About this workshop
One of the main goals of Smithsonian's Earth Optimism Project is to change the conversation about conservation. To do this we start by sharing success stories of today. In 2017, we held the Earth Optimism Summit where people gathered in Washington, D.C. to tell their conservation success stories in person. For 2018 we wanted everyone to participate in sharing and conversing. That's why we hosted #EarthOptimism2018, a Twitter event, on April 16-21, 2018 leading right into Earth Day on April 22, 2018. During the event, current conservation success projects and stories in the making were highlighted and conservationists of all levels had the opportunity to engage in the discussion. This #EarthOptimism workshop is a chance for you to continue this conversation by interacting with conservationists around the world on social media to identify, share, and support conservation projects and conservation success stories. To learn more, visit the Earth Optimism website at https://earthoptimism.si.edu/.
This 5-session workshop will help you participate in the #EarthOptimism digital movement. During each of the workshop's 30-minute sessions, you will learn about a range of conservation success stories, find out how to share these stories on social media, and become part of a community of conservation supporters continuing the work begun in the #EarthOptimism2018 event.
Learning Objectives
During this workshop, you will learn:
- About current conservation projects and success stories that are taking place around the world
- How to promote conservation success stories through Twitter
- How the Smithsonian is involved in changing the conversation around conservation
Workshop Overview
| Date |
Session Topic |
| Session 1 |
Changing the Conversation about Conservation |
| Session 2 |
Making Conservation Personal |
| Session 3 |
Creating Business Success for Conservation |
| Session 4 |
Finding Community Solutions to Conservation |
| Session 5 |
Engaging Youth in Conservation |
Grading Policy
If you are pursuing a verified certificate for the workshop, you must receive a 50% or higher to pass the workshop. The only graded assignments are checklists at the end of each session called, "Measure Your Success." There are five checklists in the workshop.
Social Guidelines
We are absolutely thrilled to have such a passionate group of students in this course. While we anticipate respectful dialogue throughout the workshop, we wanted to lay out some guidelines to help ensure this is a positive learning experience for all students. These guidelines apply to all discussions in and about the course, whether that is on edX or Twitter:
- Positive and constructive debate is welcomed and encouraged! One thing that is not encouraged, and will not be tolerated, is abusive or disrespectful communication with your peers. This workshop and the associated hashtags on Twitter are spaces for you to interact with the global edX community, so let's also all ensure we make it a supportive place to learn together.
- Sharing: This course asks you to engage with your peers around the world on Twitter. We hope you will share conservation success stories and support others who do so. We expect that all students in this course adhere to Twitter’s rules when you are on that platform. Twitter’s rules can be found here.
- Feedback: We welcome your ideas and feedback about this workshop. We have included a pre and post-workshop survey for you to let us know what you think. If you would like to send us thoughts directly, please e-mail us: smithsonianxcourses@gmail.com. If you have non-course related criticism about the Smithsonian or any members of our course team or fellow students, you are welcome to have that dialogue outside of the course, but please do not share it here. Personal attacks will not be tolerated.
Hopefully these guidelines are straightforward. We monitor the Earth Optimism hashtags on a regular basis. If we see a violation, a member of the SmithsonianX team will give you a warning. A second violation will be taken more seriously, and will impact your ability to participate in the course and/or in our groups. But we trust that this will not be necessary!