The European Union Outermost Regions (ORs) are territories geographically isolated from the European continent. The ORs are French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Mayotte, Reunion Island and Saint-Martin (France), Azores and Madeira (Portugal), and the Canary Islands (Spain). The FUTOR Project enabled young citizens of the Outermost Regions region to use digital technologies to envision and bring forward desired futures through systemic thinking and interaction with others using digital art as a means of self-expression and engagement. This work was facilitated by middle and high school teachers, who became part of a Life Long Learning process becoming more and more familiar with digital technologies and the creative use of social media for disseminating the outcomes of students’ projects. FUTOR delivered a combination of digital and physical activities, designed to address the COVID-19 situation. The collection of “baseline” imagery, footage and description took place in the physical world, giving the students the much-needed physical activity that could be conducted in very small groups or even individually - as the pandemic situation allowed. Focusing on the immediate surroundings, documenting the state of the natural environment (or other phenomena such as the state of an object of interest or the community/society at large) in the immediate neighbourhood did not necessitate long travels. This individual work was then followed by group interaction and discussion in online sessions. The project started with a mobilisation campaign, relying on the project partners’ well-established school networks to engage with schools and teachers. This mobilisation campaign coincided with preparatory phase of the project (first twelve months) during which IT frameworks were developed and the exercises were conceptualised. The Futures Thinking concept was converted into guidelines for teachers that were meant to develop critical problem-solving skills, critical reflection and scientifically sound solutions within digital art. It went against the myth of creativity and science being separate, instead it guided students to capitalize on reliable information, co-create a realistic vision and collaborate on implementation. Teacher participants recruited at this stage later acted as mentors in guiding learners, facilitation of online collaboration through wikis, dissemination on social media, selection of an in-situ project for implementation and planning and execution of local team effort. Following the conceptualisation and recruitment phase, the second phase was implemented in two Execution Phases (EPs): EP1: guided students to identify a local environmental cause or concern they wished to address and develop their projects about. EP2: focused on inter-school collaboration across the ORs at learner level. After completing an online short course on the risks of social media use students were encouraged to connect on social media using their personal or - if applicable - institutional accounts as well as directly on their allocated Team Wiki pages. Imagery and/or footage of their local natural environments to be restored and/or preserved were uploaded onto the Team Wikis in a ‘before/after fashion’. Edits were to be carried out in consultation with team members and supervising teachers reflecting individual creativity, group input and scientific soundness. Creativity was encouraged and valued while respecting the integrity of local ecosystems. Team Wiki pages - and thus EP2 - were complete once each participant had finalized their before/after imagery/footage and the teams had co-edited a text documenting their know-how of their particular projects on their Team Wikis. The immediate impact of the project was two-fold: • FUTOR empowered secondary school teachers with new pedagogical methods, tools and instruments contributing to the important life-long learning ambitions of this stakeholder group. • FUTOR empowered students and young people with the power of systemic futures thinking expressed as digital art.
Testing a new way of showing students they have a way of shaping the future of their regions and implementing online tool literacy exercises. Helping teachers to connect with their students through digital art projects
In the face of the then-ongoing COVID crisis it was glaringly evident the hopelessness and increased disconnection of the youths of the European Outermost Regions. This project is born as a way of connecting said young people and help them visualize a better future, thus empowering decision-making and future thinking through art and imagination using digital tools.