United States Distance Learning Association

gestions with the student and her colleagues
in the UAE. It made for very
powerful and relevant learning, although
quite different in content from what I had
originally prepared at the start of the week.
As I have become more familiar with the
technological possibilities of online interactive
linked distance learning, I have
become increasingly excited and intrigued
with its potential to help create formal,
diverse, connected learning communities.
Developing an ecological worldview in
part involves a blurring of perceptual borders
between where definitions of “local”
and “global” begin and end, particularly in
terms of environmental impact. Geographically
and/or culturally disparate learners
can use on-line technology to share their
knowledge, experiences, and discussions;
create perceptual immediacy and intimacy;
and in the process actively contribute
to course content.
There are numerous examples of how
this is being approached in formal and
informal learning, with students of all
ages, from K-12 to postgraduate. At the K-
12 end of the spectrum, there is the Finnish-based
ENO “Environment Online,” a
global virtual school for sustainable development
and environmental awareness.
This can be found on the Web at
http:eno.joensuu.fi/basics/briefly.htm
Another such example is iEARN (http://
www.iearn.org), “the world’s largest nonprofit
global network that enables teachers
and young people to use the Internet and
other new technologies to collaborate on
projects that both enhance learning and
make a difference in the world” (para. 1).
TakingITGlobal is a relevant e-learning
site that I recently used for e-linking
groups of students from two universities
internationally (NSU in Florida, and the
University of Guelph in Canada). TakingITGlobal
(TIG) is a nonprofit international
organization founded and led by
youth. It uses Web-based technology to
connect a target-base of youth 13 to 30
from around the world (130,000 members
in over 200 countries) to learn about crosscultural
issues and perspectives, so that
they may be empowered to take “tangible
action” (TakingITGlobal, 2006) to improve
their local and global communities.
Regional membership breakdown is notable
in terms of equity of access and voice
across the global North and South. For
2005, the highest percentage (28.9%) was
North America, followed by Africa (22.2%),
Asia (21%), Europe (13%), and the remainder.
The organization’s simple mantra is to
inspire, inform, involve. TIG promotes
socially and environmentally responsible
entrepreneurship and engagement
through technology, communication, collaboration,
and community. Its Web site is a
multifaceted hub where members interact,
learn and report at a local and global level.
Information and communication technologies
are explicitly recognized as a major
resource by TIG. The organization is selfdescribed
as “led by youth, empowered by
technology.” The use of the technologies is
not passive, but mandated to be “meaningful”
in terms of bringing about positive
change. Educators can take advantage of
the TIGEd site embedded within TakingIT-
Global to create open or closed classrooms
with the potential for asynchronous discussions,
chats, file uploading, blogs, and
the advantage of being able to collaborate
easily with other TIGEd educators and the
broad TIG member community.
Professor and educator David Orr is
chair of the environmental studies program
at Oberlin College, Ohio. He is the
author several books and numerous
papers on environmental literacy in higher
education, and renowned for his work in
ecological design. In an interview in London,
England in June 2005, he mused that:
Education is about educing qualities in
students … the role then of teaching is
the role in a way of being a broker, of
being a catalyst, but it’s not the old banking
model of education where poor,
young, ignorant, and empty minds come
38 Distance Learning Volume 4, Issue 4