Early this year, a new online teaching resource library went ‘live’. A group of REEDS members, headed by Martin O’Connor and Jean-Marc Douguet, have constructed a website which gives visitors the opportunity to acquire knowledge, thoughts and ideas on ecological economics, eco-innovation and tool development for sustainability.

The website http://broceliande.kerbabel.net/is based on the site development application Drupal 6. The interactive nature of the site means visitors can choose how to learn and what to learn but there is also guidance on that.

Once you enter the forest you discover a structured environment that is flexible enough to allow you to choose how you want to explore it and take away helpful and thought-provoking ideas. The site illustrates complex situations and relationships between variables in a very user-friendly way.

The Forest of Brocéliande is founded on a number of study Modules or themes. The material in each Module is divided into Areas which allow access to independent pieces of knowledge called Grains.

Visitors start their walk through the forest by choosing which Module or theme of interest they would like to explore. Once they arrive within their chosen module they see Areas which are a collection of interesting pieces of knowledge called Grains. Some Grains will have links to support materials called Fruit which may be slide presentations, videos, sound files, site links, or documents which broaden, deepen and illustrate information contained in the grains being explored. Visitors then choose how they want to explore the Areas and their Grains within the module.

There are three choices: use the Table of Contents which organises the content like chapters in a book;

jump from one grain of knowledge within the areas to another related grain somewhere else directly via a hyperlink

choose a pathway to follow which is an order of study recommended by our teachers as an effective method. A pathway orders the areas and grains visitors should use to acquire the knowledge in the best pedagogical manner, rather like having a forest guide or personal tutor.

The site is available in both French and English versions but the material itself is offered only in its original language and is not translated.