Hello GRUEN participants!
It looks like some of the teams have done a good job getting a conversation started about developing a list of criteria to use when evaluating a green city: congrats to teams # 13, 20, 21, 22, 23, and 25! Great job leading the way!
Some of you are wondering why your teammates haven't responded. I know that the Spanish teammates have been on Easter holiday for the past 10 days or so, but I think they should join the discussion very soon!
Some of you have asked how many criteria should be on your final group list. I would say each student should propose 2 or 3 criteria with a sentence or two of justification. Try to discuss and reach a consensual final list. Minimum length of the final list should be at least one per member of your group, maximum two per member of your group. So if your group has 6 members, your final list should be minimum 6 criteria, maximum 12.
After your group has developed a consensual list of criteria, it's time to move on to the How Green is YOUR city? unit.
The focus of this unit is for students to investigate how THEIR city does on the criteria they have chosen. For most students this will be a pair group of 2 students per city, but in some groups it may be 3 or even 4. Do some research to evaluate how YOUR CITY has performed on your criteria. If possible, go and visit a relevant site (water filtration site, garbage landfill, power generation, etc) and take photos to share. If you can't go in person, just do research online and gather facts and photos, and share the information on the forum.
The discussion forum is called "Evaluate your City". Add a new discussion topic, and put your city name as the subject. Each student should take lead on a group of criteria: half the list each for pairs, or a third of the list if there are 3 students from a group in the same city. After you have posted your research, post a few questions to your pair team member, or in other discussion areas. Find other people researching your city, and ask them questions, or give feedback.
I hope that most of you have tried setting up WhatsApp groups by now. One easy way to do this is to look under the top-right "three dots", select Group Info, then Invite Via Link. You can copy-paste to post that link on the GRUEN workshop forum in your group area to make it easy for your groupmates to join. You can organize a date/time for a video chat using WhatsApp, or Zoom, or the Adobe Connect group areas I have set up for each team: https://gruen.adobeconnect.com/teamX (where X is your team number).
Later this week I will organize a couple of web conferences on Adobe Connect to review progress and answer any questions you might have.
Best wishes for your success!
Brant
GRUEN workshop moderator & technical facilitator
