What if every learner had access to high quality virtual education?
What if the knowledge developed within universities could overcome the academic barrier and reach students all over the world? We at Just One Giant Lab (JOGL) recently held another ‘What If ‘ event, focused on fostering insightful conversations and stimulating new connections within our community. In this session, we talked with Eugenia Covernton, the research coordinator of Lecturers Without Borders.
Lecturers without Borders (LeWiBo) is an association of scientists, university and school professors using travel opportunities (when they attend scientific conferences and go on holidays) to give free public lectures in local schools and universities in developing countries.
LeWiBo is always open to receiving educators who would be interested in talking about their topic of expertise, and they can register through this link.
Empowering students to become AGENTS of communication
Along with the serious health consequences of the disease and the economic consequences of the lockdown, the COVID-19 pandemic created a series of social problems all around the world, most of which are a direct consequence of lack of public understanding of the situation, says Eugenia Covernton.
Millions of high-school and university students all over the world have been forced to stay at home and rely on online tools for their education. With the Lecturers Without Borders project, they aim to empower students not only to understand the current outbreak of COVID-19 but also to get a broader understanding of biology, scientific research, epidemiology, drug discovery, vaccine development and all the challenges and limitations of our current knowledge.
They are hoping to encourage critical thinking among young people, so they can contribute to the fight against misinformation.
LeWiBo, in partnership with JOGL, has organised various webinars on COVID-19 for high school students worldwide. The webinars took place in Germany, Colombia, Poland, Argentina, Russia and other countries to help students to understand the difference between viral and bacterial diseases. For these interactive webinars students had the opportunity to send questions beforehand in order to actively participate in determining the content of each session.
To learn more, watch our ‘What If ‘ event below, and don’t miss our next JOGL event at https://www.meetup.com/JustOneGiantLab/
