PROJECT FORUM

• Bekaa Coordinators meeting

• Student's Letter

• Teacher's Letter

• High Commette Forum

• Coordinators Forum

Schoolnet Project 2007-2008

Lebanese Eco-Tourism and Basis For Its Development

Name of Project:  “Lebanese Eco-Tourism and Basis For Its Development"

Partnership: Schoolnet Lebanon, iEARN-Lebanon,  Microsoft, Educational Association for IT Development (EAID), Ministry of Tourism and Ministry of Environment

 Brief one-sentence description of project:

Students will develop critical thinking to reflect upon the use of ICT in the development of Lebanese eco-tourism., Power Point presentations and Photo Gallery will be executed in partnership with the "Educational Association for IT Development (EAID)",  Ministry of Tourism, “Iearn Lebanon”, and “Microsoft”.

 Full description of project:  

The civil war in Lebanon had a negative direct and indirect impact on the Lebanese environmental situation. Also this war and subsequent wars led to damages in the infrastructure and environmental wealth of water, forest and civil management. All of this led to a number of problems in the tourism industry, eco-tourism and thus, on the national economy.

In front of all this, it became necessary for Lebanese students to play a positive role within their potential and through Para scholar activities to establish research and analysis on how to revive eco-tourism in Lebanon through the use of means of information and communication to contribute to the restoration of Lebanon's role and position on the global tourism arena. an analysis study of the environmental consequences of this tourism and the desire of people to travel to Lebanon to take advantage of the eco-tourism will also be accomplished.

The project represents a Para scholar activity for the students to study the integrated capabilities and contributions provided by information and communication technology, to rebuild eco-tourism in Lebanon through electronic means, information technology and communications to restore its prestige on the world stage, to develop the necessary proposals on the protection of environmental sites, and proposing new sites to become Lebanese reserves, and to use these sites for the Lebanese tourism development in general.

Pupils will do one of two things: first, a practical activity through the rehabilitation of a certain forest which was burned last year and the years before, then document it through PowerPoint presentations and digital images. Second, using CDs containing documents and POWER POINT presentations that highlight environmental qualified places unknown in their areas or any environmental reserves to become sites for eco-tourism

These sites should first be capable of recruiting tourism, second help the development of eco-tourism third show the importance of these sites on our heritage and create propaganda that leads the tourists to visit them. Finally, introduction of this project in a lively work documented images that show the environmental value of the site subject, during the first week of May 2008 in the annual celebration of SchoolNet Lebanon.

Students will give PowerPoint presentations, build websites, and run a “photography exhibition” at "The Ministry of Uducation Stadium - UNESCO" (date to be announced). Students’ research and analysis will be presented on Schoolnet’s Forum 2008.

  Age/level of project participants:

From 12 to 18 years old

 Timetable/Schedule for the project:

The project will be launched in December 2008 and will continue till May 2008.  Students work will be published online on an ongoing basis. The project will be evaluated in the first of May 2008.

Possible project/classroom activities: Students will research the eco-tourism based industry and interview business people in the natural reserves who were impacted by the war and forest which was burned last year and the years before,. They will research the environmental devastation of Lebanon’s shore, the pollution of water and of the fields of village littered with landmines and unexploded ordinance…and interview their peers internationally to better understand the impact on eco-tourism from a global perspective.  

Students can post their views in the forum in the form of: essays, publications, reports, artwork, PowerPoint presentations.

 Expected outcomes/products:

Essays, publications, reports, related artwork, websites, artwork, pictures, and participation in activities aiming at restoring the environment.

All students' contribution will be published on the following website: www.schoolnet.edu.lb/projects/iot.htm

 Project language(s):

Arabic, French and English

 Curriculum area:

Language, Science, Environmental Studies Sociology, Geography, History, and Technology

 Names/email of initial participating groups:

Teachers from secondary public school that are distributed in all districts in Lebanon will be invited to join the project. A TOT workshop will be offered to lead teachers to deliver the workshop.

Coordinators: All coordinators in the schools of the participants

Facilitators Management:  Abdou Yammine, abdonada@cyberia.net.lb,  coordinator of Internet Projects at the Ministry of Education and Higher Education in Lebanon   and Eliane Metni, eliane@emetni.com,  IEA coordinator

Facilitators: Widad Elias (North Lebanon), Najat Mirza (Beirut), Patricia Khoury (Mount Lebanon), Souad Mortada (Bekaa), Zainab Abbas (Nabatieh) and Narjess El Sahily (South Lebanon).

Schoolnet supervising committee: Mr. Fadi Yarak General director of Education, Dr. Raymond Khoury, Mr. Khalil Abdel Massih, Mrs. Eliane Metni, Mr Wadih Zaatar, Mme Tamara Samaha, Mme Rania Zakhia, Embassador Mansour Abdallah, Mme Pauline Yammine Hayek, and Mr. Abdou Yammine.

 School level of project participants:

Secondary 1 through secondary 3 levels are invited to participate in this forum.

 Timetable/Schedule for the project:

The project will be launched on Jan, 2008 and will continue until May, 2008. Students work will be published online on an ongoing basis. The project will be evaluated in May 2008 and hopefully

A Photo Gallery will take place at the UNESCO Palace where students will exhibit the best photos (40x60) taken by a digital camera and used in them projects. Guidelines on the pictures which will be accepted will be distributed.

Teachers from secondary public schools from all school districts in Lebanon will be invited to participate in the project. A train-the-trainer workshop will be offered to lead teachers to deliver the project outputs.

 CLEAR guidelines, process and dates will be distributed during the TOT and will include:

Project activities calendar/schedule

Process and expectations

Evaluation scheme and grading criteria

A project template for classes

 Top: Execution schedule:

The implementation of the project will begin in December 2004

Top:

Student’s letter: it is a letter prepared by a group of students (3 to 4 rows) containing information about their school and the motive behind their choice for the tourist site with a brief definition of this site.

Teacher’s letter it is a letter prepared by the teachers who supervise the research that are conducted by students.  This letter should include a brief synopsis about the use of ICT in the school and its role in the development of critical thinking and scientific research of students in general.

Leading question: it’s a question that poses an idea about eco-tourism to become a subject of discussion among students.  The discussion should take place on line, particularly on schoolnet forum.  The aim is to enrich students’ research and their knowledge.

Top:  Indicators of quality expected in the project.

At the end of this project, students should demonstrate the ability and skill to hold their arguments and support their views with respect to the following questions:

1.      Have their skills improved as the result of this project? If yes, in which ways and to what levels?

2.      What are the factors that encourage the use of ICT in tourism?

3.      What are the lessons learned from using ICT in their education process?

4.      What are their views about the impact of ICT as encouraging tourism?

5.      What competency development on the practical and reflective levels have they gained?

Top:  Evaluation of achievement

Top: To accomplish a complete project, students must be able to:

·       Define their leading question.

·       Demonstrate its correlation to her/his own life/community.

·       Find appropriate resources.

·       Conduct a research.

·       Analyze/cross-compare and/or synthesize.

·       Compile the data

·       Document and reference their work.

·       Present their work in a report form.

·       Prepare a Power Point presentation.

·       Prepare a draft web site through Front Page program.

Top: Guidance on Evaluation.

·         Students must identify how the use of ICT impacts positively the development of eco-tourism in a chosen site. This should be related to the area researched by the students, rather than being a broad summation of the effects of ICT in general.

·         Students must use appropriate sources of information when researching material for their report. It is recognized that students at this level may need guidance in identifying and selecting suitable sources of information.

·         Students must briefly describe what improvements have resulted from ICT use in the area that they have studied, and how ICT facilitated this improvement.

·         Based on their research of their chosen subject, students should identify possible future use of eco-Tourism either within the usages area that they focused on or in other applicable areas.

·         Students must independently identify and select appropriate sources of information. This does not preclude a student checking the accuracy or reliability of an information source with their teacher. Collection of statistical or numeric information to quantify the impact of ICT on a particular area of focus is highly encouraged.

·         Students must plan the content and presentation of their reports so that their final report is well structured, properly referenced and easy to follow. Students may want to use a pro-forma or produce outline plans of the content and structure of their work to help them achieve this criterion.

·          Students must recognize both the advantages and disadvantages of the use of ICT in the chosen area of study.

·         Students must evaluate the usefulness of each source of information they used in their research. They may want to include comments on the reliability, accuracy or currency of the information available, and other sources of information

·         Students must make suggestions as to how their research or final report could be improved. This may relate to content or presentation, but should not be trivial, for example "reprint in color"

·         Students must work to make the final presentation well structured, fairly encompassing in terms of content, and strategic in terms of impact of ICT on eco-tourism.

·         If working in groups, each student must work on one part of the research project and profess an investigated area so as to contribute equally to the group in both the report and presentation formations.

Evaluation Assesment

The evaluation that will be carried out by the higher project committee will be based on the following criteria: 

Abdou Yammine

Ministry of Education and Higher Education

Schoolnet Manager