25-01-2013, 10:12 AM
ENVRIONMENT EDUCATION OF TEACHERS THOROUGH TECHNOLOGY MEDIATED OPEN AND DISTANCE LEARNING
ABSTRACT
This study examined the need for environmental education and awareness in the present times and focuses on the role of teachers and educators to spread awareness about environmental issues and problems. The emphasis is on sensitizing the student community through their teachers who can play a pivotal role in transmitting the requisite knowledge, skill, attitudes and values, essential to restore or at least arrest the irreversible damage being caused to the environment. The study describes various technology mediated initiatives by the developed and developing world to spread environment awareness. It delves into the need for use of open and distance learning methods by institutions to train teachers in the area of environment education. It found that that the teacher training curricula could be redesigned to include the environment education component in the theory and practical courses. Convergence of formal and non-formal systems can be heavily relied on for capacity building of teachers in the area of environment education.