Digital Explorer uses a powerful combination of satellite, internet and digital media technologies to harness the power of “ the journey” and the natural ability of young people to inspire their peers
| Problem | We saw a current system failure in how young people are educated about the wider world in the classroom and how they were lacking a truly global education. |
Through his firsthand experience teaching Geography, History and Citizenship in classrooms across East and South East London, Digital Explorer founder Jamie Buchanan-Dunlop realised it was simply not adequate to present young people with a mere logical or rational argument about why they should care about the environment or cultures other than their own.
| Solution | Devise a unique and innovative educational approach, using four main techniques, which will create enhanced emotional engagement between young people and their wider world. This not only benefits the pupils who do travel overseas, but their classroom and global communities as well. |
Technique #1: Pupil-to-Pupil learning
The core group of pupils who are taken on an expedition become the eyes and ears of the world for all of their peers back in the UK. Young people admit they find it far easier to learn from and relate to someone their own age, rather than adult presenters, journalists or politicians.
Technique #2: Real-time journeys
Any journey or expedition is a powerful metaphor for learning. Through the use of the latest satellite and internet technologies, Digital Explorer expeditions are followed in real-time by pupils, peers, families and colleagues back home, creating an unparalleled level of interactivity and collaboration with those in the field.
Technique #3: Immersive environments
The high-level use of 3D immersive environments, like Google Earth, allows pupils in the classroom to gain a rich sense of a place, culture and environment, as live information supplied directly by pupils in the field is then experienced virtually in class.
Technique #4: Curriculum tie-ins
Helping teachers develop relevant curriculum tie-ins ensures that the expedition and online media experience is further supported through full classroom teaching.
Digital Explorer model
By combining these four techniques, the journey of a few translates into a portal of learning and understanding for many.
The Offscreen Student Expedition 2007, which showcased the Digital Explorer model, saw 10 pupils from four schools in London travel to the UAE and Oman for 12 days. They created a portrait of the Middle East from a pupil’s eye view and away from media stereotypes.
There were structured learning activities for the 5,000 pupils in all four of the schools involved, and 20,000 pupils followed the expedition online.
The estimated combined media audience (print, press, television and web) was over 3,000,000.