The outreach education instructor at Royal Botanical Gardens puts on a lot of miles in a day. She’s actually not moving beyond the classroom at the Hamilton location but she’s interacting in real time with students across Ontario, Canada and the world.
“We’re using interactive video-conferencing to deliver program content right around the world,” says Barb McKean, head of education at RBG. “We deal with schools as far away as London England, and Germany. That could be part of the day and the rest of the day could be in Alaska.”
Instead of students arriving at RBG on a school bus and heading to the on-site classroom, they come via a real-time video conference. The interaction between the instructor and the students is the same as if they were in the same room. The instructor teaches from a studio that is set up like a classroom lab, complete with microscopes.
McKean explains some programs might require the classroom teacher to provide the students with some tactile items. She gives the example of the study of sensory plants found in the RBG’s Mediterranean Garden. Students would have their own samples of fragrant herbs, one element of the lesson that can’t be transmitted through cyberspace.
In addition to developing curriculum-based school programs, the RBG works with public library systems, colleges and universities to create its outreach and distance learning offerings.
In a different type of outreach, the public is invited to RBG for special video conferences with links to external sources. During March Break, in conjunction with the Amazon Voyage exhibit, visitors are able to interact with a scientist in Costa Rica as well as programming from museums and zoos around the world.
To find out more about video conferences, special events and more, visit Royal Botanical Gardens website at
www.rbg.ca.
