MyKnowledgeMap

Introduction to birds and birdwatching

Client: RSPB

Primary Aims:

• To provide a rounded introductory course to learning about birds and birdwatching, designed for a wide-ranging, adult audience.

Key Challenge:

• To devise a course that appeals to, and holds the interest of, recreational learners, who are pursuing it out of their own interest, not to gain a qualification.
• The course needs to provide learners with a broad and thorough introduction to birds and birdwatching while enabling them to pursue it in the way they wanted. So learners should be able to dip in and out and learn at their own pace while also gathering course accreditation.

Solution:

• MyKnowledgeMap has devised a course that takes learners on a journey into and through the world of birds, beginning with the fundamentals of bird watching, then moving to bird anatomy ("How birds are built", "How birds work", "What to look for", "Songs & calls") before looking at conservation issues.
• The course is broken into 20 topics that use a wide range of texts and images in online interactions and offline activities.
• Online interactions include building habitats, quizzes and matching birds with sounds. Offline activities include field tracking, silhouette identification, bird hunts, etc.
• The course makes use of extensive and detailed bird illustrations, as well as bird call soundtracks within ambient sound backgrounds (sea, wind, trees, tractor) to provide a more authentic listening experience.
• Each learner is assigned a mentor to answer questions, and will have access to a community discussion forum. There will be a printable workbook, and a birdwatchers’ logbook. Learners can track their own progress through the course, and when they have completed it, they will receive a recreational qualification awarded by the RSPB.
• The course will be launched in Autumn 2006.