab World stating that innovation is better than best practices and that networking with the "usual suspects" results in recycling of old ideas while innovation is a must. I agree.

Hossam Allam from CEDARE presented a practical example of using informal online education tools for Coastal Zone Management and his presentation was a much needed case of actual measurable impact.

The third day was based on experimenting new technologies in small groups. One of the exciting experiments was learning with Vance Stevens about virtual learning and communication methods especially Second Life and Webcast Academy. Vance is really well versed in these virtual ecosystems and feels very adapted. However I was a little bit hesitant to get engaged deeper and was building my own defence mechanism aganist such tools which really can make you addicted. I am better off with my blogging world and feel comfortable. As for Second life, well I may try it in a second life with more time to spare.

In summary this was a fantastic workshop that gave a lot of new insights on learning. It was friendly and warm and a perfect occasion for networking. I want to thank all the lovely IUCN team that made this workshop a success especially Gillian Martin Mehers, Elisabeth Crudgington, Cecilia Nizzola-Tabja and Caroline Redrup. I was also impressed with the very high quality and dedication of the young staff and volunteers in BA.

I will leave you with some photos of BA.