Place (local, national, international, virtual)

1. Every cluster of learners within the Digital Commonwealth Project is working on their own different project (specific to their community and school cluster), but everyone who participates is working under the four themes of the Digital Commonwealth project (place, people, culture and exchange) and will be carried out in the spirit of the principles of the Digital Commonwealth project. This exercise asks learners to explore the theme of "place" within the context of the blogging workshop introduction.

   The Commonwealth covers 70 different countries and so a sense of place, whether local, national or international seemed a good theme for schools. Sometimes, we are bound by the place we are born, other times our families move to new places. Identity can be bound to a specific place or created out of a new place. Think about places where people have stayed for a long time or where people have had to flee from. The Commonwealth sees itself connected through 70 countries and as a united family.

   Split the learners into small teams and ask learners to think about their own project, then select some questions from the list below for the learners to explore:
   • What does place mean to you?
   • Do you have any connections with schools internationally such as second team" ?
   • Have you ever visited another country - what did you like about the place?
   • Does the place you live have a distinctive identity? E.g. is it associated with a sports star, a poet, T-in the Park, a venue etc
   • Are you creating or developing a network to share your ideas and content or stories?
   • What excites you about where you live?
   • Is the place where you live safe? What would make it safe?
   • Where in the world is the place you would most like to live?
   • Do you define your identity with the place you are from?
   • Is your project connected to a place or places in the Commonwealth? (If yes, then perhaps use the type of questions above to ask learners to think about their project under the theme of place)
2. A discusion could also take place in the class asking how many people have visited countries which the Queen's Baton Relay visted? (the video of the Baton Relay route may prompt discussions)

3. Learners should use whichever digital or analogue means they currently feel comfortable with to explore the given questions and work together to document the results as they go along (ensuring there is a mixture of creative tools available will help make a diverse range of results to display). Learners could draw maps of the places mentioned and photograph/ scan these for uploading to the blog space, or map the places online. Ask each group to share their thoughts with the rest of the class and encourage a conversation and reflection on the results. Trainers can refer back to the Teaching kit for Digital Commonwealth Themes to see how this fits in context with the other themes and workshops.