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Edmonton Regional Community of Practice March Meeting
WHAT WE HEARD Wednesday March 5 , 2014. 9:00am-‐‑3:30pm
Oxbridge Place, Edmonton Alberta
Edmonton Regional Community of Practice March Meeting participants
ACEE would like to thank the Edmonton Community Foundation for funding this initiative.
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COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE BACKGROUND ACEE launched the Communities of Practice (CoP) program with topic specific groups in fall of 2012. The pillars of the program are:
1. Share – CoP members share their resources, knowledge and skills with others: as a result, CoP members become more efficient and effective.
2. Collaborate – CoP members collaborate on programs and projects that advance their work: they work together to overcome barriers, identify and remove program overlaps and gaps, create partnerships and synergies, and develop coordinated approaches to audiences and funders.
3. Celebrate – Success stories are shared and celebrated: all stakeholders are inspired and encouraged.
4. Influence – CoP members work to ensure that environmental education has a strong presence in curriculum and in practice within the formal education system.
5. Sustain – Communities of Practice in environmental education are valued, embraced, and sustained by the community.
The two central questions guiding this CoP are:
• What do you need to advance your own programs? • What can we do together to advance environmental education in the Edmonton area?
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LAUNCH MEETING
Agenda
• Welcome and Introductions • What is a CoP and what are the possibilit ies? • EE in Edmonton -‐‑ together we will explore the following questions:
1. From you or your organizations perspective, what are the challenges for delivering excellent environmental education to your audiences?
2. What are elements of a great EE program 3. What does Edmonton have going for it when it comes to environmental education
and outreach programs? 4. What does an environmentally literate Edmontonian look like and what do they do? 5. What are the most important environmental topics/issues in the Edmonton area?
• Small Group Discussions -‐‑ An opportunity for you to have a focused conversation with a small group on a topic of interest to you -‐‑ What issue/question would you like to discuss with a small group that could help advance your work?”
• Big picture -‐‑ We addressed the following question: "ʺWhat can this group do together to advance environmental education in the Edmonton area?"ʺ
• Next steps -‐‑ how should this group continue? who needs to come?
ATTENDEES Giving a full day away from your everyday work is a challenge, thanks to everyone who attended for the full day or part of the day. There were also people would like to be involved but could not make it.
• Alberta Council for Environmental Education-‐‑ Christina Pickles, Kathy Worobec • Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development – Glenn Gustafson • Alberta Tourism, Parks and Recreation – Kevin Cantelon, Morgan Cole • Devonian Botanical Gardens – Emma Ausford, Deb Grenier • Ealey Professional Services – Dave Ealey • Evergreen – Claudia Bolli, Kathy Goble • Holyrood School – Jade Dodd • Junior Forest Rangers – Brett Spady • Nature Alberta -‐‑ Laura Edwards • North Saskatchewan Watershed Alliance – Billie Miholland • Sherwood’s Forest Tree Farm – Sherwood Botsford • Strathcona County – Alexandria Fisher • Strathcona Wilderness Centre – Lana Ohler-‐‑Madsen, Keri Elko • University of Alberta – Antonella Bell, Nicole Martin • Wagner Natural Area Society – Patsy Cotterill
With Regrets:
• City of Edmonton – Nicole Fraser, Lana Arjan, Heather Wheeliker
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ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION IN EDMONTON
OUR COLLECTIVE WISDOM Our collective mind is more powerful than any one mind alone. In groups of 3 people, our participants were asked to ponder and discuss one of the following 5 questions and record their answers on the flip chart. After a few minutes the group moved and the next group added to their record.
What are the most important environmental topics/issues in the Edmonton area?
• Urban sprawl, loss of excellent
farmland and small farms and natural areas
• River Access • Public awareness • Energy Education (eg. Natural gas
conservation) • Transportations biking paths • Waste management • Waste education • Invasive plants • Sustainability • Herbicides/pesticides • Climate change • Air quality
• Idling and drive throughs • Connections between topics systems
– The big picture, integrated program
• Water quality • Communities not local amenities eg
groceries • Community action/engagement • Water conservation • Loss of habitat/natural areas/green
space • Neighbourhood design restrictions
clotheslines chickens, bees, natural/ veggies
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What are the elements of a great environmental education program?
• Students have: time, choice, own their learning
• Focused environmental/education goal objectives
• Defined targets and connection to all other in topic area
• Defined methods of delivery • Experiential/Knowledge
acquisition/comprehension/integration/implementation according to targets
• Great in the classroom, better place based
• Leads to action • Charity giving/giving back resources • Fun and engaging • Self-‐‑direction with guidance • Hopeful/empowering • Place-‐‑based • Systems thinking
• Local vs global • Targeted messages and actions of
older audiences • Get outside • Younger audience emotional
connection, notice, note name • Getting older not just telling people
o Build knowledge o Action opportunities
• Not just telling people what to do persuasion not instruction
• Dirt, wet not just look • Go with what shows up, with
students are experiencing (takes courage from the teacher)
• Calculated risk produces the reward • Inspired to continue own learning,
outdoors, reading, internet • Accessibility
From your perspective or organization, what are the challenges for delivering excellent environmental education to your audiences?
• Lack of basic biology/science knowledge of part of students and teachers and interpreters
• Language barriers for new immigrants/cultural sensitivity
• Problems/barriers with risk management
• Logistics/time management/transportation/$$
• Soundbite journalism, lack of depth in the news and current affairs, fear mongering
• Misleading information • Being overwhelmed • Lack of critical thinking
• Seen as a fringe issue, needs to be mainstreamed. Critical to healthy , psychology, environmental sustainability.
• Limited funding for schools • Siloed program topics (often due to
curriculum demands) • Lack of enviro training for teachers,
need a personal connection • Lack of connection to natural world
(scared to site on ground) understanding can address
• Disinterest • Cost of programs
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• More holistic image not just environmental educators, problem,
humanity’s problem, too much of a specialty eg. Organic or niche
What are the attributes of an environmentally literate Edmontonian and what do they do?
• Act with the environment in mind in
day to day decisions • Conscious of energy use and take
steps to minimize their impact • See the big picture • Energy efficiency in home • Awareness and appreciations for
natural world and their connection to it
• Active recycle, re-‐‑use, refuse • Someone who enjoys and takes
opportunity to go outside • Understands and participates in
local environmental issues and is aware of global environmental
issues (eg. Climate warming) and contributes (financially or time) to ENGOs. Wants to protect ecosystems and ecosystems services
• Volunteer for environmental/green organizations/stewardship
• Fosters e-‐‑literacy in other generations
• Advocates for environmental policy • Consistent awareness of
environmental issues • Unafraid of environmental issues,
unafraid to speak out, open dialogues
What does Edmonton have going for it when it comes to environmental education and outreach programs?
• River valley • Diversity interests/opportunities • Diversity/abundance organizations • Energy funding of EE • Passionate/knowledgeable population • Green learning community • Municipal support for EE • Regional vision for environmental
planning • Most green space per capital in north
America • Excellent outreach facilities • Devonian gardens • Departments and offices at educational
institutions • The Way we Green • Support for community garden • LRT expansion • Waste management centre – world
renown
• River Valley Clean up • Master naturalist program • Master composter program • Partners in Parks program • Natural areas program • Edmonton bio-‐‑kit • Abundance of natural areas
surrounding Edmonton and diversity of these spaces
• Urban wildlife • Centres and lakes of outdoor stuff • Provincial parks good by • National parks nearby • Alberta parks • Treat it Right • Waste Centre • John Janzen • Fort Edmonton
SMALL GROUP DISCUSSIONS Participants were asked to identify issues or topics they would like to explore in more depth with a small group of their peers. The focusing question was: “What issue/question would you like to discuss with a small group that could help advance your work?”
Turning Awareness into Action
• You don’t always need to start with awareness or facts • This is more of a circular approach where people can engage at any stage and then continue to
gather more information/skills. • Personal experiences are usually the things that get people interested • Mentorship is important • Learning by doing is an excellent way to get to action • People want to fit in – need to know the social norms and use these • Important to showcase early adopters – make this the new social norm • There is a tipping point of getting more and more people to take action (e.g. blue boxes in
Edmonton) • Make it fun and it has to be convenient – find out what excites people – personal passion • Use some form of motivation – competition, recognition, become part of a community • People feel they are separate from the environment – need to change this so people see
themselves as part of the environment • WE’RE ALL IN IT TOGETHER
Marketing, Social Media, Networking, Ads
• This is a part of our culture and we need to utilize this even though we want people to have more of a balance between getting outside and using technology
• Ensure that your Facebook, Twitter etc. is something people can engage with – try to make it something that is engaging, allows them to discover, or have a social base – make it as experiential in nature as possible – something they wan to share or join in
• You always need to KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE – who are you trying to reach, how do they use social media, when are they using it, etc.
• Share the information but also make sure you include “why” you are doing this – what is your call to action and why. We often say what we’re doing but we forget to say Why – the Why is the part that helps people connect
• Use humour and be concise
Uniting EE Groups to Present a Unified and Cohesive Front in the Edmonton Area
• Why would we want to do this? The purpose: o to coordinate & collaborate (vs competing against each other for getting our audiences
attention or funding) o To streamline promotions of quality/standardized EE programs (less on standardized but
more on quality) o Professional development and support (resource sharing etc) – helping us get better at
what we do o Building excellence and respect in EE – what are excellent EE programs, how do we
ensure we are all striving for these standards
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• How will we do this: o Frequent meetings and site visits – need to build trust o Developing standards – what is excellent EE – create an inventory of who is doing what
and for what audiences – assessing gaps and overlaps o Create a concise inventory to promote – easy to use o Create internal sharing o Collaborative promotions – newspapers, conventions, etc
Connecting like topic groups and audiences into collaborative frequent meetings & exchanges
• Need to establish small group/avenues of networks around specific environmental issues/topics – more regional
• How is the big question? ACEE could help get this started? • People need to make a commitment • Move to collaboration – knowledge sharing and coordination
Other topics put forward but not discussed
• Raising environmental awareness of a whole community (e.g. Gibbons) with an environmental issue working with schools, council and municipality
• Developing programs for specific groups (e.g. new comers to Canada) – topics/content, other considerations, logistics, etc.
• Supporting the new curriculum focus
BIG PICTURE AND NEXT STEPS Participants were asked to answer the question: “What can we do together to advance environmental education in the Edmonton area?” Once a list was generated, everyone was given three dots to distribute amongst the items on the list based on what they thought the most important actions to take next. The following is a list of the action in order of priority:
1. List of programs being offered in the Edmonton area, including topics and audience (9 votes)
2. Formalize the Edmonton CoP – what are we are about (6 votes) 3. Develop an on-‐‑line presence to include organizations who could not make the meeting
(5 votes) 4. Visual representation of who is doing what. Very similar to #1. (4 votes) 5. Calendar of events. Include professional and social. (4 votes) 6. Who we are. Very similar to #2. (3 votes) 7. What does collaboration mean, case study, example. (3 votes) 8. Environmental education resource map for Edmonton region. (2 votes) 9. Network weaving, list of groups. Similar to #1. (1 vote) 10. Reason to be involved with this group. Similar to #2 (1 vote) 11. Knowledge, skills and expertise in the group. (0 votes) 12. Gap analysis. Who is missing? Related to #1. (0 votes) 13. Conference, event to showcase EE in Edmonton. (0 votes)
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ACTIONS Action Who Create a survey to obtain feedback from individuals unable to make this first meeting
ACEE
Update Edmonton CoP webpage with meeting summary – www.abcee.org/cop/edmonton
ACEE
Create a template/spreadsheet to begin recording Edmonton area EE programs
ACEE
Fill out spreadsheet with program information CoP members Encourage colleagues and other EE organizations to be involved
CoP members
Create an on-‐‑line Edmonton Regional CoP membership
ACEE
Set half day meeting in April ACEE Set agenda for half day meeting
• Include time to define what this group is and what they do.
ACEE
UPCOMING EVENTS/DEADLINES • RBS-‐‑Evergreen Watershed Champions Award – offering eight regional awards of $2500
and one national award of $3500 to publicly funded elementary and middle-‐‑school classes across Canada – just for learning about water! Application deadline – April 18, 2014. Contact: [email protected]
www.evergreen.ca/watershed
• TRASHED: Movie and Panel discussion, April 3 – 7:00 – 9:30pm – Strathcona County Chambers (please register) – TRASHED is a provocative documentary with Jeremy Irons investigating garbage and challenging viewers to look at waste from a global perspective. Contact: [email protected]
http://engagedpatrons.org/EmailThis.cfm?SiteID=2270&EventID=198286&PK&colorbox=Y
• Edible School Yards workshop – upcoming workshop in Edmonton – possible date April 15th. Contact Claudia Bollie: [email protected]
• Project WET Facilitators workshop – attend the session so you can facilitate your own Project WET workshops – possible dates May 14th & 15th in Edmonton. Contact Glenn Gustafson: [email protected]
• Nurture Their Nature – U of A summer session course EDES 401/501 (undergraduate & graduate) – July 28th to August 13th – participants will learn ways of increasing children’s awareness and appreciation of the natural world through art, story, nature journaling and experiential activities. Contact Antonella Bell: [email protected]
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• Junior Forest Rangers – youth ages 16 – 18 enrolled in high school – youth join a community-‐‑based crew and work with this crew in a camp for seven weeks (July 3rd to August 20th) for a summer work experience. Application deadline is April 1st . Contact Brett Spady: [email protected]
www.AlbertaJFR.ca
• Green Drinks Edmonton – a simple, unstructured event that brings together environmentally-‐‑minded Edmontonians in a relaxed, agenda-‐‑free evening of networking and great conversation. Meetings are the first Wednesday of every month 7-‐‑10 at the Yellowhead Brewery. Next event – April 2nd – purchase tickets now. www.thelocalgood.ca/green-‐‑drinks-‐‑edmonton
INFORMATION SHARING • Treat it Right! – Low Impact Development – Grade 7 – a new resource for Grade 7 from
the City of Edmonton, Drainage Branch. Contact Janice Dewar: [email protected] • Environmental Literacy – Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development
(ESRD) is creating an Environmental Education Framework for Environmental Literacy to guide their work. They are outlining the essential stages in the journey to become environmentally literate that include – collective action, skills, attitudes, knowledge and awareness. Contact Glenn Gustafson: [email protected]
