In 2017, the Rural Lifeline Trust began working on an eco-learning-village campus at its 5-acre site in rural eastern India in the state of Odisha. The aim of this development is to open up experimental spaces for alternative educational approaches and for sustainable rural development in a “living lab” context. In the first part of this seminar, we will take a look behind the scenes and trace the progression of work on the ground in Odisha, right from the beginning, looking at both success factors and barriers. The second part of the seminar focuses on the conceptual and pedagogical frameworks within which this development takes shape. In particular, the notion that teaching/learning, researching, and impacting on the real world should all be part of a single activity stream is of central importance. A current pilot project in collaboration with UCLan, involving work with local farmers on soil degradation and biodiversity loss, illustrates this approach.
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