It’s all coming together.
Late last week, the Trent Community Research Centre posted two eight-week research positions for students to work with A\J to help us and Canada’s environmental community tell their stories in the most effective and engaging ways possible.
In close collaboration with Trent faculty, A\J is creating a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) that will help anyone working in the environmental field in Canada better understand not only our own environmental history, but expert tips and tricks for engaging the public and encouraging governments to take action.
And we need two students to help bring the MOOC to life.
« Outreach Coordinator »
A\J wants to help other environmental charities across Canada share their victories and call to actions with a broader audience. One major way we hope to do this is through the MOOC. But rather than assuming we know what information would be useful for charities and eNGOs in Canada, we need someone to work with us to contact these groups to find out how best we can be of use.
From the position posting:
A student researcher, working as our Outreach Coordinator, would be responsible for contacting other charities, NGOs and nonprofits working in the environmental community to better understand the struggles they face in telling the public about the good work they are doing for the environment. They will also begin collecting information on what tools and areas of focus would be most useful to the environmental community moving forward as they seek to broaden their reach.
The student would also be required to investigate other large-scale environmental storytelling campaigns undertaken by other organizations and determine best practices. The Coordinator would then synthesize the information gleaned from other environmental organizations around the country and report back to A\J on how best for Alternatives to proceed with crafting the MOOC.
« Community Engager »
Another crucial component of the MOOC is community engagement. Here at A\J, we’re not interested in telling Canada’s environmental community how to engage the public, as they know their target audiences better than we do. But we do understand that people share common gaps in understanding about some environmental issues (think “carbon tax” vs. “price on carbon”) that are hugely important to our future.
The Community Engager will play a key role in helping us identify these issues and how best to work with eNGOs and the public.
From the position posting:
A student researcher, working as our Community Engager, would be responsible for working alongside Alternatives staff and Trent faculty to engage with members of the environmental community to determine what aspects of Canada’s environmental history they feel the public needs to better understand. The researcher will also explore opportunities for members of Canada’s environmental community to contribute to the creation of the MOOC to ensure the process (and final product) is collaborative, all-encompassing and representative of Canada’s diversity and vast geography.
The student researcher will also be required to investigate existing research on how best to motivate people to act on environmental issues. The Community Engager will then synthesize the information gleaned from their research and report back to A\J with recommendations regarding how best to promote the MOOC.
Both positions will run for eight weeks in the winter 2019 semester, likely from early February to early April. Start dates are subject to student schedules (in other words, we’re pretty flexible.)
We also anticipate that any students who work with A\J through these TCRC positions would be well positioned to apply to work with A\J as a paid intern in summer 2019.
For more info on how to apply for these positions, visit the TCRC website and follow the prompts. The listings have also been posted on the Trent School of the Environment website.
As always, let me know if you have any Qs. (editorial @ alternativesjournal . com)
Andrew
Editor-in-Chief