The virtual field trip “Masungi 360” offered by the Georeserve conservation area in Rizal province, the Philippines, has won this year’s Bett Asia Awards for education technology trendsetters and innovators in the Asia-Pacific region.
Bett Asia awarded Masungi Georeserve with the 2022 Bett Award for Sustainability Initiative for its “impactful initiative to champion sustainability and drive action for the environment” through its Masungi 360° Virtual Field Trips for Young Conservationists which has graduated more than 3,300 “Junior Rangers” from more than 16 different schools across the Philippines.
Masungi 360° is the first digital learning platform that offers an immersive, educational experience on Philippine native and endemic biodiversity, featuring real-life stories of rural communities, and challenges of conservation on the ground.
The virtual field trip, launched in 2021 amid the COVID-19 pandemic which restricted movements outside the home, was shot with drones and 360° cameras.
The virtual field trip platform offers students a gamified learning experience through three virtual learning trails: Discovery Trail, Legacy Trail, and Beyond Masungi.
Virtual field trips amid the pandemic earned @MasungiGeo the @Bett_show Award for Sustainability for its impactful initiative to champion sustainability and drive action for the environment FULL STORY on @GoodNewsPinas_ https://t.co/rhupRvT8Rz
— Angie Quadra-Balibay (@AngieQBalibay) October 24, 2022
The content was made and approved by field experts, and also offers schools a student management system to help them monitor and track their student’s progress.
Masungi Georeserve says its Masungi 360° Virtual Field Trips “aims to bring local conservation education to 2 million Filipino students despite the pandemic to prevent future pandemics. We envision a Filipino youth that is aware of our unique environmental challenges and actively participates in solutions in addressing these challenges”.
“When the pandemic started, students could no longer go out and experience nature as part of the learning experience. We tried to bridge that gap through Masungi 360, offering real-life stories from the ground and curated by experts and conservation practitioners,” Bianca Meer, project manager of Masungi 360° said.
The Bett Advisory Board named Masungi Georeserve a winner during the October 11, 2022, ceremony in Bangkok, Thailand.
Masungi Georeserve is situated in the southern Sierra Madre range in Baras, Rizal near Tanay, Rizal, 47 kilometers east of Manila.
The Philippines’ Masungi Georeserve had earlier won the 2022 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDG) Action Awards for its youth-led movement to save the environment and fight against deforestation.
Masungi rangers have also won the 2022 International Ranger Awards for courage against threats.
SEND CONGRATULATIONS in the comments below to Masungi Georeserve for its Masungi 360° Virtual Field Trips’ winning the Bett Asia Awards for Education Technology use in Sustainability Initiative!
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