Green Learning Network (GLN) Project

Agriculture, Biodiversity and Rural (ABR) practice (in the form of farming and other rural professionals) is often disconnected from the teaching and learning in agricultural subjects. This restricts the insights of researchers and teachers and limits the educational content available to learners. In order to address this challenge, the Green Learning Network (GLN) project has been established to create a network of educators, agricultural professionals, institutions, learners and user communities for lifelong learning. Greig Krull provides more information on the project and elaborates on Saide’s role.

GLN aims to be a focal point to access, contribute and use rich learning resources drawn from experiences and insights of farmers, rural professionals and experts. The project is funded by the European Commission’s Lifelong Learning Programme and runs from November 2013 to October 2016.
Saide’s role in the project is to contribute in the following ways:
  • Consult with our partners and stakeholders on higher education agricultural learning needs in Africa (through interviews and surveys)
  • Contribute agricultural open educational resources (OERs) developed in Africa to the GLN repository
  • Create or contribute case studies on the use of agricultural OER in Africa
  • Publicise the project and platform through social media, newsletters and participation in conferences and workshops.

The project has set out to achieve the following aims:

  • Deliver an infrastructure to connect learners, educators, experts and practitioners in the ABR field
  • Provide a platform to share ideas and exchange insights derived from real agricultural problems
  • Leverage the expertise and innovation of the virtual collaboration to provide farmers with practical solutions
  • Create appropriate and productive educational scenarios and OER for all student levels
  • Create a repository of best practice in ABR education
  • Enable a social network for individuals and working groups to develop portfolios of their activities and interests in ABR  

In the first year of the project, the aim has been to establish the network through identifying the learning needs of all impacted stakeholders, developing the online social platform (http://greenlearningnetwork.eu) and extending the reach of the project through summer schools and workshops at conferences.

There are 10 partners from a wide variety of educational areas involved in the project:

  • AgroSup Dijon, France
  • Spanish Society for Organic Farming (SEAE), Spain
  • Ellinogermaniki Agogi (EA), Greece
  • 21c Consultancy, England
  • Austrian Federal Ministry of Education and Women's Affairs (BMBF), Austria
  • National History Museum, Czech Republic
  • Agroknow Technologies, Greece
  • University of Gastronomic Sciences, Italy
  • University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany
  • Saide, South Africa

Although the major focus of the project is European, there are opportunities for networking and expansion in Africa. Saide will be sharing its expertise and OER content in agricultural education in Africa. Saide will also be extending the reach of the network through related initiative such as OER Africa, AgShare and RUFORUM.

More information is available in the first issue of the Green Learning Network Newsletter. Other opportunities to keep up to date with project activities is through the Green Learning Network page on Facebook or follow @GLN_eu on Twitter.