Since the pandemic lockdowns there have been requests to conduct field courses ‘virtually’, and for us – virtual field courses became a reality!
2nd years PGDFM students (20) of the Indian Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal who opted for the ecology and society internship with Keystone were engaged in a 10-day program. The course that kicked off on Jan 4th was lead by Anita, Jyotsna and Sumin.
The students who were still in their homes in various parts of the country took part wholeheartedly and this was quite encouraging for us. Talking to a class that is hidden behind a virtual screen was challenging – interactions, conversations and expressions were missing. Some days it felt it was better to talk to a class of bored students than to a class of unseen students!
The course work focussed on two themes – the urban ecology of a biosphere & indigenous people, and forest dependence. Many of the classes were conducted outdoors so that the students could atleast visualize the settings of our campus. Several experts from Keystone participated to make the course as close to a field experience.
Shiny’s lecture on restoration in the nursery; Gokul’s sessions which included a discussion with the community stewards on Water, Sanitation and Natural Disasters; Pavitra’s classes on health; Bhavya’s storytelling session on the situation during the pandemic; Chandrasekar’s session on human-wildlife interactions; Mahadesh and Bhavya’s phone-in discussion with the Barefoot ecologists were supplemented with lectures on theory; practise & advocacy by Jyotsna, Anita and Sumin.
The students were given two assignments – one was to write an essay and the other was a group activity which they presented as their final assignment.
January would have usually been filled with the NFLC courses and because of the IIFM course we didn’t miss starting our year with young students. There is interest from IIFM to hold another course soon and we are all hoping it will not have to be virtual.
Anita Varghese
