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Education E-update
- January 2008
BGCI Education Team
 | 2008: A Year for Growth
 Education in botanic gardens is all encompassing - so much so, it’s often difficult to keep up-to-date with current trends. This coupled with our busy work schedules often means that we fail to attend to our own continuing professional development. Nevertheless, we know the importance of stepping outside ourselves and finding opportunities to reflect and learn new skills. In this issue, we’re bringing you a variety of tools and opportunities to strengthen your professional development — from conferences to online courses to relevant blogs and newsletters. We hope you’ll take the time to make 2008 a year of growth for your organisation and you. Best wishes,
The BGCI Education Team
education@bgci.org (for general education enquiries to BGCI)
e-update@bgci.org (for Education E-update enquiries)
| | Education News from Around the World
Diploma course scholarship applications due March 31: The deadline for scholarship applications for the International Diploma in Botanic Garden Education course is approaching. All scholarship applications for the course, run by BGCI and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, must be received by March 31 in order to be considered. The course will take place Sept. 15-Oct. 17 and will cover all aspects of creating and running a botanic garden education programme. Don’t miss out on this exciting opportunity. New climate change resources online: The next issue of BGCI’s education journal, Roots, is due out in April and will focus on strategies for communicating about climate change. In the meantime, we’ve assembled a list of climate change resources from around the world. The highlighted resources are available in English, French and Spanish, and range from scientific information on climate change to ideas for climate change education programmes. Even more news online! If you’re looking for even more education news from BGCI and botanic gardens around the world, check out the BGCI home page. Currently, you’ll find stories about virtual field trips to botanic gardens in Canada, an innovative horticulture programme at a prison in Italy, and botanic garden education efforts in Mexico. You can also sign up to have weekly news updates from BGCI delivered straight to your email inbox. What's happening at your garden or plant-based education site? Send us your news, and we'll include it in the next issue of Education E-update. | | Tools You Can Use
Getting Attention: If you are looking for sound marketing and communications advice, check out the ‘Getting Attention’ e-newsletter and blog from U.S. non-profit consultant Nancy Schwartz. Whether you are looking for strategies to strengthen your organisation’s image or ways to use the internet effectively for marketing purposes, ‘Getting Attention’ provides straight-forward advice for organisations without blockbuster budgets. Habitat Ecology course online: The Wildlife Conservation Society’s Bronx Zoo (USA) is offering an online habitat ecology course for primary school teachers. The course covers topics including basic ecology, adaptation, the importance of wetlands, and the complexities of temperate forests. The course also includes strategies for teaching these topics effectively. The course begins Feb. 1 and offers three graduate credits. Volunteer management conference in Australia: Proposals are still being accepted for presentations at ‘Volunteering on the Edge: Sustainable Volunteer Management for Wild Places, Wildlife and Cultural Heritage’, to be held April 3-6 in Hobart, Australia. The conference is designed to meet the needs of volunteer managers at botanic gardens, zoos, wildlife centers, museums and other educational venues. BGEN’s Back to Basics: The Botanic Garden Education Network (UK) will be offering its ‘Back to Basics: Running a Schools Education Programme’ training course at three sites this spring. The course will take place Feb. 26 at the RHS Garden Hyde Hall, March 4 at Bristol Botanic Gardens, and April 10 at Glasgow Botanic Gardens. Content areas include creating and marketing a schools education programme, and ideas for primary and secondary education activities. NAAEE call for presentations: The North American Association for Environmental Education is accepting proposals for its 2008 conference, 'EE on the Prairie: Pioneering New Strategies'. But hurry! Proposals are due Jan. 29. Do you have tools or resources to share with other plant-based educators? Send us your tools, and we'll include them in an upcoming issue of Education E-update. | | Housekeeping
To subscribe to Education E-update, use our online form. For information about how we protect your privacy, see our Privacy Policy. To reuse content from Education E-update in your own publication, send us an email. | | | | January 2008 | | In the Spotlight This month, we shine the spotlight on the Botanical Garden of Irkutsk State University (Russia). If you would like to be “In the Spotlight”, send us an email. The Botanical Garden of Irkutsk State University has a rich history spanning nearly 70 years. As the oldest botanic garden in Siberia, it has become an important centre for plant science and conservation research. The only thing missing at the Garden, however, has been visitors. While the Garden does offer guided tours and serves as an educational resource for the university, it is not open to the general public—-but that is all about to change. In 2011, the Garden will open its doors to public visitors for the first time. With support from the European Union, the Garden will expand by nearly 100 hectares to include the nearby Kayskaya relic grove, which faces threats from development and urbanisation. Education programmes will be available for the 600,000 visitors expected to visit the new Garden each year, and will build on the Garden’s current offerings in horticultural therapy, regional eco-expeditions and horticultural training. Plans for the Garden also include a horticulture centre, a native flora garden, a Japanese garden, and a planetarium. The Garden expects to complete its expansion in 2018. For more information about the Botanical Garden of Irkutsk State University, email the Garden's Director, Victor Kuzevanov or visit the Garden's website. | | | | | | Send your news around the world! Did you know that each issue of Education E-update is sent to more than 1,300 plant-based educators around the world? Send us your news, and we'll help tell the world!. | | | | | | | | | | Spread the news! Please forward this to your education colleagues or to others who have an interest in plant-based conservation education. | | | | | | | | | Education E-update is a free e-newsletter published monthly by Botanic Gardens Conservation International. Botanic Gardens Conservation International
www.bgci.org
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Receive Roots RegularlyRoots is a bi-annual international education review and essential reading for anyone working in the area of environmental education. Content is in English, French and Spanish. You can receive your own personal copy hot off the press, with the BGCI Education Pack. Click the pic to find out how...
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